Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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www.BLUEANDGOLD.com PRESEASON 2018 59 allowed per game (2.31), making this a matchup to watch in the game. Advantage: Michigan SPECIAL TEAMS Michigan fielded a quality kick- ing game last season, ranking 28th nationally in special teams efficiency according to the Fremeau Efficiency Index (FEI), and 29th according to the ESPN Football Power Index. Its high rankings come from two areas, the first being its ability to win the field position battle. Michigan led the nation in kick return defense a season ago and ranked in the top 15 of all three field position efficiency categories according to the FEI. Junior placekicker Quinn Nordin went 19 of 24 on field goal tries and ranked 25th nationally in field goal efficiency last season. Notre Dame also has a top kicker, with senior Justin Yoon coming off a season in which he went 14 of 18 on field goal attempts and ranked 28th in field goal efficiency. The Irish special teams outside of Yoon were below average, ranking between 82nd and 91st nationally in kick returns, kick return defense, punt returns and punt return de- fense. Notre Dame ranked between No. 92 and No. 106 in the three FEI field position categories. In a battle between two top-level de- fenses, field position could be a major determiner, and that is why Michigan holds the advantage in this matchup. Advantage: Michigan COACHING Michigan's Jim Harbaugh has been a successful head coach from a win- loss perspective. He has a career .640 win percentage as a Division I coach, but he's winning at a .738 clip in his last five seasons, which include his final two at Stanford (2009-10). After back-to-back 10-win seasons to start his tenure at Michigan — his alma mater — Harbaugh and the Wol- verines fell off last season, finishing 8-5 and failing to beat a single team with a winning record during the reg- ular season. The struggles on offense forced Harbaugh to overhaul his as- sistants there, plus the strength staff. He will need those hires to pan out if Michigan is going to compete with Ohio State, Michigan State and Penn State in the Big Ten East. Michigan is 3-6 against those three opponents un- der the fourth-year mentor, including 1-5 against U-M's two biggest rivals (OSU and MSU). Notre Dame head coach Brian Kelly went through an even big- ger overhaul a year prior, when he replaced his offensive coordinator, defensive coordinator, special teams coordinator and strength coach. The result was Notre Dame bounc- ing back from a 4-8 season to fin- ish 10-3 last fall, including wins over four opponents that finished the sea- son ranked in the top 25. Advantage: Even INTANGIBLES Home openers during Kelly's first three seasons at Notre Dame were problematic. The Irish beat Purdue 23-12 in Kelly's first home opener, but fell 23-20 to South Florida the following campaign. In 2012, Notre Dame needed a late field goal to beat Purdue 20-17. Since then, Notre Dame has domi- nated in home openers, winning by an average score of 40.4-10.4. Notre Dame beat Temple 49-16 last season, notched a 39-10 victory over Nevada to kick off the 2016 home schedule, started the 2015 season with a 38-3 win over Texas, bested Rice 48-17 to open the 2014 season and overcame Temple 28-6 at home to start the 2013 campaign. On the other hand, Michigan hasn't won a road game against a ranked opponent since 2006 — 47-21 at No. 2 Notre Dame — so it would seem the intangibles are working in Notre Dame's favor at home. Advantage: Notre Dame Offense Pos. No. Name Ht. Wt. Cl. WR 9 D. Peoples-Jones 6-2 208 So. 4 Nico Collins 6-4 218 So. LT 76 J. Bushell-Beatty 6-6 318 5th-Sr. or 75 Jon Runyan Jr. 6-5 310 R-Jr. or 55 James Hudson 6-5 301 R-Fr. LG 74 Ben Bredeson 6-5 320 Jr. 72 Stephen Spanellis 6-5 300 R-So. C 51 Cesar Ruiz 6-4 319 So. 72 Stephen Spanellis 6-5 300 R-So. RG 50 Michael Onwenu 6-3 350 Jr. or 72 Stephen Spanellis 6-5 300 R-So. RT 75 Jon Runyan Jr. 6-5 310 R-Jr. 76 J. Bushell-Beatty 6-6 318 5th-Sr. TE 83 Zach Gentry 6-8 262 R-Jr. or 84 Sean McKeon 6-5 251 Jr. WR 7 Tarik Black 6-3 215 R-Fr. 88 Grant Perry 6-0 195 Sr. or 2 Oliver Martin 6-1 200 R-Fr. QB 2 Shea Patterson 6-2 205 Jr. 18 Brandon Peters 6-5 230 R-So. or 10 Dylan McCaffrey 6-5 217 R-Fr. FB 42 Ben Mason 6-3 254 So. 5 Jared Wangler 6-2 240 5th-Sr. RB 22 Karan Higdon 5-10 202 Sr. or 12 Chris Evans 5-11 216 Jr. Defense Pos. No. Name Ht. Wt. Cl. DE 15 Chase Winovich 6-3 255 5th-Sr. 19 Kwity Paye 6-4 260 So. DT 50 Michael Dwumfour 6-2 285 R-So. 90 Bryan Mone 6-4 335 5th-Sr. DT 5 Aubrey Solomon 6-3 287 So. 93 Lawrence Marshall 6-4 285 5th-Sr. DE 3 Rashan Gary 6-5 283 Jr. 2 Carlo Kemp 6-3 280 Jr. OLB 7 Khaleke Hudson 6-0 220 Jr. 59 Noah Furbush 6-5 237 5th-Sr. ILB 12 Josh Ross 6-2 225 So. or 36 Devin Gil 6-1 231 R-So. ILB 10 Devin Bush Jr. 5-11 233 Jr. 12 Josh Ross 6-2 225 So. FS 23 Tyree Kinnel 5-11 215 Sr. 16 Jaylen Kelly-Powell 6-0 184 So. SS 14 Josh Metellus 6-0 204 Jr. 26 J'Marick Woods 6-3 210 So. CB 24 Lavert Hill 5-11 181 Jr. 1 Ambry Thomas 6-0 183 So. CB 22 David Long 5-11 198 So. 28 Brandon Watson 5-11 204 5th-Sr. MICHIGAN DEPTH CHART Pos. No. Name Ht. Wt. Cl. PK 3 Quinn Nordin 6-1 206 R-So. 13 Jake Moody 6-0 177 Fr. P 3 Brad Robbins 6-2 206 So. or 17 Will Hart 6-3 192 R-So. KO 3 Quinn Nordin 6-1 206 R-So. or 13 Jake Moody 6-0 177 Fr. H 3 Brad Robbins 6-2 206 So. or 17 Will Hart 6-3 192 R-So. Pos. No. Name Ht. Wt. Cl. LS 33 Cam Cheeseman 6-4 235 R-So. 49 Andrew Robinson 6-0 218 5th-Sr. KR 1 Ambry Thomas 6-0 183 So. 20 Brad Hawkins 6-2 213 So. PR 9 D. Peoples-Jones 6-2 208 So. 2 Oliver Martin 6-1 200 R-Fr. Special Teams GAME PREVIEW: MICHIGAN