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michigan preview sept. 4, 2013 Going 'Old School' The Wolverines are focused ✦ Game Facts on building a strong defense and a pro-style offense By Dan Murphy S aturday night's prime-time game between Notre Dame and Michigan — the penultimate meeting of these two storied football schools for the foreseeable future — is a chance for both programs to show that maybe they do still make 'em like they used to. For the first time since 2006, the longtime rivals both started the regular season in the Associated Press top 25 this fall. They were led there by coaching staffs just now settling into their new homes with matching philosophies, winning games in a modern-day smash-mouth manner true to their Midwestern roots. The ghosts of Bo Schembechler and Frank Leahy are starting to smile again. Michigan is returning to a path from which it first veered under new head coach Rich Rodriguez in 2008. Rodriguez tried to squeeze the square-pegged Michigan personnel into the round hole of his fastpaced spread-option offense. His plan was to teach the new system to the players he had while recruiting others that were a better fit. By the time he had the players he needed, the Michigan faithful had run Brady Hoke guided the Wolverines to a 19-7 record (12-4 Big Ten) in his first two seasons as head coach, while steadily returning the program to its smash-mouth Midwestern roots. photo by lon horwedel out of patience with Rodriguez's 15‑22 record. After three seasons of a failed experiment, Rodriguez was out. His successor, current head coach Brady Hoke, wouldn't make the same mistake. Hoke, a subscriber to the pro-style West Coast offense while rising in the coaching world at San Diego State, used elusive quarterback Denard Robinson and the spread option tools at his disposal to put together a 19-7 record in his first two season with the Wolverines. Now, as he enters his third year as the leader of the team, Hoke has the track record and the personnel he needs to implement a more traditional offense in Ann Arbor. "It's going to be more West Coast. It's going to be more San Diego State," said Chris Balas, who covers Michigan football Date: Sept. 7, 2013 Site: Michigan Stadium (107,501) Kickoff: 8 p.m. ET Television: ESPN Radio: This broadcast can be heard live on SIRIUS Satellite Radio (channel 129). Series Facts: This is the 41st meeting between Notre Dame and Michigan. The Wolverines hold a 23-16-1 advantage over the Irish. Coaches: Notre Dame — Brian Kelly (29-11, fourth season); Michigan — Brady Hoke (20-7, third season). Noting Michigan: The last four meetings between these two schools have been decided by 19 total points. Michigan won three in a row before Notre Dame notched a 13-6 victory in South Bend last year, the largest margin of victory during that stretch … Notre Dame's first-ever football game was played against Michigan in 1887 … The last time Notre Dame and Michigan played at night in Ann Arbor — in 2011 — the game set an NCAA all-time attendance record with 114,804 spectators on hand. for The Wolverine. "There's not going to be much spread." Hoke arrived at Michigan one year after Brian Kelly started at Notre Dame and adopted a similar approach. The coaches have gone about rebuilding the foundations of strong programs by bulking up on the defensive line and trying to win ugly games — the model used by Alabama's Nick Saban to capture three of the last