Michigan and Michigan State are complete opposites in philosophy, says Notre Dame's Brian Kelly
Notre Dame coach Brian Kelly, shown during his team's game against Michigan on Sept. 11, says the Wolverines and Michigan State "philosophically couldn't be further from each other."
Lon Horwedel | AnnArbor.com
When the Michigan football team plays Michigan State on Saturday, expect to see two teams that, well, have very little in common.
At least that’s what the one coach who has played both teams this year, Notre Dame’s Brian Kelly, thought Tuesday.
“It shows the greatness of college football in the sense that you have two teams that philosophically couldn’t be further from each other,” Kelly said. “But are both top-20 teams.”
Both No. 18 Michigan and No. 17 Michigan State beat Notre Dame this year on last-minute plays. The Spartans won, 34-31, on a fake field goal-turned-touchdown in overtime. Michigan won on a late drive by sophomore quarterback Denard Robinson to cement himself as a Heisman Trophy candidate and give the Wolverines a 28-24 win.
Both rivals of Notre Dame, Michigan and Michigan State will now face off in their own rivalry game on Saturday at Michigan Stadium (3:36 p.m., ABC).
“Defensively, the three downs and (Michigan defensive coordinator) Greg Robinson’s style of defense is almost a polar opposite from (Michigan State) coach (Pat) Narduzzi,” Kelly said. “They both do a tremendous job, but are both so stark and different relative to their philosophies from a defensive standpoint.
“That couldn’t be more true on the offensive side of the ball, as well. You have a spread running attack featuring a quarterback and you have a power running game featuring the play-action pass.”
Kelly came away impressed with Robinson, who gained a school-record 502 yards of total offense with 258 yards rushing and 244 yards passing against the Irish.
He's also curious whether Robinson will be able to keep up the pace he’s at -- averaging 382.6 yards of total offense -- as the Big Ten season continues.
“Well, I believe this is only his second Big Ten game,” Kelly said. “As this thing kind of unfolds I think the month of October will probably be the best test to find out that. But he’s shown himself to be very tough.
“He was very physically and mentally tough against us and I would expect that to continue. But there’s still a lot of football out there.”
Michael Rothstein covers University of Michigan basketball for AnnArbor.com. He can be reached at (734) 623-2558, by e-mail at michaelrothstein@annarbor.com or follow along on Twitter @mikerothstein
Comments
Sean T.
Tue, Oct 5, 2010 : 8:37 p.m.
Depending on Denard to put up large numbers to win again makes me nervous but at least we have someone to depend on. Denard usually gets by on missed tackles and speed, if the sparties tackle well we may be in trouble. Too nervous to pick this one but you should always bet on blue! Hail
MetricSU
Tue, Oct 5, 2010 : 7:24 p.m.
Someone whose name begins with a "t" predicted that MSU would get blown off the field by ND's speed. Well, MSU did have problems in the second half, but prevailed. This same person seems to forget that ND played without Crist for about half of the UM game. Of course, on the other side, UM was on the road against ND. I do agree that DR is currently the best offensive player in college football.
tulsatom
Tue, Oct 5, 2010 : 5:02 p.m.
MSU should have trouble against the spread because they haven't seen anyone with such a high octane offense this year, but U-M will also have trouble stopping MSU, especially if U-M insists on staying with the "prevent" 3-3-5 defense. The difference between Indiana and MSU is that MSU is more balanced offensively than IU and has a better defense. The thing U-M has going for it is that they are at home and MSU tends to play it very conservatively at times on offense, although this year they've thrown caution to the wind a few times and it paid off big, like the fake FG against ND.
saintd
Tue, Oct 5, 2010 : 2:39 p.m.
this will be the last week state is ranked ahead of um until coach rod is gone! This time the time keeper wil not be able to count 1 thousand 1,1 thousand 1,1 thousand 1.
saginaw
Tue, Oct 5, 2010 : 1:41 p.m.
Nearly impossible to pick this game. If Michigan wins, it will certainly be due to the offense line play.
CamaroDan
Tue, Oct 5, 2010 : 1:16 p.m.
Michigan and Wisy run a very different offence. Just because State shut down Wisy does not mean they can slow down UM. State sees the power run everyday in practice. They do not see the spread everyday. UM can slow down State, State will not be able to slow down our 11 players on offence. GO BLUE!!! UM 35 State 31.
Forever27
Tue, Oct 5, 2010 : 1:07 p.m.
That's true, there is a lot of football left to play. It just means that many more opportunities for Denard to blow the minds of everyone paying attention. The same caveats always apply to any player/team after the 1st 1/3 of the season; there's still 2/3 left to play. Michigan State has looked good so far this year. But there's still a lot of football left to play. Cousins may get hurt. All we know is what has already happened to this point. With that information, Denard is the best player in the country and that is a fact.