Notre Dame Notebook: Book Needs To Run, Crawford Will Play, Irish Stay Fast
What are the chances that Michigan Stadium is as ruckus as Sanford Stadium was on Sept. 21?
The Big House has a higher-capacity venue that holds in noise, but given the history of this rivalry, does this game carry enough weight within the college football world to create a deafening road environment?
Since Michigan already has two losses, probably not.
But at his weekly radio show, Notre Dame Head Coach Brian Kelly reiterated how much his team worked on a silent cadence and crowd noise over the past two weeks.
“We've prepared for a very loud crowd,” he said. “I won't take any responsibility if there are any infractions with the snaps this time.”
With that reassurance, hopefully, all Irish fans need to worry about is how Notre Dame quarterback Ian Book preforms and if the defense can contain Michigan’s wide receivers, and they should have extra help this weekend with the latter.
Book Will Need to Run
Kelly was not shy about the notion that Book is going to have to use his legs in order for Notre Dame to have offensive success against Michigan tomorrow.
“Ian Book is going to have to be smart and there are going to be some opportunities where they're going to give us an opportunity for the quarterback to run, too,” he said. “Because that's one of the things that you don't account for when you play as much man-to-man as they do: the quarterback is going to have an opportunity to run.”
This was also the case when Notre Dame and Michigan played to open the season last year. Then starting quarterback Brandon Wimbush led the Irish in rushing with 59 yards and a long of 22.
While Book may not be quite the runner Wimbush was, Michigan's defense isn't quite as stout as it was last season.
Even after a blowout loss to Florida in the Peach Bowl, where several Wolverine players sat out, Michigan still had a top-7 team efficiency defense. This year, they are No. 20.
“[Penn State quarterback Sean] Clifford last week wasn't a quarterback that ran a lot and quite frankly, you know, they haven't played a quarterback that has the athletic ability like an Ian Book that can get out and run,” Kelly said. “They struggle a little bit with Brandon Wimbush in terms of his ability to get out and run in man coverage.
“Book is not Brandon Wimbush, per se, but he's not bad.”
It should also help Book in the passing game that Michigan rarely rushes more than five defenders. Per Kelly, this season Michigan has sent six or more players after the quarterback less than 10 percent of the time.
Given how effective Notre Dame's offensive line is in pass protection, that should be an advantage. That is, assuming Book does a good job of staying in the pocket and finding the open man.
Shaun Crawford Will Play
At his press conference on Monday, Kelly confirmed that defensive back Shaun Crawford was healthy enough to participate in practice this week, but he wasn’t sure how much he’d be able to contribute against Michigan on Saturday.
After a full week of practice, Kelly’s tune has changed and he expressed confidence in Crawford’s ability to contribute tomorrow.
“He'll play for us,” Kelly said, “and I think he'll be very effective.”
During practice, he said Crawford participated in the two-minute drill, which is a high-intensity drill and was put in several man-to-man situations and performed well.
If Crawford can be a big part of the game plan, it will give Notre Dame’s secondary a big boost against a team with several talented wide receivers.
It also helps that Kelly indicated earlier in the week that cornerback Donte Vaughn will also be available this weekend.
Overall, it should be taken as a good sign that Notre Dame is heading into week nine of the college football season is the healthiest its been all year.
Making Sure the Irish Play Fast
Because Notre Dame was idle last weekend, Kelly knew he had to make sure his team is prepared to play fast.
“You have to be certain that your team has practiced at the right intensity level to match the speed that you're going to see from a team like Michigan, that just played a very good opponent in Penn State on the road in a very competitive environment," he said. They're going play fast when they hit the field and you have to match that intensity and that speed.”
In order to do that, he cranked up the intensity and used the GPS trackers to make sure that the players were matching the speed that they ordinarily would in a game setting.
"We shortened up our practices to make sure that the intensity level was matching game-type speed," Kelly said. "We were able to do that and duplicate that over the last couple of days, which I think, really is the best way to go into, a game when you have so much time off."
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