The Notre Dame Fighting Irish haven’t had all the luck in the world of late against the state of Michigan, losing three games in absolutely heartbreaking fashion on the road against these two main teams in the state. That being said, they are going to have another shot of beating the college football betting odds early in the season against the Michigan Wolverines, one of teams that has the potential to be in the Top 10 in the land. This should be a great battle between two top notch offenses, and we look forward to making our college football picks for this duel in South Bend.

Michigan Wolverines @ Notre Dame Fighting Irish Picks & Info
Michigan Wolverines @ Notre Dame Fighting Irish Date: Saturday, September 22nd
Michigan Wolverines @ Notre Dame Fighting Irish Location: Notre Dame Stadium, South Bend, IN
Michigan Wolverines @ Notre Dame Fighting Irish Spread: Notre Dame Fighting Irish -2.5

The Wolverines know that this might be the make or break point of their season, and that’s definitely something that cannot be underestimated. One would like to figure that they are going to be 0-1 after taking on Alabama in the first week of the season, and this could be the difference between being 3-1 and ranked in the Top 10 or Top 15 in the land and being 2-2 and having zero chance of doing anything more than going to the Rose Bowl this season. QB Denard Robinson has had some simply awesome games against the Fighting Irish over the course of the last two years, including leading that tremendous comeback that won the first ever night game played in the Big House a season ago. He’s got a lot of his offensive weapons back, namely WR Roy Roundtree and RB Fitzgerald Toussaint. Roundtree only had one catch against Notre Dame last year, but it went for 16 yards and the game-winning touchdown with just two seconds left to play.

Michigan Wolverines vs. Notre Dame Fighting Irish Past Games (Since 1995)
2011: Michigan35 – Notre Dame 31
2010: Michigan 28 – Notre Dame 24
2009: Michigan 38 – Notre Dame 34
2008: Notre Dame 35 – Michigan 17
2007: Michigan 38 – Notre Dame 0
2006: Michigan 47 – Notre Dame 21
2005: Notre Dame 17 – Michigan 10
2004: Notre Dame 28 – Michigan 20
2003: Michigan 38 – Notre Dame 0
2002: Notre Dame 25 – Michigan 23
1999: Michigan 26 – Notre Dame 22
1998: Notre Dame 36 – Michigan 20
1996: Michigan 21 – Notre Dame 14

This is the type of game that Notre Dame really badly has to win this year. There have just been too many losses like this over the course of the last few years, and the possibility is there that this could be a brutal start to the season. Remember that a game in Dublin against Navy isn’t all that easy, and a home game seven days later against Purdue could be dangerous. Then add in a game in East Lansing… Could the Irish really drop to 0-4 with this one? It’s not likely, but even dropping to 2-2 could be brutal with games still to play on the road against Oklahoma and Southern Cal. But still, the offense has the potential to be dangerous against a Michigan defense that really likely overachieved last year. TE Tyler Eifert should have a heck of a season, and this might be his showcase game. QB Tommy Rees and QB Andrew Hendrix might both end up coming into play this game, but whichever one is under center could play and have the chance to play well.

Michigan @ Notre Dame Free Picks^^: Still, we are really wondering why the Golden Domers are favored in this game. Notre Dame has lost three in a row in this series, and yes, we know that that is a motivating factor to come out even stronger. That being said, we think that Michigan has the potential to be a Top 15 team in the land this year. The Fighting Irish just don’t in our eyes. Take any points that you can get on your side now, knowing that the opinion of Michigan can really only improve if its plays well against Alabama, while Notre Dame’s can only get worse if it loses a game that no one thinks that it should lose against Navy or Purdue.

^^Note: These college football picks are independent of the picks of our Expert NCAA Football Handicappers. These NCAA football picks are made as of 8/12/12, though we will keep the college football matchup page updated for this clash on the week of the game.

When the Michigan @ Notre Dame odds are on the board on the week of 9/22, we will have our college football picks that you won’t want to miss!