[Tommy]

The No. 13 Michigan Wolverines are heading to South Bend this Saturday to play the No. 2 Notre Dame Fighting Irish in the 34th installment of their ancient rivalry. The Wolverines have an 18-14-1 straight-up advantage, but the Irish have won three of the last four, they're 6-1 ATS in the past decade, and this week they're 5-point home faves (-225 on the moneyline) with a total of 50.

This should be much more of a toss-up than the lines indicate. Notre Dame, for all the improvements the program has made under Charlie Weis, is still vulnerable to a solid running attack. The Irish coughed up a total of 277 yards on the ground in their first two games, and that was against the fair-to-middling backfields of Georgia Tech and Penn State. Michigan's Mike Hart is one of the very best running backs in the nation. The Wolverines have an opportunity to grind this one out on the ground and keep the Irish offense on the sidelines.

When Notre Dame does get the ball, the offensive line has to prove it can protect Brady Quinn far better than it did against the Yellow Jackets in Week 1. Running back Darius Walker saved the Irish bacon in that narrow 14-10 victory with 99 yards rushing and the winning TD. It was all systems go for the offense against a questionable Penn State squad in last week's 41-17 thrashing of the Nittany Lions; however, Michigan's defense is top-shelf in all aspects, from versatile DE LaMarr Woodley to Thorpe Award candidate Leon Hall on the corner. Quinn vaults right back to the top of the Heisman Trophy list if he can beat this defense.

The Irish are the archetypical public team and are prone to being overvalued in nearly every circumstance. But they also have a very good chance of beating Michigan. The Wolverines have yet to find their passing rhythm, and Notre Dame's 1-2 safety punch of would-be boxer Tom Zbikowski and Chinedum Ndukwe is downright scary. That might be enough to render Michigan a one-dimensional team on Saturday - still, that's the Hart Dimension. Enter at your peril.

Kick-off is at 3:30 p.m. Eastern Time on NBC.

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