We're all excited for Saturday, the last home game of the season and the last time Brady Quinn, Jeff Samardjiza, Rhema McKnight, Victor Abiamiri and a host of others will be in Notre Dame Stadium as players.  The forecast right now calls for a chance of snow, which would be fantastic, because it wouldn't be "Brady Quinn threw for nine touchdown passes against Army.  Whatever" but "Brady Quinn threw for nine touchdown passes against Army in the fuckin' snow!".

(Seriously, though, Brady's numbers will probably be something like 12 for 16, 200 yards and three scores before giving way to Evan Sharpley, who may get to throw a pass, and hopefully one of the freshmen.)

(And by one of the freshman, I mean if Demetrius Jones doesn't see the field on Saturday, heads will roll.  And I know, red shirt, blah blah...)

Not many games that can affect the Irish's title hopes on Saturday, unless Mississippi State, Cincinnati or Western Carolina feel like pulling the upsets on Arkansas, Rutgers or Florida.  One of two main games to watch will be Southern Cal taking on California in primetime, both for scouting measures and because a Trojan win would be very beneficial to the Irish.

The other?  I'm not sure if you've heard, but Ohio State and Michigan are squaring off.  Brian feels like Cartman in last week's Southpark, and poor SMQ got attacked by random Buckeye fans just for breaking down the game.  Pete looked pretty closely at the statistics, and there's just a bunch of great stuff all over the college blogosphere and ESPN about the game.

As Charlie said yesterday, he roots for Notre Dame's best interest, and I do as well.  The Irish's best interest?  A blowout one way or the other, just so the losing team can't hang around the top of the polls or a straight-up Michigan victory.  If Ohio State loses this game, their resume is extremely weak and couldn't hold up against any of the other contenders, leaving little room for a rematch.  Example, should the Buckeyes lose on Saturday, already number three in the computers behind Michigan and Rutgers:

Ohio State: @Texas, Penn State, @Iowa...uh...Minnesota?
Arkansas, possibly: @Auburn, @South Carolina, Tennessee, LSU, Florida (neutral)
Rutgers, possibly: Louisville, @West Virginia, @Pitt, @South Florida, Navy
Notre Dame, possibly: @ Georgia Tech, @ Southern Cal, UCLA, Penn State, @ Navy
Southern Cal, possibly: Arkansas, Oregon, Notre Dame, Nebraska, California, UCLA

If Ohio State loses Saturday, they're out of the national championship race and Troy Smith most likely falls to second in the Heisman hunt.  There's a lot of reasons to root for Michigan big on Saturday, despite the fact Notre Dame fans have been trained since the moment they started to follow the team to curse "Hail to the Victors", winged helmets and maize n' blue.  Not only would it be helpful to have our sole loss of the season come at the hands of the undefeated, consensus number one team in the country, but it would put us, with a win over Southern Cal, on the shortlist for a national title shot.

(I'm terrified about the Southern Cal game.  I can see everything breaking perfectly - LSU over Arkansas, Arkansas over Florida, West Virginia over Rutgers - and then having John David Booty hang 45 on us in primetime.  I just keep telling myself, "Charlie's ready, Charlie's ready...")

So as soon as we sing our final home alma mater of the season and send off the seniors in style, get to your televisions and start rooting for Michigan like their helmets were spray-painted gold.  There's too much to gain from a Wolverine victory - even if it means having to hear the hordes of Michigan fans celebrate - not to try and will it to happen in the battle for Midwest supremacy.

Why Michigan Wins: They can get after the quarterback like no other team the Irish have seen all season, except for perhaps UCLA's dual threat on the defensive line.  The corners were keeping pace with our wide receivers just fine and those damned linebackers patrol the middle of the field like wraths of terroriffic turnovers.  The Ohio State running game has been really effective all season except for the Texas game, in which it was merely serviceable.  Tim Crowder = Alan Branch?  Perhaps.  

Ohio State won down in Austin because they sliced and diced the Longhorn secondary to little, itty bitty pieces, which seemed pretty impressive at the time.  Now?  We're just well aware the Texas secondary isn't a whole lot better than Notre Dame's, possibly even being worse than the Irish.  Michigan's secondary might not be as good as their front seven, but they're almost certain to be better than Texas', meaning Ohio State won't just be able to turn the game over to one facet of the offense or the other.  Run right at the Wolverines and it's go nowhere time.  Repeatedly pass and it turns into the fourth quarter of the Notre Dame game, where you find your quarterback repeatedly bashed to the turf by all manner of maize and blue miscreants.  You need balance to beat Michigan, which means you can't afford to get behind.

That might not be overly difficult for the Buckeyes defense, which has improved over the course of the season.  They faced much in the way of good offenses, so it'll be interesting to see what they do against the Hart-Henne-Manningham war machine.  If Manningham is healthy, then there are three receivers for the Wolverines to stretch the field with - he, Breaston and Arrington, who's still dancing through suspension raindrops - opening up things for Hart or for short stuff to receivers not trotting down the Horseshoe sidelines.  Michigan's offense won't need a lot of points for them to win, unless Jim Tressel holds some mythical key to the Ron English defense.

Why Ohio State wins: Mainly because Troy Smith absolutely owns the Wolverines, who have a history of difficult with mobile quarterbacks, even if those quarterbacks are the rather elite types like Smith and Vince Young.  Smith's numbers against Michigan in his two starts?  40 for 60 for 541 yards and three scores with zero picks, including a bonus 182 yards on the ground and another two touchdowns.  Those are amazing numbers.

The defense hasn't been tested much lately, but it's been solid, save for a rather high yards-per-carry allowed, for the entirety of the season.  If Manningham is still limping about, which apparently he might have been on the sideline in Bloomington, the Michigan offense becomes kinda one dimensional.  Load the box, take away any Henne waggles and force Breaston and Arrington to make plays.  Drew Tate was eaten alive by the Buckeyes, but it's important to remember that A) His receivers are terrible and B) He couldn't have played much worse in that type of game.  

Manningham's health is so crucial to the Wolverine attack that if he can't be the double-team commanding deep threat of earlier in the season, Ohio State can sit their safeties in the box, take away the little bubble screens to Breaston and any long runs by Hart.  Also, if Troy Smith truly is Heisman worthy, he's going to take it upon himself to rise above and add to his legend with a win in Armageddon/Judgment Day/"You are red, we are blue, we all must die!".  

Prediction: Pain.