Notre Dame travels to Ann Arbor for first game under lights at Michigan Stadium

Notre Dame (0-1) at Michigan (1-0)

When: 7:12 p.m. at Michigan Stadium

TV: ESPN

Net: ESPN3.com

Radio: WLS 890-AM

Series: Michigan leads 22-15-1

Coaches: Brian Kelly (8-6, second year at ND; 179-63-2 overall); Brady Hoke (1-0, first year at Michigan; 47-50 overall)

Players to watch: Notre Dame didn't wait long to pull the plug on QB Dayne Crist. Sophomore Tommy Rees (Lake Forest Academy) gets the call after throwing for 296 yards, 2 TDs and 2 INTs in relief last week. WR Michael Floyd (183 career catches for 2,693 yards and 30 TDs) needs just 15 yards to supplant Golden Tate as the school's all-time leader in receiving yards. He broke Jeff Samardzija's career receptions mark last week. LB Manti Te'o (9 stops) leads an Irish defense that limited USF to 2 of 14 on third-down conversions.

Michigan QB Denard Robinson, the reigning Big Ten Offensive Player of the Year, doesn't run the same offense as he did last year and he didn't roll up his usual numbers in last week's opening win over Western Michigan. He rushed eight times for 46 yards and hit 9 of 13 passes for 98 yards before the game was called with 1:27 left in the third quarter. Senior LB Brandon Herron, the reigning national Defensive Player of the Week, became the first Michigan defender to post 2 touchdowns in one game. His 94-yard interception return for a score set another school record. Sophomore RB Fitzgerald Toussaint produced 80 yards and 2 scores on 11 carries.

The skinny: The ESPN GameDay crew decided to stick with this top-flight rivalry despite Notre Dame's bellyflop against South Florida. Perhaps that's because Michigan (.735) and Notre Dame (.732) remain the top 2 BCS schools in terms of winning percentage? Or, perhaps, because this will be the first game under the lights at Michigan Stadium? Either way, Irish fans shouldn't give up on their guys too soon. Posting another minus-5 in the turnover battle — as happened last week — seems logistically impossible. Then again, a Michigan program that made a habit of losing the turnover battle under Rich Rodriguez posted a plus-3 in Hoke's debut.

Fast fact: For the fourth time in the last five years, neither Notre Dame nor Michigan shows up in the Associated Press Top 25 poll. In the 25 other games between these teams in the AP poll era (1942-2006), there was NEVER a game where neither team was ranked.

— Lindsey Willhite