Scouting: Michigan @ Notre Dame

Michigan (1-0) at Notre Dame (1-0) When: 2:30 p.m. Saturday at Notre Dame StadiumTV: Channel 5; Radio: WLS 890-AMSeries: Michigan leads 21-15-1Coaches: Rich Rodriguez (6-7, second year at Michigan, 114-78-2 overall); Brian Kelly (1-0, first year at Notre, 172-57-2 overall)Players to watch: In his second career start, sophomore Denard Robinson set Michigan's single-game records for total offense (383 yards) and rushing by a QB (197 yards). That earned Big Ten and national Walter Camp player of the week honors. It's no surprise to learn he ran sprints for Michigan's track team during the winter. RBs Vincent Smith and Michael Shaw teamed up for 29 carries and 99 yards in the opening win over UConn. MLB Obi Ezeh led the defense with 9 stops and a fumble recovery near the goal line.QB Dayne Crist posted a lovely 152.0 pass-efficiency rating in his first career start last week against Purdue. He hit 19 of 26 passes for 205 yards - including 5 hookups apiece with WR Michael Floyd and TE Kyle Rudolph. RB Armando Allen balanced the attack with 93 rushing yards and also returned a punt 38 yards. DE Ethan Johnson contributed 2 sacks, which was half of the junior's total last season.The skinny: For the third time in the last four years, neither team finds itself in the Top 25 for this hyped showdown. Considering each of the previous 26 meetings (dating from 1942 to 2006) had one or both teams in the polls, it's quite a dramatic change. Of course, this explains why Rodriguez and Kelly now have their respective jobs. Michigan enjoyed the element of surprise last week when it came to Robinson and his rushing skills. Notre Dame gets the opportunity to make him the focus point of the defense, which means Robinson must prove he can throw this week- not that last week's 19-of-222 showing was shabby.