Michigan's Five Keys to Beating the Irish

1) Pressure Clausen:  Clausen has had a spectacular outing in two straight games. In his latest going 15-18 for 315 yards and four touchdowns versus Nevada. It's important to keep in mind, however, that his performances were against Nevada who gave up 312 yards per game in the air last year, and Hawaii who was pretty lackluster in terms of defensive pass efficiency in 2008. We need to limit big plays, especially through the air to Michael Floyd and Golden Tate. If we are going to do this we need to be in Clausen's face all game long, hitting him early and often. The key to a good pass defense is a good pass rush, which is something he hasn't seen since November. We need to also pressure the entire backfield. 2) Big physical run plays:  Yeah, Denard had a 43 yard touchdown run and that was impressive! However, our running backs failed to deliver a run exceeding 12 yards against WMU. If we are going to be competitive with the big boys, we can't rely on fresh...