The Michigan-Notre Dame rivalry goes back to 1887, but looking at only the past two games is enough to set the scene for Saturday.

The hype surrounding this year’s game is comparable to that in 2007, the last time the Fighting Irish visited Michigan Stadium. Both teams were 0-2 and desperately needed a win to avoid disaster. Now, the teams are both 1-0 and desperate for a win to gain credibility.

Leading up to both games, the Wolverines were thinking big and talking boldly.

“We're going to win next week. There's not a question in my mind. I guarantee we win next week,” Mike Hart said a week before the 2007 game.

“I can’t wait — we owe them. We owe them,” said freshman running back Michael Shaw moments after the end of last week's Western Michigan game, channeling a bit of Hart’s earnestness .

The key for Notre Dame as it comes to Michigan Stadium for Saturday's 3:30 p.m. game will be shutting down the Michigan defense and shutting up the home crowd early, something the Irish couldn’t do when they were shellacked 38-0 two years ago. The Wolverines dominated, demoralizing the Irish by forcing turnovers on three of their first five drives.

“It was one of those situations where you go in there not knowing how things are going to go for us or go for them, because they were struggling a little bit at the time when we went up there … and the fans were ready to turn on them, and the fans had a big party that day at our expense,” said Weis during his weekly press conference Thursday. “And I didn’t enjoy it very much.”

Weis also hasn't enjoyed his recent on-the-field history with first-year Michigan defensive coordinator Greg Robinson. Last year, days after Robinson had been fired from his head coaching job at Syracuse, he took his 2-8 team to South Bend and beat Notre Dame 24-23 on a last-second touchdown. That dropped Notre Dame’s record to 6-5, leaving the team panicking with bowl contention on the line in its last game.

Notre Dame coach Charlie Weis said that he’s preparing for the Robinson brand of defense by watching both Syracuse and Michigan tape to prepare for Saturday’s game. Robinson's game plan will be centered around containing a much-improved Jimmy Clausen and star wide receivers Golden Tate and Michael Floyd.

"You know they're going to take some shots deep ball if they get one-on-one matchups," Rodriguez said. "They'll throw it deep to the wide receivers and let them make a play, so we've got to be prepared for that. If we play soft, they're going to take hitches and slants underneath. We've got to break on the ball, do some things to create some pressure and not let (Clausen) get comfortable.”

But even with both teams on the upswing this year, Michigan can’t, of course forget last year’s Notre Dame game. The rain, the fumbles, the sloppiness and the questions that followed spurred Rodriguez to say after the game, "Michigan football will be back. All the naysayers out there, whatever. I'm disappointed but I'm not discouraged. Michigan football will be back."

One year later, his words finally have the potential to possibly ring true.