SOUTH BEND, Ind. - As far as upsets go, the biggest one to happen in a while at Notre Dame came a season ago, when woebegone Syracuse entered Notre Dame Stadium with a lame-duck coach, a putrid record and little but pride to play for.

By the end, the Orange had toppled Notre Dame, which might have otherwise garnered a New Year's Day bowl berth.

The already-fired Syracuse coach that day: Michigan defensive coordinator Greg Robinson.

"We looked at that game last year, we looked at the 2005 game as well, when we played 'em," Weis said. "Even though he's got different athletes now, he's got a good group of athletes to play his system with, I'm sure he looked at those games. But in addition to that he'll have watched the last bunch of games from last year to see what what hurt us and what didn't hurt us. And he will apply them accordingly. He's a very good week-to-week game plan coach, so that's his M.O. and he's good at it."

They're both doing similar things, watching the two games he coached against Robinson since his arrival at Notre Dame. And he's also watching Michigan games to see personnel.

For Weis, it's a little bit extra work against a foe he's already been familiar with. Weis was the offensive coordinator with the New York Jets in 1999 when Robinson was with Denver. New York won that game, 21-13. Weis, moving on to the Patriots, also beat Robinson's Broncos, 28-19, a year later.

In 2002, Weis' Patriots beat the Kansas City Chiefs, with Robinson as its defensive coordinator, 41-38.

But last year, Robinson bested Weis - and Michigan coach Rich Rodriguez thinks he'll pull from what he did defensively this time around.

"They'll look at what Greg did with them last year because it was a nice win for them. I'm sure they'll prepare for that scheme," Rodriguez said. "Again, they're a year older. Most of their offensive players are back. (Notre Dame quarterback Jimmy) Clausen has got another year under his belt, and he's performed at a very high level in his last several ballgames.

"We have to have a nice plan for them."

Much of the Notre Dame offense from 2008 returns, including Clausen, wide receiver Golden Tate, running back Armando Allen and most of the offensive line. Irish star sophomore wide receiver Michael Floyd missed the Syracuse game last year due to injury.

Michael Rothstein covers University of Michigan sports for Annarbor.com. He can be reached at (734) 623-2558, by e-mail at michaelrothstein@annarbor.com or follow along on Twitter @mikerothstein.