Michigan and Michigan State are complete opposites in philosophy, says Notre Dame's Brian Kelly

Notre Dame coach Brian Kelly, shown during his team's game against Michigan on Sept. 11, says the Wolverines and Michigan State "philosophically couldn't be further from each other."

Lon Horwedel | AnnArbor.com

When the Michigan football team plays Michigan State on Saturday, expect to see two teams that, well, have very little in common.

At least that’s what the one coach who has played both teams this year, Notre Dame’s Brian Kelly, thought Tuesday.

“It shows the greatness of college football in the sense that you have two teams that philosophically couldn’t be further from each other,” Kelly said. “But are both top-20 teams.”

Both No. 18 Michigan and No. 17 Michigan State beat Notre Dame this year on last-minute plays. The Spartans won, 34-31, on a fake field goal-turned-touchdown in overtime. Michigan won on a late drive by sophomore quarterback Denard Robinson to cement himself as a Heisman Trophy candidate and give the Wolverines a 28-24 win.

Both rivals of Notre Dame, Michigan and Michigan State will now face off in their own rivalry game on Saturday at Michigan Stadium (3:36 p.m., ABC).

“Defensively, the three downs and (Michigan defensive coordinator) Greg Robinson’s style of defense is almost a polar opposite from (Michigan State) coach (Pat) Narduzzi,” Kelly said. “They both do a tremendous job, but are both so stark and different relative to their philosophies from a defensive standpoint.

“That couldn’t be more true on the offensive side of the ball, as well. You have a spread running attack featuring a quarterback and you have a power running game featuring the play-action pass.”

Kelly came away impressed with Robinson, who gained a school-record 502 yards of total offense with 258 yards rushing and 244 yards passing against the Irish.

He's also curious whether Robinson will be able to keep up the pace he’s at -- averaging 382.6 yards of total offense -- as the Big Ten season continues.

“Well, I believe this is only his second Big Ten game,” Kelly said. “As this thing kind of unfolds I think the month of October will probably be the best test to find out that. But he’s shown himself to be very tough.

“He was very physically and mentally tough against us and I would expect that to continue. But there’s still a lot of football out there.”

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