Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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GAME PREVIEW: MICHIGAN Above all, Notre Dame needs to take advantage of its "final at‑bat" on its home field in this series‑ending rivalry from the 1978‑2014 cycle to appropri‑ ately even the series at 15‑15‑1. Having lost four of the last five and six of the last eight in the series, Notre Dame needs the victory just to not lose the entire series since 1978. The popu‑ lar perception on Michigan's end is Notre Dame "chickened out" of the series, and the Wolverines saluted the Fighting Irish with "The Chicken Dance" after last year's 41‑30 victory in Ann Arbor. Brian Kelly has not forgotten and realizes the significance of this year's outcome, in addition to the obvious. "It's a home game, and it's a game you want to win," Kelly said. " … Our kids have to get off to a good start, so beating Michigan is important for us early in the season." It pretty much dictates Notre Dame's direction the rest of the sea‑ son. MICHIGAN QBS EQUAL HEISMAN FRONTRUNNERS VS. NOTRE DAME Since 2009, three different Michigan quarterbacks instantly put themselves into the national spotlight, if not the Heisman watch, with performance‑of‑ a‑lifetime efforts against Notre Dame. In 2009, true freshman Tate Forcier completed 23 of 33 passes for 240 yards with two scores, the last with 11 seconds left in the game to lift Michi‑ gan to a 38‑34 victory. He also added 70 rushing yards, highlighted by a 31‑ yard TD gallop on fourth down, for 310 yards total offense. By 2010, Forcier's classmate Denard Robinson won the starting position and produced the single most scintil‑ lating all‑around performance by a quarterback against Notre Dame. Rob‑ inson accounted for 502 yards of total DIVISION I WON‑LOST RECORDS BY PERCENTAGE ENTERING 2014 On Dec. 28 last year, Notre Dame's 29-16 victory over Rutgers in the Pinstripe Bowl and Michigan's 31-14 loss to Kansas State in the Buffalo Wild Wings Bowl nudged the 9-4 Irish ahead of the 7-6 Wolverines in all- time best winning percentage for the first time since 2004. Here the top 10 entering this season. Rk. School Games Pct. W L T 1. Notre Dame 1,221 .73300 874 305 42 2. Michigan 1,267 .73243 910 321 36 3. Boise State 551 .72050 396 153 2 4. Oklahoma 1,207 .71955 842 312 53 5. Ohio State 1,220 .71762 849 318 53 6. Texas 1,247 .71491 875 339 33 7. Alabama 1,204 .71387 838 323 43 8. USC 1,173 .70161 796 323 54 9. Nebraska 1,262 .70087 864 357 41 10. Tennessee 1.218 .68185 804 361 53