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✦ TOP STORYLINES: NOTRE DAME VS. MICHIGAN • Robinson's 44 career carries against Notre Dame have totaled 366 yards — 8.3 yards per carry — with three touchdowns. One of his scores came last year when he scooped up his own fumble at the Irish 1-yard line. • Robinson has averaged a whopping 9.1 yards per attempt en route to 582 passing yards versus the Irish. Against Air Force on Sept. 8, Robin- son rushed for 218 yards and passed for 208. Incredibly, he accounted for 426 of Michigan's 422 yards (minus-11 yards rushing by others made that possible) dur- ing the 31-25 victory against the Falcons in which his 79- and 58-yard touchdown runs proved to be the difference. In the process, Robinson also became the first quarterback in Football Bowl Sub- division history to rush and pass for at least 200 yards in one game at least three times in his career (Texas' Vince Young pulled it off twice). In the last two weeks, including a 63-13 victory last Saturday against new FBS ad- dition Massachusetts, coached by former Irish assistant Charley Molnar (2010-11), Robinson has had 12 plays that accounted for at least 20 yards. As much as Notre Dame's game plan last week centered around creating big chunk plays against the Michigan State defense, this week's will be about stop- ping them. Robinson has accounted for 10 touchdowns in Michigan's first three games. Seven of them have been on plays longer than 25 yards. If holding Dorsett to less than 200 yards rushing was a standard for Notre Dame back in 1976, what would be the total of- fense bar be for Robinson this year? 300? 250? Is Robinson stoppable? Defenses at Michigan State and Virginia Tech last year, plus Alabama this year, have demon- strated it can be done. The primary objec- tive seems to be to take away the run and dare him to beat you with the pass. • Robinson had only 10 carries for 27 yards in the 41-14 loss to Alabama on Sept. 1. He completed 11 of 26 passes for 200 yards with two interceptions, but the Crimson Tide limited him to 227 total yards. It helped that the Crimson Tide built a 21-0 advantage during the first quarter. • Although Michigan defeated Virginia Tech (23-20) in last year's Sugar Bowl, Robinson's 13 carries netted 13 yards, and he completed only 9 of 21 passes for 117 yards. That's 130 yards of total offense. • In Michigan 28-14 loss to Michigan State last season, Robinson's 18 carries totaled 42 yards, and he completed only 9 of 24 pass attempts for 123 yards. That's 165 yards of total offense. Other programs have proven they could do it. By the third season under Kelly and defensive coordinator Bob Diaco, Notre Dame will be expected to execute much better. Notre Dame actually did a fine job of keeping Robinson and company in check through the first three quarters last sea- son while building a 24-7 lead. Another nightmare 28-point fourth quarter is not expected. "There are a couple plays we'd like to back in the passing game maybe, but we liked our plan," Kelly said. "We think we're physically a better football team than we were the previous couple of years. We have to eliminate and control those big plays. If we do that we'll feel pretty good." This year's Notre Dame defense has al- lowed seven plays of more than 20 yards in its first three games. Only one of them — a 25-yard run on the final play of the Navy game — has come on the ground. Fifth-year senior cornerback J.T. Floyd and the Wolverines defense created five turnovers in their 35-31 win against Notre Dame last season. PHOTO BY LON HORWEDEL ✦ PAGE 8 TALE OF THE TURNOVER In Michigan's three straight conquests of the Irish, it totaled only four turnovers while Notre Dame had nine. Both teams had one apiece in 2009, but in 2010 Robinson and Co. had zero at Notre Dame while three different Irish quarterbacks (Dayne Crist, Tommy Rees and Nate Montana) each threw one inter- ception. It was the first time in 24 years