Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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Top Players Of The Game By Jason Sapp Offense: Tommy Rees Rees may have been downgraded to a reserve role for his junior season, but he came off the bench to lead the Fighting Irish to a victory for the second time in four games. When starting sophomore quarterback Everett Golson had trouble providing the Irish offense with a spark in the early stages of the contest, throwing a pair of interceptions, Rees entered the game in the second quarter and put six points on the board with his first career rushing touchdown. He also completed 8 of 11 passes for 115 yards to pace the offense. Defense: Manti Te’o Te’o has faced his fair share of adversity leading up to the Michigan game. However, the great level of support he has been shown has kept him in high spirits, and he has been able to truly embrace why he made the decision to play for the Irish. The senior linebacker was second on the team in tackles with eight and added two interceptions, after recording his first career pick earlier this season. He also had a tackle for loss and put pressure on Michigan quarterback Denard Robinson to force another one of the five interceptions the Wolverines threw. Special Teams: Kyle Brindza In addition to handling the kickoff duties, putting three of them into the end zone and one to the 2-yard line, Brindza also delivered when called upon to put points on the board. The sophomore connected on field goal tries of 33 and 39 yards, with the latter coming with just 6:46 left in the game to give the Irish an important two-possession lead. Three Observations By Lou Somogyi Turning Point The first inclination is to say that twice in the first quarter Michigan had first-and-goal at the 10-yard line but came away with zero points. The second time was the result of an interception by freshman safety Nicky Baratti that precipitated a five-turnover deluge by the Wolverines in the first half. However, we give a slight edge to Notre Dame’s two fourth-quarter drives. The first, with the Irish leading 10-3, was run-oriented with senior Theo Riddick and milked 6:24 off the clock to provide a crucial two-score cushion (13-3) against Michigan quarterback Denard Robinson. The second featured a 38-yard pass from junior quarterback Tommy Rees to senior tight end Tyler Eifert on third-and-four to help seal the verdict. The objective was not to permit Robinson another final crack to win the game with a fourth-quarter march, and the Irish offense finished the job. Top Stat(s) Of The Game Has there ever been a football game at the collegiate level (or even high school) where five consecutive pass attempts by one team ended up getting intercepted by the other? That’s what occurred to Michigan, from its last play of the first quarter on the halfback pass attempt from Vincent Smith, to the final play of the first half. It resulted in a six-turnover game by the Wolverines — the most forced by Notre Dame since a 35-17 victory against Michigan in 2008. Two of the turnovers occurred in the red zone, the first occurring on first-and-goal from the 10 on freshman Nicky Baratti’s interception of Smith’s toss into the end zone, and the second on quarterback Denard Robinson’s fumble in the third quarter after he had reached the 11. Furthermore, the Wolverines had a first-and-goal at the Irish 10-yard line on its second series after intercepting an Everett Golson pass, but the result was a missed field goal from 43 yards. That’s like a seventh turnover. A Championship Defense For the first time since Notre Dame’s series renewal with Michigan in 1978, neither the Wolverines nor the Michigan State Spartans scored a touchdown against the Irish, who posted 20-3 and 13-6 victories, respectively. In 1979, Notre Dame defeated Michigan 12-10 and Michigan State 27-3, but the nine total points yielded this season is fewer than the 13 from back then. The 36 points given up by Notre Dame during its 4-0 start is the fewest in the first four games since 1975, when the Irish surrendered only 20: 17‑3, 17-0 and 31-7 victories against Boston College, Purdue and Northwestern before losing 10-3 to Michigan State in the fourth game. The ability to play championship defense enables the offense to manage the game as it sees fit and makes Notre Dame BCS caliber. It would have been unfathomable to believe anytime in the last decade that Notre Dame could defeat Michigan by scoring just 13 points. The program’s identity has turned 180 degrees.