Luckless, Hapless, and Star Crossed...

Allow me to begin with the following: un-fucking-believable.

I am going to attempt to do the rest of this sans profanity and in the most level headed way possible.

For those who simply look at the score of this week’s meeting between Michigan and Notre Dame, you will likely make a number of incorrect assumptions. The way this game played out had to be seen in its entirety to be believed. Oh sure, it’s a time honored tradition to scream about officiating and poor calls costing you football games, and there was some of that, but the way that Michigan lost this football game simply cannot be appreciated by watching a bottom line or unfolding a paper and glancing at the headline.

A quick look at the numbers:

- Michigan threw for 229 yards compared to Notre Dame’s 147.
- Michigan rushed for 158 yards compared to Notre Dame’s 113.
- Total offense: Michigan 387, Notre Dame 260.
- Michigan picked up 21 first downs to Notre Dame’s 14.
- Michigan punted 4 times, Notre Dame 6.
- Turnovers? Michigan 6, Notre Dame 2… of the six Michigan turnovers, I’m willing to say that Notre Dame forced possibly one of those gaffs. Feel free to argue otherwise if you actually watched the football game.

Michigan outplayed ND in all facets of the football game today, except in holding on to the football and benefiting from officiating. Go ahead and put a check mark next to ND in those two categories…

Tomorrow you won’t hear that Michigan completely outplayed the Irish. No, what you’ll hear is “whoa they’re going to suck” and other highly enlightened commentary. You won’t hear that Sam McGuffie and Steven Threet gashed ND all day long (the passing game looked infinitely better than the first two weeks, and imagine if they had properly called the 50 yd TD to Matthews!). Tomorrow you won’t hear that Michigan gifted ND three TDs, that the refs took away one from the Maize and Blue, or that Michigan gift-wrapped two turnovers (neither forced) inside the Irish 10 yard line… one of which was questionable at best (Kevin Grady’s forward progress was stopped at the three yardline and yet he somehow “fumbled” on the five).

Make no mistake, as a Wolverine fan I’m disappointed, and I’m mad, but I’m not worried, ours was the better football team today. Michigan’s offense continues to look better each week, the defense wasn’t gashed, and short of a missed a tackle and a blown coverage, they controlled the Irish offense. This Michigan team will be bashed for the next two weeks by idiots in the media and fans who don’t understand the game of football, but outside of terrible breaks and terrible calls, I can’t think of much to be worried about.

Notre Dame had to “drive” all of 26yards for their first two touchdowns, both of which occurred in the first four minutes of the first quarter. This was brought about by a lack of Michigan’s kick returners willingness to catch the football… and no, it had not started raining at this point. Neither turnover was forced, with Brandon Minor dropping a backwards pass, and then Mike Shaw letting the next kickoff go directly off of his chest.

Quickly down 14 points, the Michigan offense stalled and was forced to turn the ball back over to ND. Errrrrr wait… let’s rewind quickly and look at a great catch that will never be remembered: Greg Matthews was fully extended and hauled in a perfect throw from Steven Threet for a 50 yard touchdown, the ball never bobbled, his hands clearly placed between it and the ground… and yet the ref with no view of the play calls it incomplete and the review (in one of the quickest of all time) also somehow sees incomplete despite obvious evidence to the contrary. Seven points gone. This defies explanation.

What happened next will be one of the few Notre Dame accomplishments that can actually be credited to Notre Dame… but not without some quick help with“pass interference” on a perfectly defended pass by Donovan Warren. To Notre Dame’s credit, they went right back to the well and caught Stevie Brown out of position and torched the Michigan secondary for a nice touchdown. Again, take note, it’s one of the few times ND did anything that they can take credit for instead of handing it to the referees or Michigan’s lack of luck.

Notre Dame’s next touchdown came via two missed tackles on a four yard out that was nicely turned into a 60 yard gain, again, I will give the Irish credit for this drive. That’s 14 points I will happily tip my cap to them and say “you outplayed us ND”. Halftime found a Michigan team who spotted ND a 21 point lead down only 11...

What happened in the rain in the second half can only be described as Irish luck… Grady “fumbles” as Michigan is driving to cut the lead to 28-24. Steven Threet drops the snap, it is kicked directly to a streaking ND defender who heads directly to the endzone. Nick Sheridan makes a perfect throw to Carson Butler, who declines to put his hands on the ball (inside the ND 10 again) and it is intercepted… This can be described as nothing more than a comedy of errors, gaffes, and breaks that all went Notre Dame’s way. Of ND’s five touchdowns, ONE consisted of an actual drive… one. Unbelievable. Michigan’s D gave up one sustained drive and one big play… that’s it. Don’t believe me? Notre Dame’s second half on offense? Punt, punt, punt, punt, turnover on downs, INT, punt. Dominating indeed.

Read on! So in summary, ND’s scores for the game:

0-7: Brandon Minor drops a backwards pass (fumble) and ND puts together a masterful 3 play, 11 yard TD drive.
0-14: Shaw fumbles the ensuing kickoff. This time ND puts together a real prolonged march of a drive: 14 yards and 3 plays later? TD.
0-21: Michigan turns the ball over on downs and the 2nd play, ND completes a long TD pass following a ridiculously horrible defensive PI call on Warren.
10-28: The one and only drive of the football game: 87 yards down the field and score on a 1yd TD run.
17-35: Threet fumbles the snap and in the ensuing melee the ball is kicked directly to an ND player who races it 35 yards for a TD.

This was hardly a Wolverine struggle against a superior opponent, hardly a loss that leaves me hanging my head at the ineptness of my team. Michigan thoroughly outplayed Notre Dame today. Notre Dame capitalized on gifts from both the officials and from the Maize and Blue as you should, but is this cause for incredible alarm in Ann Arbor? No. Michigan’s offense has looked better each week, Sam McGuffie and Threet played GREAT on the road. The breaks went against Michigan today, and we paid dearly for all of them. Notre Dame took advantage and stole a football game despite being wholly outplayed.

That said, this football team will be just fine. Threet played a great football game today, Sam McGuffie did what we've all seen him do to highschool kids down in Texas, and the Michigan offense moved the football all day long. The defense gave up one sustained drive and one big play... There's a lot to take away from even a horrifyingly disappointing game like today. Short of the unforced turnovers, Michigan wins this football game going away.

Two weeks to get ready for the Badgers and the conference push. Disappointing start? Yes. I was horrendously wrong regarding my predictions to the start of this season (see, even I can admit it), but I still like what I’m seeing out of this football team. I have every confidence in Coach Rodriguez’s ability, and I think we're going to continue to see this team gel and improve on the execution that had plagued it so badly in the first two weeks of this season.

Also, EEEEEEEEEEEEEEE MCGUFFIE!!!

GO BLUE!

PS - For those who thought that Michigan / ND would be an abomination of football, I direct your attention over to Auburn / Miss State: 3-2 final... real pitchers duel over there.