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Irish
Prevail over Bumbling Wolverines
First clever ND drive, poor Henne play stop #3 Blue
ANN ARBOR, MICHIGAN
SEPTEMBER 11, 2005
There were certainly a lot of
questions going into the annual rematch with Notre Dame. The
Irish were coming off a decisive win over ranked Pitt, and
Michigan's defense showed some holes in their
win over Northern Illinois.
But in one of the most baffling performances in recent times, the
Wolverines stepped on themselves leading to their first home loss
since 2002.
To show you how dumbfounding
this game was, check out the table below. To the left, the
conventional wisdom on the street before kick-off. To the
right, what actually happened during the game. Some of the
pre-game hype was validated, but most left you scratching your head:
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Pre-game conventional
wisdom |
What Actually happened |
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The game would be a
shoot-out. The over/under was just around 60 points. |
Both offenses
struggled for the most part, in the 17-10 score.
|
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The Notre Dame win
over Pitt was meaningless. On Friday night Pitt lost
to Ohio. |
Notre Dame scored at
will against Pitt and moved the ball right down the field in
one of the most impressive opening drives witnessed in
Michigan stadium (12 plays, no third downs!). That said, the Pitt game wasn't
meaningless - Notre Dame has talent.
|
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Notre Dame couldn't
stop Michigan's brilliant offense |
Notre Dame stopped
Michigan's offense several times, never really giving a long
drive. And the great Michigan offense looked terrible,
led by the inexplicable bumbling by Chad Henne.
|
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Chad Henne is on his
way to be the best quarterback in Michigan history.
"Pro scouts are salivating over him". |
Sports radio callers
after the game were referring to the sophomore QB as "Chad
Navarre". It was one of the worst, mistake-filled game
by a QB. Speaking of Navarre, he missed receivers and
had balls blocked quite often. But the combination of
fumbles, battled balls, poor throws, interceptions and
overall poor play made this one for the ages. It was
awful.
|
|
#3 ranked Michigan was
overrated. |
This one was correct,
perhaps understated.
|
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Coach Weis and the
Irish would expose Michigan's terrible defense. |
It looked like it
would go that way after the first drive, but overall,
Michigan's defense kept them in the game and really played
well. After things started to turn M's way you thought
we might be seeing another
Minnesota/Michigan
State-like comeback, but it was not to be. Henne
couldn't do anything.
|
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Michigan has a shot to
get to the 2006 Rose Bowl, the BCS National championship. |
HA! No chance.
And Notre Dame's schedule is way too tough to expect to see
the Irish there. At this point, you have to be
concerned as a Michigan fan. With
road games against
Wisconsin and Michigan State, you have to wonder whether M
will return home 2-3.
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Here's why maybe we
shouldn't be so concerned:
- Henne has played well if
not exceptional in every game up to now. Could this be a
fluke? Was Henne sick/injured/rattled?
- Michigan's offense is
centered around its offense line. The line had to be shuffled
several times including a new center. Henne didn't have a lot
of time.
- The Blue has lost in
September 6 out of the past 7
years, now 7 of 8. They've won 3 Big Ten titles in that
time period.
- Not many people note that
Mike Hart went down. If you don't understand Hart's value, you
didn't watch the games last year. Kevin Grady did fine in his
absence with the exception of the fumbles. Hart is a great
runner and they'll need him back full strength. I found
this picture on Notre Dame's official site, I think this might
actually be
the play which Hart got injured. Rumor is that it is a
hamstring.
- The offense isn't as bad as
it showed, they just didn't execute. On the bright side, if
the defense plays that well they will contend.
- The Irish got lucky.
They did - see the photo above - that touchdown should have been
picked or at least batted down.
Related:
Notre Dame Takes Down Michigan, 28-20
Michigan Crushes Notre Dame in 2003: 38-0
Notre Dame defeats Michigan (2002). A comedy of
Errors by the Wolverines
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