(Notre Dame Football News) – Michigan quarterback Denard Robinson shredded the Notre Dame defense for 288 yards rushing on 28 carries on Saturday, and his last two yard run with 27 seconds remaining secured the winning points in a 28-24 Wolverine victory. Both teams gained over 500 yards on offense, but the Irish committed three turnovers to none for Michigan. Notre Dame passed for 381 yards, but Dayne Crist’s last-ditch Hail Mary toss sailed out of the end zone and Brian Kelly suffered his first loss as the Irish head coach.
Notre Dame came out firing as Crist took his team in for a score and a quick 7-0 lead. He was injured during the drive, however, and was forced to the bench for the remainder of the half. Meanwhile, Robinson cranked up the Michigan attack and took advantage of mistakes by a pair of untested Irish quarterbacks, Tommy Rees and Nate Montana. Robinson guided his team to a 14-7 advantage late in the second quarter, and Notre Dame was just hoping to keep the game close at that point in the hopes that Crist could make up the difference after intermission.
Pinned deep in his own territory with under two minutes left in the half, the sophomore sensation suddenly burst virtually untouched around right end for 87 yards and a 21-7 advantage. Montana tried to rally Notre Dame with his best pass of the day that Theo Riddick snagged at the Wolverine three yard line, but there was time for only one more play after Riddick stepped out of bounds. Eschewing the field goal to the shock and amazement of 80,000 fans, Kelly rolled the dice by going for a touchdown. No one was open however, and Montana’s pass into the end zone never had a prayer.
Despite this disappointment, the Irish roared back behind Crist in the third quarter to close within 21-17. Two missed field goals by Michigan’s Brendan Gibbons kept the visitors off the scoreboard through the third and most of the fourth quarters. With four minutes left and still trailing by four, it was Crist who was now backed into the shadow of his own goal. Amazingly, tight end Kyle Rudolph was able to get behind the Wolverine secondary and Crist hit him in stride near midfield. The junior All-American candidate pulled in the ball and raced to the end zone for the go-ahead points with 3:41 left in the game.
This proved to be enough time for Robinson to put together a successful drive of his own. Mixing short passes and darting runs, he moved the chains until Michigan faced a third down and five at the Irish 17 with under a minute remaining. Robinson calmly dropped back and hit Roy Roundtree over the middle for 15 yards and a first down. He then wasted no time by scoring easily on the next play.
Notre Dame managed to get downfield in the final 20 seconds following the kickoff behind Crist, Michael Floyd, and a late hit penalty on the Wolverine defense, but the final desperation heave had no chance of success.
Crist moved the team well when he was in the game and there may be a tendency to make excuses for the loss based on his extended absence from the lineup, there were several other factors that contributed more directly to this defeat. First, the Irish defense did not stop Robinson at all, either on the ground or through the air. They had no sacks or negative yardage plays whatsoever, and Michigan’s offensive line was able to push the Irish line backwards throughout the day.
Let’s review the questions raised in the game preview:
Will the Wolverines wear down the Irish defense by winning the time of possession? Michigan enjoyed a 34-26 minute time of possession advantage in the game, and controlled the ball for 22 minutes in the second half. It was therefore no surprise on the final drive that the Irish were not able to make a play to preserve their lead.
Can Notre Dame’s offensive line help generate 150 rush yards? Notre Dame managed a respectable 153 rushing yards, but many of them were the result of extraordinary efforts by the running backs. The Irish gained only 5 yards on the ground in the fourth quarter, and failed to score a touchdown with a first and goal from the Wolverine 7 in the third period.
Will Crist have the time and poise in passing situations to move the chains? Crist had time in the pocket and made a few excellent throws, but he also missed open receivers on several occasions.
Which special team will make a game-changing play? Michigan almost did themselves in with two awful but very makeable field goal attempts.
Can Robinson approach last week’s passing performance? His percentage was down from last week’s 19 for 22 performance, but he hit the ones he needed to and the Irish defenders played soft enough to enable him. On a couple of occasions, Notre Dame didn’t bother to cover anyone.
Will Notre Dame be hurt by missed tackles and Robinson’s scrambling ability? Not only hurt, but mortally wounded. Michigan’s offensive line deserves a lot of the credit though.
Will the Irish receivers dominate Michigan’s weak secondary? Well, 381 yards is not too shabby but that weak secondary was good enough to catch three Irish passes.
Notre Dame will seek redemption on the road next week at Michigan State. I expect this defeat will sting for a few days and serve as motivation in East Lansing, but there are concerns regarding the defense and Crist’s well-being that make it difficult to judge the overall progress of this team. It’s much too soon to formulate any opinions as to when this multi-year malaise of gut-wrenching defeats might finally come to an end. For now, it’s still the status quo.
Ward says:
“Christ had time in the pocket and made a few excellent throws, but he also missed open receivers on several occasions.”
Are you saying Jesus Christ can’t hit an open receiver or a curve ball?
smsetnor says:
Ward wins the internet for the day. That is the only good thing so far about the Irish losing. Thank you, Ward.
Dave says:
While ND has made some modest improvements in the run game they still cannot run effectively on a consistent basis to stop opposing teams from blitzing on passing downs. The passing game has flashes of brilliance but is still plagued by poor timing and bad routes at times throughout the game. This killed several drives yesterday. I guess this is just the normal growing pains of a new offensive system.
It seems Kelly didn’t know how to create mismatches between Floyd, Riddick and an injury riddled and depleted Michigan secondary. Last year Weis at least was able to do that with Tate and Floyd and I figured Kelly would try to isolate Floyd on the average Michigan corners especially on third downs.
At first I wanted to believe ND is making progress but upon reflection the jury’s still out. ND played very hard last year and actually contained Robinson the times he carried the ball with all out blitzing.
If Michigan falters in the Big Ten part of their schedule like last year and if opposing Big Ten teams with less talent than ND find ways to shut down Robinson then we’ll know that ND is still being coached by rank amateurs.
As Lou Somogyi of BGI said ND finds a way to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory. This early in Kelly’s tenure that hasn’t changed. A win next week is desperately needed.
zeker says:
How can you judge anything about Robinson from last year? He is a completely different player this year. Do you think if he would have been this dominating last year, he would have been sitting the bench? If you’re going to try and make a comparison between this year and last year, at least pick something relavent.
Dave says:
The point is that if Robinson averages 250-300 all purpose yds against Big Ten teams while ND yielded 502 then you have to question the capability of the coaching staff to prepare for the offensive playmakers of opposing teams.
Joe says:
Great football game no matter who you were rooting for – but an L is an L and we have no time for depression. 6 days – I’m fired up for East Lansing already.
Thought the D looked good especially for the amount of time they spent out there against a 12 man offense. Just wished we had more pressure on DR – when we did, most of the time, he passed inaccurately. Better tackling than last week and good hits – let’s have that and more for Mich St.
Coach Kelly hit it on the head pre- and post-game: we WERE prepared for Michigan (unfortunately only with our starters). Fun to see another Montana on the field and we’ll be looking for drastic improvements in our string QBs obviously. #2 in every position has got to be as ready as #1 if we want to be confident and prominent.
I like this football team a lot. Great energy, hard playing and overall I think well coached. Completely agree that it is way too early for anything more than musings about this team. Let’s just watch some football, skip the complaining and blaming and do the hard thing: stay motivated and optimistic. Why? Cause you love Notre Dame.
BEAT SPARTANS
JJH says:
Love BK:…. But he made a huge mistake at the end of the first half, leaving 3 points on the field by going for the TD. Add 3pts to the Irish first half and now the score is ND 27, Mich 21 after the Rudolph 95 yard catch and run TD. Mich scores with 3:41 and it’s 28-27 Mich. The Irish march to the Mich 27 and instead of having to go for 6, they kick a very makeable 35 yard FG… Final score …Irish 30-Mich 28.
RJ says:
If BK didn’t think Crist was coming back, he had to go for the TD. Based on the offense’s inability to move the ball without Crist and the fact that Michigan had already scored 21 (translation: on pace for 42), you can’t settle for 3. It’s easy to say kick the FG now when you have all the facts…like the final score and Crist’s ability to play in the 2nd half.
Qu1ps says:
Huge blunder by Kelly leaving three points on the field by trying for a td with an inexperienced quarterback in the closing moments of the first half. A coach is supposed to do his best job at putting his team in a position to win the game. The Irish got to the Michigan 27 yard line for the last play of the game. What was the best position to win the game, throwing an uncatchable pass into the endzone or having those three points and attempting a 44 yard field goal on the last play of the game?
kmjackson says:
The fact that we were beaten in the last seconds of the game is not something that I would have predicted after Crist left the game. Loved the adaptation by Kelly of the offense to 2 tight end sets with Montana to adjust to Michigan’s loading the box. QB injuries are common but if Crist was in the game for more than 10 minutes I think we would have won handily.
Crist has no touch whatsoever. If Clausen had the pass opportunities that Crist did he would have had 450 yards. He is an upgrade on mobility but his accuracy, especially on the long ball is poor.
Our line play on both sides of the ball was mediocre to poor. That is a poor sign.
Despite giving up huge chunks of yardage the defense kept us in this game in the second half. Disappointing to see Michigan convert on the critical drive at the end of the game, the game is won or lost right there. We have not crossed over that threshold.
jomammagon says:
Crist WAS in the game for more than 10 minutes, he was in for the entire 2nd half and threw an interception, as well as launching that last ball over the endzone. Using the injury as an excuse is popular, but Michigan’s only decent DB was out too, and who’s to say he doesn’t stop any of those long passes?
John says:
Don’t blame the defense being tired for the last drive, blame the coaching. Robinson completed all of his passes to the right side in front of our CBs. At some point you have to rotate a safety and let the CB jump that short pass. One time, whether you get the turnover or not, would have changed what Robinson was able to do.
Chucket says:
The other observation regarding this loss must consider that victories need talented players, quite in addition to all the coaching in the world. Do we actually have the talent? It seems the entire QB position is hurting (for whatever reasons, and let’s be careful about a seeming concussion on Dayne Crist), and the Receivers position is also hurting (how about letting the ball out of your hand before crossing the goal line?)…and what’s with supposed star receivers who don’t catch balls and who fumble them? And why are interceptions missing? This is not to blame, but to recognize the seemingly lower level of talent the team has. No good to imagine so many victories in the near future if talent is scarce. And here’s all the wishful energy for protection and endurance for Armando Allen, our only running back with demonstrated talent. All the coaching in the world cannot coach victories out of lesser talent.
Chris says:
To answer your question regarding talent — the answer is yes. This team is built to win right now.
ND is stacked at skill positions. We measure better than Michigan at around 18 or 19 of 22 positions. Crist is not Claussen, but he scored on 4 of 8 possessions and ND was winning 24-7 when he was in the game.
Agreed that a couple of dropped passes are too many. Floyd is legit NFL player right now. Rudolph also has a nice NFL career in front of him. Allen is a well above average RB and there is depth there (Wood flahses brilliance and Hughes is still a load) and the O-Line is playing much more cohesively. Defensively, they are playing well as a group — gave up one legit drive, one big play, and 2 scores set up off picks.
Weis consistently brought in talent (although he could not convert with it). The cupboard is not bare for BK. It’s the coaches job to develop it and get the players ready and to exploit mismatches. the second string isn’t preppred. At all. No situational awareness at the end of the halves. Having a backup run a trick play on his very first play. Can’t work a mismatch with a 6-4 220 lb all American going against below average cornerbacks — these are all on the head coach.
Jim Arch says:
While I too am disappointed at the loss, I can’t believe some already have the knives out for Kelly (e.g., “if…, we’ll know ND is till being coached by rank amateurs”). Hindsight is 20/20 and if you can’t see this is a still learning, but fundamentally improved team, you’ll never be satisfied.
Jason says:
We shouldn’t blame Kelly for going for the touchdown right before halftime. At that time we were also unsure if Crist was coming back in and that was the best opportunity the offense had (and foreseeably would have) in his absence.
Your criticism of the defense is fair, particularly the D-line. But it’s hard to say it isn’t improved. It gave up 38 points last year to a weaker team. This year it gave up 28, only 21 of which came off of traditional drives. Or put another way, ND led 24-7 with Crist in the game. Whether they should or not, turnovers and lack of offensive production impact the defense, particularly when combined with losing your starting QB. See Texas v. Alabama BCS title game.
I agree with Dave that we have had a problem getting Floyd the ball in the first two games. If teams are doubling him all the time then the other receivers should be more open than I have seen them. But I do think Crist has improved from the Purdue game to here. I still suspect that by mid-October, Crist will be a very different quarterback if he stays healthy.
John says:
The Defense gave up 231 yards in 56 plays with Crist in the Game (4.13 yds/play). They gave up 295 yards in 27 plays when he was out (10.9 yds/play). Too many quick drives when Crist was out. Defense holds and Rees throws and interception on a bad play call. While it is true that other factors contributed to the loss, the loss of the starting quarterback when there was NO viable option to back him up was the biggest factor. With Crist in, you probably eliminate 2 of 3 interceptions and have a fresher defense for the second half. I thought the defense played much better than the numbers showed. And the running game was impressive. That was 153 yards when Michigan was able to line up to stop the run, without worrying about the pass, for almost half of the game.
Chris says:
Agreed. The defense gave up one drive, one broken play, and 2 short yardage scores set up by picks. There were also out there for a long time. The defense is playing fine.
Our prep of the second string (or complete lack thereof), our inabiliby to adjust properly, and our inability to exploit huge mismatches in our favor were what sunk us.
football says:
I think Brian Kelly will cost ND some games this year because of his aggressive nature. Even at Cincy, going for it on 4th was par for the course
Steve says:
Our Irish team is a work in progress and vast improvement in many areas compared to a year ago. There are new offensive and defensive schemes to adjust to and that will take time. This team will get better and better as the year goes on and I think we will get some big wins this season. Unfortunately, we are inexperienced in many back up positions but these young men are learning the game on the job. Go Irish!
al horney says:
It really is outrageous for ND Nation to make comments like “coached by rank amatuers after 2 games. This is a better team that plays harder than any wies team. To question the 3 points—insane–we had the lead and should have held it. Lets be fair and give this some time. Yes we didn’t contain Robinson—but in most ways–we played good tough football.
John2 says:
It’s easy to be a critic. We came closer to beating Michigan this year than last. In fact, had we converted the last play, we would have beaten them and Robinson’s yards would mean nada. A player like him magnifies any mistakes. Would Fourcier have done as well? The ND players are absorbing all the new techniques, etc. It’s repetition and execution that will make the team better. If we were playing Bowling Green and Akron next, we could refine our skills before one or two big games. But we are not. Be glad the players (and coaches) are improving each week by learning what the team can do and cannot do. The wins will come but the quality of opponents for ND doesn’t let up for a while. No one likes to lose to a rival. Dick Rod is in his third year trying to get right. If the loss to Michigan didn’t bother George Atkinson’s decision, why should it bother you! Despite playing hard, Michigan knows it took a superhuman effort (Robinson) to beat us. The QBs now know what they have to work on, so let’s rejoice when they do get it right. The players are getting better each week. Let’s get better against Sparty. Go Irish!
Chris says:
Is it deja vu all over again for ND? Brilliant play calls by the head coach. Going for the TD before half will be questioned for some time.
Tommy Rees comes in for an injured Crist. His first play ever. What’s the call to help get your freshman QB settled? A hand-off, a simple screen? No, a flea-flicker for an INT.
Oh the good old days with Charlie Weis!
Palk says:
The funny thing is, it was a flea-flicker 10 yard dig route. What the hell?!?! I’m only 26, but every flea-flicker I’ve ever seen ends with a bomb down field (somewhere in the 40-60 yard range) NOT a 10 yard crossing route. I’ll never understand that call.
As for the end of the 1st half. If Kelly feels Crist’s return is doubtful you have to go for the TD because the fact that we were down there was a bit flukey to begin with. We may not have gotten that close again with Montana and I have no problem with the call. He actually had Floyd (deep) or Riddick (short) open on the play but threw to no one in particular for some reason.
The Piper says:
Tired of hearing about the unattempted FG at the end of the 1st half. Its safe to assume that Kelly was told Crist’s return in the game “is far from certain.” So we’re going to get it to 21-10 and hope that Montana can deliver 2 more hail marys to just get us into scoring position? Forget it.
Besides, if we kick that FG and the score is 28-27 after Michigan scores (which is unlikely because we probably then wouldve gone for 2 after our last TD to make it 26-21/28-21 instead of 27-21), UM’s defense is going to play completely differently. They were letting us throw the ball to the 35 because we needed a TD. If it was a FG difference (say 28-26) then they probably cover the underneath a bit tighter.
Its also possible we dont go for a 95yd bomb to Kyle Rudolph given the score wouldve been 21-20. We wouldnt have wanted to end the game with that high risk a pass, given we only wouldve needed a FG. We probably play more conservatively and hope our defense can stop them giving us better FG position with ~1min to go.
Fact is that the 2nd guessing on the FG is a joke. In a normal world where we have a REAL QB, this isn’t even a question for Kelly. He kicks the FG. But hindsight is better than 20-20. And knowing what we knew then:
Our only QB’s return is uncertain, and we may only get down here 2 more times all game. What do you do?
I can’t fault the coach for going for it. A Weis-ian move wouldve been to go for it even with your best QB healthy and in the game. That was not the case here.
So please quit with the hypotheticals of what we may have gotten a look at late in the game.
Lastly – 2009 v 2010 is so different. In 2009, we all could see that Michigan had a muppet at QB, and he was shredding us. They were AWFUL. In 2010, they have one of the best athletes in the country. Its frustrating, but this was not a bad team. Lets give BK some time, whether he goes 3-1 or 1-3 in the next 4.
Jaxx says:
Well i was as disappointed as anyone with the loss but does anyone really believe that ND loses this game is Crist doesn’t get hurt and is out for the first half?? Michigan wasn’t going to stop the Irish offense if Crist plays. And the Irish end with 153 total yards rushing…that total is more like 250 if Michigan isn’t able to load 6-7-8 guys in the box to force Montana to pass the ball.
And the Defense i believe did a great Job. 3-14 on third downs… 10 punts, they gave up yards not points and that is what it’s all about. They held the fort down until Crist got back on the field and held the U/M offense to 7 points in the second half…giving the team a chance to win after spending 11 more minutes on the field than the Michigan D. Not an easy thing especially with dealing with an athlete and scheme like Michigan has.
It’s one game. A game that could have been won. But i believe the Kelley difference will come in attitude through preparation. They need to pick each other up, dust each other off and go into East Lansing with a chip on their shoulders… I mean just look as some of these posts??? Questioning the Coaching after 2 games from a coach who hasn’t lost a regular season game in his last 20 or worse questioning the talent on the offensive side of the ball with studs like Floyd, Allen, Jones, Rudolf, Wood, Riddick…ect. These guys would start for just about every D-1 college program… and let’s keep in mind that Crist is only heading into his 3rd college start…
The future is bright my friends. But don’t going running for the shades just yet. It will come.
Palk says:
I agree, if Crist is in I’m almost positive we win this game, but he wasn’t so we have to go with what we got. Having said that, the comment about giving up yards, not points is obviously dead on. Sure Robinson had 502 yds of total offense and yet, it still came down to a 4th down conversion and a TD with :27 left. Plus Michigan had to sweat out a last second hail mary. So…despite this AMAZING performance we were never really out of the game, especially with Crist under center. I’m as impressed as anyone with Robinson, but I wouldn’t want our offense run that way because it’s not football to me…it’s a backyard pick up game that will work sometimes, but not every time.
And I’m already tired of the media hype around this Shoelace character. Again, he totaled 502 yds of offense in a near loss. I don’t know Michigan’s schedule, but Iowa, Wisconsin, Penn St., Ohio St. supposedly have a better team than our Irish and I’ll bet they have a better answer for Shoelace by the time they face him. I think Rich Rod will still be under fire at the end of the year. You can only rely on 1 player for so long.
I’m looking forward to the rest of the season and we won’t have another game against a player like Robinson so I like our chances. Go Irish!
mpsND'72 says:
Well . . . here we are, after Week 2, and the cracks and questions begin to appear. What else did all of you really expect? If you expected Kelly to come out and correct “all the bad” in the football program, on and off the field, in the first few weeks – even the first year – you’re badly mistaken. If you think that Kelly can be considered “the next great ND head coach since . . .” after the first few games, or after year one, you’re badly mistaken. The guy needs 3 years, before we really know what he can or can’t do; with his style, in his system, with his players. 3 years should give everyone a very good idea about what we have in Kelly. Forget about his previous experience. This is Notre Dame. All that said . . .
There really were some good things and bad things about last Saturday. In all my years watching ND football – I graduated in 1972, and spent a good 12 years before that living and dying with the Irish every Saturday – this last game was one of the “strangest” games that I’ve ever seen. There were some brilliant moments, reminiscent of the best years. However, there were some bonehead moments, reminiscent of the very worst. Yes, the very worst. Needless to say, I have concerns. We’ll see where we go from here.
So, buckle up, guys and gals! Like I’ve said before, this is going to be interesting. I just hope that the “interesting good” outweighs the “interesting bad.”
MIKE PO says:
Has our coaching staff ever heard of a defense that spys on the QB?!! There is no way Robinson should of beat us by running the ball. Make him pass for 300 yds instead of him shredding us by running the ball. It’s unbelievable that a coaching staff can’t stop one guy!
Scotty Mac says:
1st time post. The article and comments drove me to it. This team is fundamentally a MUCH better team than those of the last fifteen years. I drove ten hours to watch that game and while I’m bummed they didn’t win, it is still fun to watch a well-coached team. In time, the Irish will rock! With BK at the helm.
george says:
The Michigan loss was tough, but the performance of the team (both on defense and offense) was vastly improved from past years. Even Ohio State would have difficulty overcoming three turnovers, and the loss of a starting quarterback for 1 and 1/2 quarters. Hopefully, Kelly will soon realize that he does not have to take unnecessary risks (like he did at the end of the first half) in order to win with this team. We all need to remind ourselves that Crist has only started two college football games, and that both Kelly and his team are still taking a crash course in familiarity. The true test of Kelly’s ability as a head coach will come in the latter part of the schedule; if the team continues to improve, then Kelly is doing something right. If the team’s performance declines (as it did with Weis), then we all need to worry. I believe that both will improve over every game.
Ted Kazmar says:
Let’s hope one of ND’s QBs grow up pretty quick or this is going to be another bad year. Kelly is learning how really hard it is to win at ND, the pressure is intense, especially on the QB and the coach.
Teo says:
Three observations
1.) While Dayne Crist has a great arm, his touch is lacking right now. He just doesn’t seem to know when and how hard to toss a pass. The end zone play at the end of the game illustrates this. You can’t throw a ball out of the end zone on the last play of the game. Ever. Hopefully, he develops some of the touch-stuff over time.
2.) We have decent running backs. Armando is tough. He makes people miss, breaks tackles and has a way of punishing defenders. Wood’s a decent back, too. He’s elusive and pretty quick.
3.) Defensive weaknesses are still very apparent. With the game on the line, on a few different occasions, we could not get the penetration we needed. Consequently, we couldn’t stop Robinson, who also exposed our tackling weaknesses (how many teams on UM’s schedule will give Robinson 280 rushing yards this season?).
Two questions:
1.) Will Rees/Montana respectably settle the backup dispute?
2.) Can the defensive line get to Cousins this week?
One prediction
Michigan State will be too much for the Irish on the road: Sparty 31-21.
Palk says:
To quote Mike Mayock…”Are you kidding me??” (he said it about 10 times on Saturday). And I’m only referring to the prediction and saying that Sparty will be too much for us. I agree with the other comments. I think we looked pretty good against Purdue and outside of 1 amazing athlete we held Michigan fairly well. Again, sure he had 502 yards of offense, but he only scored 7 points in the 2nd half. I’m confident in our defense against traditional style offenses, we just can’t defend backyard/pick-up game ball very well, apparently. I’ll take our Irish in this one. It’s always a tough game with Michigan St. I’ve got Notre Dame 34-24.