Notre Dame’s restructured defense made a giant leap forward on Saturday night as it dominated a surprisingly hapless Michigan squad by 31-0. The Irish forced four turnovers and came within a questionable referee’s call of scoring a touchdown on the last play of the game on an interception return by Elijah Shumate. The Wolverines also could not stop the passing of Everett Golson to Will Fuller and Amir Carlisle, who accounted for 16 receptions, 150 yards and three touchdowns. Notre Dame’s special teams also got into the act, as Kyle Brindza drilled a 43-yard field goal and pinned Michigan deep in its own territory with booming punts and kickoffs. The Irish also blocked a field goal attempt by Matt Wile, who was wide right on his team’s only other scoring chance.

Michigan moved the ball fairly well in the early going, but was forced to throw the ball more than planned once Golson started to put points on the board with crisp passes to his receivers. Quarterback Devin Gardner was not up to the task, thanks to good pressure by Notre Dame, an opportunistic Irish secondary, and the failure of Wolverine receivers other than Devin Funchess to pose a real threat.

After getting on the board late in the first quarter thanks to a one yard touchdown run by Cam McDaniel, the Irish finished the first half with a flourish for the second consecutive week. An 80-yard, 13 play scoring drive exhausted most of the second period, with Golson hitting Carlisle on a short slant to make it a 14-0 game. The defense followed by forcing a three and out, and Cody Riggs took the ensuing punt to his 44 yard line with 1:24 left in the half. Golson went to work despite having no timeouts, and 50 seconds later found Fuller in single coverage down the right sideline for a 24 yard score and a 21-0 lead.

The Wolverines posed no threat in the second half, which turned out to be little more than a 90-minute celebration in the stands for the Irish faithful. The defense continued to harass Gardner and the starters stayed in the game long enough to record the shutout they obviously coveted. Shumate appeared to add six more points on the game’s final play by taking an interception more than 50 yards to the end zone, but Notre Dame was flagged for blocking Gardner a little too well on the return.

Even the Big Ten referees could not dampen the spirits of the Notre Dame players, coaches and fans, who did not try to hide their emotions after sending Michigan packing for what may be a long time. The only negative on the night for the hosts was their failure to get the running game going, gaining only 54 yards in 31 carries. The strategy by the Wolverines to focus its manpower on stopping the run was ultimately unsuccessful, however, as the Michigan secondary could not contain the Irish receivers with single coverage.

Let’s take a fast look at the pregame questions, even though the answers should be fairly obvious.

Which quarterback will do a better job of making plays to keep drives alive and put points on the board? Golson clicked on several third down passes and really did not have to scramble. The Irish managed to frustrate Gardner and force him into mistakes.

Can the Irish protect Golson long enough to throw the ball deep downfield? Michigan recorded one intentional grounding penalty against Notre Dame, but otherwise did not generate enough pressure to take Golson out of his game.

Which team will be able to sustain its running game? Neither team sustained the run. Michigan’s defense was geared to stop the Irish tailbacks, while the Wolverine tandem managed only 2.9 yards per carry.

Will Notre Dame avoid catastrophic lapses in the defensive backfield? Definitely. Three starters had interceptions – Cody Riggs, Max Redfield and Shumate – and got strong performances from everyone including Drue Tranquill and Matthias Farley.

Which special teams will have the greatest impact on the overall outcome? Wile struggled with bad misses for the Wolverines while Brindza was terrific for Notre Dame. Riggs contributed some positive yardage on punt returns although he did fumble one that teammate James Onwualu alertly scooped up.

Can the Irish find a way to defend the Devin to Devin (Gardner to Funchess) passing combination? Funchess had a few nice catches, but the Irish knocked away a few third down throws to him at critical moments.

Which offense will perform best in the red zone? Since Michigan never made it to the red zone, you can figure this out for yourselves.

With two 31-point victories under their belt, the Irish have been able to incorporate a number of young players into the defensive lineup without paying a price. This growth and development process should continue for the rest of this month with Purdue and Syracuse next in line, but October promises to bring more significant challenges. On this night, though, Michigan failed to hold up its end of the rivalry equation, and will seek to repair its shattered ego next week by bullying Miami of Ohio.