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Norte Dame's Darius Walker runs between U-Ms Pat Massey, left, and Pierre Woods. Walker led the Irish with 104 yards on 26 carries.U-M out of luck in Irish stunner
Wolverines' No. 3 ranking comes into question as Notre Dame exposes weakness after weakness.
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ANN ARBOR -- Michigan was there, on the cusp of a comeback, again and again. The game was there to be grabbed, but with astonishing creativity, the Wolverines kept tossing their chances away.
On a day of lost and found, U-M lost plenty, and Notre Dame found something. The Irish are back on the rise, make no mistake about that. And U-M is headed somewhere else, its hyped hopes tattered, its offense shockingly broken in half -- by injury and ineffectiveness.
The Irish beat the Wolverines 17-10 on Saturday in a game that was supposed to reveal a lot, and maybe it did. Before 111,386 spectators in Michigan Stadium, Notre Dame showed it can play physical and fancy, and college football is now fully aware the Golden Domers are dangerous again.
U-M revealed it wasn't worthy of the No. 3 ranking in the country, and Chad Henne revealed he's a sophomore quarterback with plenty to learn. Of all the ways U-M could have seen its 16-game home winning streak snapped -- losing to Notre Dame in Michigan Stadium for the first time since 1993 -- this was the stunner.
While U-M's defense rose up admirably, its touted offense fell apart, starting with a leg injury to tailback Mike Hart, who left after the first quarter and didn't return.
"Give Notre Dame credit; they did the things they needed to do to win," U-M coach Lloyd Carr said. "We lost a football game, but I think we found a defense. We played physical, the effort I like to see. ... But offensively, we made too many mistakes."
Carr didn't want to pin it on his quarterback, but truthfully, that's where a lot of the trouble began. Henne completed 19 of 44 passes and twice turned the ball over near the goal line, once on a fumble as he tried to sneak in from the 1, once on an interception from the 12.
Henne also tossed a fourth-down incompletion from Notre Dame's 5. All three aborted chances came in the second half, when U-M shook its doldrums after trailing 17-3 but couldn't shake the mistakes.
"I didn't play to my ability," Henne said. "There were a lot of opportunities, I just didn't execute. It wasn't the pressure. I'm used to that."
Notre Dame brought the pressure, and under first-year coach Charlie Weis, the heat is rising. Michigan State visits South Bend next weekend, and that could be a fascinating test for both teams.
Upon further review, this was more than Irish luck -- although Notre Dame did benefit from two instant-replay reversals in the frantic final five minutes, taking the ball from U-M in each case. Fans in the student section responded by pelting the end zone with empty plastic water bottles, especially on the second one, when U-M's apparent recovery of a Brady Quinn fumble was overturned because Quinn was ruled down.
It was more a fit of frustration than legitimate anger because both officiating reversals appeared to be appropriate. In some ways, it was a fitting culmination of the Wolverines' long, long day.
As the game began, it was hard to tell what was real and what was imagined. The Irish, 5-7 a year ago, opened their season with a stomping of Pittsburgh. The Wolverines opened with a victory over Northern Illinois that spawned more questions than answers.
These are the two winningest programs in college football history, and their annual clash always comes early, when no one's sure about anything. It's the season's first barometer, a big barometer, and you could tell from the huge noise in the huge stadium that something important was going to be revealed. Or exposed.
With the focus on Weis' dynamic offense, and the scrutiny on U-M's suspect defense, someone forgot to look elsewhere. The Wolverines were ranked third almost exclusively because of their offense.
Oops. Stumble by stumble, injury by injury, it frayed, then shredded, then collapsed.
Hart, the bullish sophomore tailback, was injured early, and his status for next week is uncertain. Tight end Tim Massaquoi and tackle Mike Kolodziej missed the game with injuries, joining standout tackle Jake Long, who was injured before the season.
But we thought this offense was too high-powered to be stopped by anything. We thought Henne was experienced enough to handle anything. We were horribly mistaken.
Notre Dame's defense -- its alleged weakness -- harassed Henne, who came out erratic and stayed that way. Several of his passes were knocked down at the line, and he often barely had time to throw the ball away.
"We didn't protect very well," Carr said. "We have no excuses. But we haven't been a very lucky football team from an injury standpoint."
The injuries did show on the offensive line. But if the Wolverines really were good enough and deep enough to contend for a national title, they would have overcome it. They couldn't, although goodness, they had their chances.
Maybe that's why Carr and his players took so long -- nearly 40 minutes -- to talk afterward. This one won't be easy to shake, even though the defense did stuff Quinn and tailback Darius Walker much of the second half.
Long before that, the Irish had slammed U-M's offense, which never got unleashed or even untracked. At times, Henne looked lost without his big-play receiver, Braylon Edwards, now in the NFL.
Lost and found? U-M lost some national luster, and Notre Dame regained a bit more.
"I'm so happy for our team that they won such a tough game on the road," an ebullient Weis said. "But you start worrying about Michigan State already."
U-M has its own worries. It's a battered team right now, physically and emotionally. The defense was better but the result was crushing. For Henne and the offense, it's their turn to search.
You can reach Bob Wojnowski at bob.wojnowski@detnews.com.
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