Michigan Wolverines Football: U-M 45, ND 14 — Notes, Quotes & Observations

ANN ARBOR, Mich. — We heard it all week, or at least starting Wednesday when the weather forecast changed …

Who does the weather favor in a monsoon?

The answer is almost always the same — the team that runs the ball better and makes less mistakes. Michigan proved to be that team in a 45-14 win over Notre Dame nobody could have seen coming.

Those who predicted it would be ... well, it was a stretch. The Wolverines came in with the 80th ranked run offense in the country, Notre Dame No. 22, and U-M’s offense had been error-prone, to say the least. The Fighting Irish were still playing for their slim playoff lives and, with a schedule that included a number of ACC also-rans remaining, had a chance to put itself in position for a really nice finish.

And now it’s over, thanks to a Michigan team that thoroughly dominated the Fighting Irish from start to finish, staring with both lines of scrimmage. Defensive coordinator Don Brown pitched another masterpiece, as head coach Jim Harbaugh would call it, his shutout ruined only be the latest installment of incompetent officiating (a second phantom pass interference penalty in two weeks) and a late, “meaningless” touchdown against the third team we’d guess he won't view as such.

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