What They're Saying: Michigan Wolverines Football 45, Notre Dame 14
The Michigan Wolverines football team made their national statement with a 45-14 blowout of the Notre Dame Fighting Irish Saturday night at The Big House.
Here's a look around the web at what they're saying about the Wolverines after the big-time win:
The Wolverines led by three possessions early in the second quarter and never trailed. And when Notre Dame cut the deficit to 17-7 in the third quarter, Michigan responded with 28 consecutive points.
Saturday night's game was different from everything we've seen from the Wolverines this season in big moments. They took a 17-0 lead into halftime. The offense didn't need a deficit to jolt to life. Instead, Michigan marched the ball down the field and scored on its first three possessions.
The defense, meanwhile, didn't give up any explosive plays and shut down both the run and pass.
U-M proved it learned from last week's devastating loss at Penn State, when an early 21-0 deficit proved too large to overcome.
"I think the second half of the Penn State game, I thought we found our stride," said quarterback Shea Patterson. "We realized after that game, going into this week, from Monday’s practice that offensively we’ve got to come out that way start to finish.
"We can’t come out flat and expect to make a heroic comeback in the end. We’ve got to help out our defense — our defense played lights-out tonight. I thought we executed all night offensively. The results spoke for themselves.
The Wolverines seemed more prepared than Notre Dame, which was coming off a bye. And they didn't allow early mistakes like a roughing the punter penalty or blocked punt to spiral the game out of control. Nor was the offense adversely affected by the downpour that persisted through the first half; although Michigan passed the ball just four times in the first half, it still moved down the field thanks to the run game.
Now 6-2 and 4-2 in Big Ten play, Michigan is the clear third-best team in the Big Ten East. But at least the Wolverines are improving.
The offense was underwhelming all year, but seemed to get some things going in the second half against Penn State. But Michigan fell behind 21-0 in that one, and the late flurry of offensive execution was not enough to pull off the upset in Happy Valley.
But it certainly carried over against the Irish, despite the rainy conditions. Notably, the weather sort of forced Michigan to revert back to its power-heavy, run-first offense that it employed for years under Jim Harbaugh.
The Wolverines have three very winnable games in the coming weeks: Maryland, Michigan State and Indiana. After that Ohio State will visit The Big House. If Michigan keeps playing at a high level, perhaps that game will be more competitive than we all anticipated.
Chip Patterson, CBSSports.com: Michigan vs. Notre Dame score, takeaways
1. Harbaugh just doubled his number of top-10 wins: The Wolverines are now 2-10 against top-10 teams under Harbaugh, and that's not insignificant considering the context of Saturday night's win. Harbaugh was the subject of coaching rumor mill chatter, and the conversation of a supposed "exit strategy" had enough reach for him to send a letter to parents calling the claims "total crap." To follow that week with a win against a top-10 opponent both calms any consternation in the moment and adds a signature win for fans during a season where the Big Ten -- and beating Ohio State -- appear to be out of reach yet again.
Harbaugh's teams have been able to beat up on less-talented opponents throughout his tenure, but punching up has not been where his program has had great success. The rain indeed played a huge role, but to have Michigan better prepared to deal with the elements suggests the coaching staff and the locker room are not being shaken by what Harbaugh has described as "enemies"
Michigan has a signature victory for Harbaugh to build on for the rest of 2019 — one that will quiet the NFL rumor-mongering and top-10 failure criticism for at least for a few weeks. The Wolverines have road trips to Maryland and Indiana, but it's the November home games against Michigan State and No. 3 Ohio State where the true referendums will pick back up.
After all, Michigan is 29-4 at home under Harbaugh, and the Spartans and Buckeyes have dealt those four losses. This Michigan team responded after the latest loss at No. 6 Penn State on Oct. 19. While the criticisms picked up and the rain fell hard, Michigan picked the least-expected time to play its best game. Maybe that's the turning point for this program, and for the coach who finally won that big game as an underdog.
"I saw it coming," Harbaugh said. "Watching them prepare. Watching them practice. Watching the details in the meetings and how important it was to them. Day in day out, the work in practice, the growth, you can see it."
Now, maybe the No. 7 Fighting Irish aren’t that good. They arrived in Ann Arbor with a 5-1 record, a loss to Georgia and a narrow win over middling Southern Cal.
Still, they were a top-10 team. A playoff team a year ago. A roster built on top-flight recruiting classes and several future pros.
So … U-M took the field against a team of equal — or near-equal — talent and blitzed it. The defense played a lot like it did in the second half at Penn State, forcing repeated three-and-outs.
The Wolverines forced nine punts — nine. The held the Fighting Irish to 47 yards rushing and 133 passing, nearly 300 yards below its combined average.
Yes, it’s fair to wonder about Notre Dame’s schedule. It’s no longer fair, though, to wonder about U-M's mental toughness.
Not anymore.
A week ago, Michigan showed that Harbaugh was right about his team getting close.
It also showed how far it had come since Wisconsin, when that early fumble led to droopy heads and a dispirited sideline. The Wolverines didn’t yet know how to compete that day in Madison. Nor were they quite sure who they were.
Though they had a sense of what was inside of them.
“I believe we’ve always had it,” said sophomore linebacker Cameron McGrone. It just took until “the second half against Penn State (to find) what we can do.”
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