Observations on the waxing of the Irish, 47-21!

1-Michigan forced 5 Irish turnovers into 24 points, converts 4 red zones into 20 points, and Chevrolet Player of the Game, Mario Manningham, catches 4 passes for 133 yards and 3 TDs. Michigan delivered and sends a message to its Big Ten rivals that we will be contending for the title this year.

2-Chad Henne rebounds from an opening 51 yard pass interception to Ndukwe that tied the game at 7-7, and completes 13 of his next 21 passes for 220 yards, 3 TDs to Manningham while absorbing 2 sacks. The Michigan offense gets 17 first downs, and was 4 of 13 on 3rd down conversions. Total offense was 340 yards in 63 plays, no fumbles. Michigan dominates time of possession by nearly 8 minutes.

3-Mike Hart carried 31 times for 124 yards and 1 TD. Michigan dominates time of possession by 6 minutes, and ends with 120 yards in net rushing. Steve Breaston also has a big game with 6 catches for 42 yards.

4-Michigan defense was solid! The Irish had no first downs in the 1st or 3rd quarters, and managed only 14 for the game. Quinn was 24 for 48 for 234 yards, 3 TDs and 3 interceptions, two by Burgess (one for a TD) and one by Hall. Darius Walker was held to 25 net yards on 10 carries. Michigan holds the Irish to 245 net yards in 66 offensive plays. Notre Dame was only 3 of 16 in 3rd and 4th down conversions. Trent and Hall did a nice job on Samardzija and McKnight limiting them to 9 catches, 108 yards and 2 TDs. Walker caught 7 passes underneath for 35 yards. Morgan Trent, Brandon Harrison and David Harris led the defense with 6 tackles each. Prescott Burgess had 5 tackles, and Shawn Crable and Jamar Adams had 4 each. Jamison, Brandon Graham and Crable had sacks. Alan Branch tipped a Quinn throw that led to Burgess' second interception. Late in the 4th quarter, we had 7 knockdowns and 10 hits on Brady. Notre Dame managed only one running first down, was held to 4 net yards in rushing and our defense forced them into 7 punts.

Ndukwe led the Irish with 11 tackles, one interception. Laws had 10 tackles and one sack. Abiamiri had 9 tackles, and Zbikowski 8.

5-Rivas has another extra point blocked by Landri, but hits his others plus 2 field goals. Obi Oluigbo forces an Irish fumble on Grimes on the kickoff leading to a Wolverine score. Ross Ryan does a nice job on 9 kickoffs with 2 touchbacks, and kickoff coverage has been great. 6 punts by Mesko and Ryan were adequate with one fair catch and one touchback, and Breaston had 4 punt returns for 64 yards helping us establish good field position. Michigan had 5 penalties for 70 yards while the Irish self-destructed with 11 penalties for 84 yards.

6-Wisconsin is our next challenge, the game will not be easy even at home. One game at a time, and Michigan State looked good today, too.
Observations on the first half with Notre Dame, 34-14!

1-Henne rebounds from an opening pick that set up a Notre Dame red zone opportunity tying the score at 7-7, and completes 8 of 12 for 165 yards and 3 TDs to Mario Manningham. Michigan converts 2 of 2 red zones for 14 points; ditto for Notre Dame with 2 for 2 on red zones for 14 points.

2-Mike Hart carries 17 times for 66 yards and 1 TD. Michigan dominates time of possession by 6 minutes. Michigan has 12 first downs, 235 yards in net offense with 34 plays with 70 net yards on the ground after one sack. Michigan was 3 of 6 in 3rd down conversion. Manningham has 111 yards on his 3 catches, all for TDs. Breaston has 3 catches for 29 yards.

3-Michigan created 2 turnovers into 14 points while Notre Dame forced one Michigan turnover into 7 points. Harris has had some big hits. Abiamiri leads the Irish with 7 tackles, Laws has 6 and Talley 5. Ndukwe took the Henne pick back 51 yards to the 4.

4-Michigan defense was solid holding the Irish to 6 first downs. Quinn was 10 for 20 for 85 yards, 2 TDs and one pick by Burgess for a M TD. Darius Walker was held to 21 net yards on 8 carries. Michigan holds the Irish to 107 net yards in 29 offensive plays. Notre Dame was 1 of 6 in 3rd down conversions. Trent and Hall have done a nice job on Samardzija limiting him to one catch just before half for one TD.

5-Rivas has another extra point blocked, but hits his others. Obi Oluigbo forces an Irish fumble on Grimes on the kickoff leading to a Wolverine score. Ross Ryan does a nice job on 5 kickoffs, and kickoff coverage has been great. Punts by Mesko have been adequate, and Breaston has 3 punt returns for 46 yards. Michigan only has one penalty while the Irish have been guilty of 5.

6-Defense must come up big and play 4 quarters, and offense must maintain time of possession advantage.