If there was ever a game that you just felt that ND would win, it was this one. Notre Dame moved the ball well in all but the third quarter. There, a turnover and a holding penalty on Sam Young harmed the Irish’s chance of creating any momentum. Twice, Notre Dame fell behind by 11 points, and twice they were able to retake the lead. It just seemed that this was the one game where ND would find a way to win. But yet it was Michigan that found the way to win. Below are my thoughts on what went wrong, as well as some ramblings about what this game shows for the Irish’s future.
Penalties
Notre Dame made several mistakes that stopped or set back drives. There was Sam Young’s penalty, that was basically a 90 yard penalty as it took away a great pass and catch between Clausen and Rudolph. That drive ended with a punt, and it likely would have ended with a touchdown. Allen had a big screen pass that was brought back because of another holding call. There were several other times where holding penalties brought plays back, or just set the team back anyway. The amount that happened was inexcusable. Penalties hurt teams, hurt drives, and likely were a major reason why the Irish could not pull this game out.
Allen’s Overturned TD
We ended up with 3 points on a field goal, but Allen had taken a screen pass to the house. However, the refs overturned the run and said that Allen had stepped out of bounds. While I don’t completely dispute that Allen may have stepped out, it was close and I don’t think it was indisputable evidence that he did step on the white line. Further, a ref was right on top of Allen when he supposedly stepped out and he didn’t call it. I think that the combination of that ref and the lack of indisputable evidence should have allowed that touchdown to stand.
Not Converting drives into Touchdowns
On the first drive, Notre Dame went downfield and looked good. Then Clausen missed Tate on 2nd down on a surefire TD, then Weis called a QB draw play on 3rd down that put the ball on the 11. At that point, Tausch missed his first field goal attempt ever. That hurt in that we didn’t get three points. However, Tausch did convert his other two attempts. But that leads us to the next point… The Irish moved the ball on two other occasions, and then were unsuccessful at converting those drives into TDs. If they had done that on either drive, the game would have gone into overtime. We need to convert those opportunities, especially in a big away game like this.
Coaching
Weis went deep on 2nd a long when the Irish were trying to burn clock. I realize that Allen had hobbled off of the field, and therefore Weis was less confident in Hughes and Gray (especially Gray after his fumble) to be able to burn out the clock. However, I find it inexcusable that the Irish then only burnt 35 seconds off of the clock on that drive. They needed to burn more time, and going deep was costly. I understood the need to throw on 3rd down as you needed a first down. But it would have been better to try to get it to third and 5 rather than 3 and 9. Of course, this might not have mattered if Shaq Evans and Clausen were on the same page, as Clausen’s pass was more than enough to get the first down and burn another UM timeout. Still, the issue here was that Weis got cute. If the gamble worked, we could call him a gutsy genius. It didn’t, and I think it helped lead to ND’s loss because it gave UM all day to go down the field for their final score, and allowed them to have more timeouts.
The Future
There was a lot of good that came out of this game. The Irish showed a lot of fight and should have come away with a win. The team definitely has a dynamic offense, and if the team can ride Allen in a running game, then ND will be in even better shape. Hopefully, Floyd and Allen are both healthy. Our game against MSU looks even more winnable after their loss to Central Michigan. There still is no evidence to doubt that the offense is good enough to get the team 4-1 going into USC. But it takes away the hope of 5-0. As for the defense, it showed a lot of moxie on forcing several short UM drives. However, it also gave up considerable yards on other drives and ND looked bad at times when the defense was needed to force a stop. They allowed two huge 4th down conversions, one of which they allowed UM to take the ball on a 32 yard run for a TD. That cannot happen in the future if the team expects to finish 10-2 or better this season.
UM – Could it be that UM will actually be the dark horse in the Big Ten? Obviously, a win over this ND team does not make them USC, but I’d say Rodriguez has the team headed in the right direction. If he does have the team headed in the right way, and if the team finishes better than 7-5 this season, then this loss may not look as bad in the future. However, right now it hurts, and it hurts badly.
Filed under: Notre Dame
http://www.ndnation.com/blog/2009/09/irish-cant-close-at-michigan.html
NDNation was similar in it’s review. Notre Dame can still do a lot this season. The question is if they can put this game behind them and concentrate on MSU. I still expect 4-1 going into USC, and I saw a USC team last night who ND can score with (though I very much question our ability to stop their running game). So, the season is far from lost. And Michigan could be a much better team than most expected. But it will be interesting to see where the team goes from here, and to see what Weis can do the rest of the way (and if he learned anything himself…).