Instant Analysis - Sept. 12
Michigan 38 ... Notre Dame 34
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Michigan
38 ... Notre Dame 34
Pete
Fiutak
Fine, I'll be the one who says
it: Notre Dame played a stupid game.
This was supposed to be the team of mature veterans
who kept the mistakes to a minimum while being
unfazed at every turn. On the flip side, Michigan,
who was supposed to be too young, too inexperienced,
and not jelled enough made almost all the right
plays at the right time (it must have been all the
extra practice).
It wasn't just the nine penalties, it was the nine
penalties on top of the special teams breakdown to
allow a 94-yard kickoff return for a score. It was
the coaching decision to not throw to Michael Floyd,
who was <i>killing </i> the Michigan corners
finishing with seven catches for 131 yards. (It's
rule No. 1 in the NFL; if you have a weakling out
there to exploit, you hammer it over and over and
over again. Charlie Weis should know that.) It was
unnecessarily going for two with 9:46 to play when
your offense is humming and appearing certain to put
more points on the board later, necessitating a
two-point conversion attempt (which was successful)
four minutes later. It was throwing the ball late,
when Armando Allen was averaging almost seven yards
per carry and wasn't being stopped all game long. It
was Golden Tate not being able to get down on the
second-to-last play of the game while letting the
time run out. And it was letting a true freshman
complete 23-of-33 passes along with a game-winning
touchdown drive. Tate Forcier might be special, but
a veteran coaching staff should figure out how to
disguise the coverages just enough, and be able to
come up with enough pressure and adjustments, to
screw him up.
Meanwhile, Forcier played like a grizzled,
stone-cold veteran. Greg Mathews, after putting
Michigan ahead for good with his five-yard touchdown
grab, took a quick break and handed the ball to the
official instead of risking any sort of a
celebration call. The Michigan sideline, after the
biggest touchdown play in the young lives of most of
the players, didn't set foot one on the field and
celebrated on the sideline. It was a mature, smart,
tough performance by the team that was supposed to
screw up when pushed. And the other team is
going to be kicking itself for the rest of the
season.
Richard
Cirminiello
Tate Forcier is going to be to Michigan what Pat White was to West Virginia. You can just feel it.
Just two games into his college career, Forcier has energized the Wolverine program, quite an accomplishment for a true freshman. The Mountaineers didn’t start to take off until White arrived from Daphne, Ala. Forcier has a chance to have a similar impact for head coach Rich Rodriguez.
Watching Forcier lead Michigan to the game-winning, last-minute drive over Notre Dame, a capper to a brilliant afternoon, you got the sense he was born for this assignment. More than just his accurate throws and athleticism outside the pocket, he played with the poise and the determination of a third-year NFL pro. You just don’t do what he did in Ann Arbor in the second game of your college career. Undoubtedly, the best is yet to come for No. 5, which means the same is likely true for the program. With that boyish, 1960’s Kennedy look and unflappable demeanor, Forcier is going to be the big man on campus for the next four years.
Matt Zemek
1) Charlie Weis made the right decision to throw the ball late, as much as a lot of armchair quarterbacks might disagree. Armando Allen, who destroyed Michigan all afternoon, got dinged up just before the final series of downs on ND’s ill-fated drive in the game’s 58th minute of play. Blame the inability of the Irish to execute a simple out pattern on 3rd and 10; if Notre Dame gets that pitch-and-catch, game over. That was your ballgame.
2) Rich Rodriguez is like John Calipari. He works in the gray areas of his profession, but damn, can he coach ‘em up at game time. A pooch punt from his quarterback, smart use of timeouts, and his work with Tate Forcier all speak to grade-A preparation and strategy from the Wolverines’ head coach. After Western Michigan, it was still too early to tell if UM would amount to much; after all, Western Michigan lost to Indiana today. But after this win over Notre Dame, the Maize and Blue can now be accorded elevated status once again. (Not top 10, but “back in business” status for sure.)
Michael Bradley
It may be overstating the case to say that Tate Forcier is a god, but the way he led the Wolverines back from the abyss Saturday against Notre Dame, it’s entirely possible some of the Michigan community could be worshipping him as one. The Irish looked like it had this one dead and buried, but two silly pass plays by Charlie Weis let Michigan conserve its timeouts, and then Forcier went to work. As for the Irish, they looked good in absorbing the third-quarter body blow, but they couldn’t close the deal. Rich Rodriguez is now the toast of Ann Arbor, while Charlie Weis isn’t exactly going to be getting love letters from the Irish crowd. Michigan’s rebuilding project just received a giant boost, and Notre Dame’s hopes for a BCS berth have suffered a huge blow. At a time when Rodriguez was being questioned from almost every corner, Michigan appears to be back.