Sep 22, 2012; South Bend, IN, USA; Notre Dame Fighting Irish linebacker Manti Te
Traditionally, the third year for Notre Dame Irish head coaches have been the most crucial and so far Brian Kelly has had the luck of the aformentioned Irish, and a lot of talent to back it up with. A week after rolling past Michigan State, sinking their title hopes, the destroyers of souls continued to bash the Spartans brother team, the Michigan Wolverines.
Well, the Irish sort of beat them. Sure the final score came looked like the Irish dominated on their own, and don’t discredit their win, but they won by properly utilizing a slew of turnovers from one-time Heisman hopeful Denard Robinson.
|
1 |
2 |
3 |
4 |
F |
|
|
#18 Michigan (2-2) |
0 |
0 |
0 |
6 |
6 |
|
#11 Notre Dame (4-0) |
0 |
10 |
0 |
3 |
13 |
Robinson pulled an Eli Manning and tossed three picks in the first half, but unlike Manning, Robinson wasn’t able to erase that turnover deficit on the scoreboard, as the Wolverines didn’t score their first points until just under 2 minutes into the fourth quarter, and it was kicker Brendan Gibbons leg that scored the points rather than Robinson’s arm or legs.
Every time Michigan got momentum going, Robinson found a way to mess it up — whether it be a turnover or poor reads of the Irish defense, Robinson was anything but a Heisman candidate on Saturday night.
Sure the Irish got a lucky break with the poor day Robinson but the Notre Dame defense forced that and the offense was able to work with what they were given. From a pessimistic point of view, the Irish were only able to muster up 13 points with all the turnovers Robinson had and it really should have been a blowout rather than a game the Wolverines almost came back in at the end.
But this is clearly a defensive Irish team, not an offensive juggernaut.
However, regardless of what the offense could have done, the Irish beat yet another ranked opponent and they did it convincingly. But the Irish, thanks to upsets within the Top 10, are going to find themselves inching even clsoer to a possible title shot as they will no doubt crack the Top 10 when the AP polls are released.
The question now is, how long before all this luck for the Irish runs out?
