Notre Dame dominates Michigan, Shea Patterson: 3 takeaways

Notre Dame’s defense steals the spotlight from Michigan as they hold on to beat the Wolverines on Saturday night.

There were a lot of question marks coming into tonight’s game for both sides. Michigan needed their offensive line to step up and the debut of quarterback Shea Patterson was highly anticipated. If Notre Dame there was uncertainty with quarterback Brandon Wimbush and a lot of questions were going to be asked about how the offensive line would hold up against the Michigan defense.

The Irish were able to score 21 points in the first half and it was all they needed to hold off a second-half Michigan come back. After tonight’s game, Notre Dame has a big win they can add to their playoff resume. Meanwhile Michigan now knows they will need to essentially win their conference championship to make the playoffs.

Both teams have problem areas they will need to improve on as the season rolls on. It was not a pretty game but it did kick off a new era of the Michigan – Notre Dame rivalry and that is a win for College football fans everywhere. Here are the three takeaways from tonight’s game.

The Michigan offensive line did Shea Patterson no favors

The offensive line got better as the game went on but Patterson spent too much time with pressure in his face in the first half. It also took the offense three quarters to establish their run game. In total this offensive line is not good enough to hang with the tougher defenses on Michigan’s schedule. Michigan State, Wisconsin and Ohio State will bring a lot of pressure on the offensive line and overwhelm this group. Patterson was not spotless either this game, finishing 20-of-30 for 223 yards, an interception and a fumble that iced the game.

Brandon Wimbush is good enough to get the job done

Many doubted Brandon Wimbush coming into this game there were questions about how effective Wimbush would be if he needed to throw the ball. Michigan eventually was able to lock down the running game but Wimbush was able to answer with key throws in the air when he needed to. That should make Irish fans feel better about this team going forward. The offensive line held up against the Wolverines pass rush and gave Wimbush a chance to make plays. The offense as a whole collected 302 yards and Wimbush accounted for 229 of them.

Michigan’s defense is not bulletproof

The Wolverines defense was getting gashed for big plays in the first half. Notre Dame did almost all of their damage in the opening part of the game. Slowly the Michigan defense was able to lock in and started applying more pressure on the quarterback. Losing starting safety Josh Metellus in the first quarter certainly did not help the cause. The pass rush was able to get home and get their sacks but the run defense was concerning. On top of that, the defense hurt themselves even more with bad penalties that extended drives. The Michigan defense was supposed to be the star of the show but they were upstaged by a good-looking Notre Dame offense and an impressive Irish defense.