Notre Dame football should be embarrassed with their effort vs. Michigan

Notre Dame football fans, players, coaches, Rudy and even Touchdown Jesus should be embarrassed by the product they put on the field vs. Michigan.

Notre Dame had a road game with Michigan in the Big House, but the football team never showed up and the Wolverines had a lopsided 45-14 win on a rainy night in Ann Arbor that should leave everyone embarrassed.

Michigan did whatever they wanted with rival Notre Dame, taking a 17-0 lead at halftime as a torrential downpour made the passing games for both teams virtually non-existant. That led to Michigan running the ball on seemingly every play and why not when they were running it with the type of efficiency and production that they were.

The Wolverines embarrassed Notre Dame on a night Jim Harbaugh snapped an eight-game losing streak vs. Top-10 teams and improving to 2-10 overall at Michigan. Notre Dame was so bad that they made Harbaugh look good in a big game.

Michigan ran up the score when Dylan McCaffrey relieved Shea Patterson in the fourth quarter as they relished in the blowout over their rival. This is the last game between the two blue bloods until the rivalry resumes in 2033.

Notre Dame football players, coaches and fans will be thinking about this destruction until then.

It wasn’t just that they lost, but how they lost that is most concerning. It was like Notre Dame quit in the second quarter. It got a little rainy and their uniforms and socks got wet and they wanted to go back home. It was a terrible look, especially for a team with a chance to still make the College Football Playoff.

That’s over now after losing to Michigan that had broadcaster Kirk Herbstreit calling it embarrassing and a no-show performance.

It’s hard to argue with that when Michigan outgained Notre Dame 437-180. The most telling sign Notre Dame was indifferent to playing this football game was the disparity in rushing yards. Michigan ran for 303 yards on 5.7 yards per carry with Hassan Haskins running for a game-high 149 and Zach Charbonnet adding 74 yards and a pair of touchdowns. This was the sign of a classic Michigan football team that can win games because of their dominating offensive line and running backs.

This was a throwback game in the rain and while it wasn’t pretty and the conditions made it difficult, Notre Dame has zero excuse to be held to 47 rushing yards on 31 carries. That 1.5 yards per carry average was all you needed to see in the box score to know the story of this game.

Michigan could run the ball and Notre Dame couldn’t against Don Brown’s stifling defense that made the Fighting Irish tap out like an MMA fighter. Notre Dame’s playoff pulse is gone, they have the sting from this loss to loom over the rivalry until 2033 and if they don’t take this as a wake-up call, they’ll have another loss or two before the year is over.

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