It’s been almost 24 hours and I still can’t put together the words to properly describe last night’s Michigan-Notre Dame spectacle. First, highlights.
Right after the game, my friend texted me, “That was the best/shittiest played game I have ever seen,” and I think he might be right. It was one of the sloppiest games you’ll ever see, but all anyone is talking about is the three touchdowns in the final 1:12, the swing of emotions from “HELL YES” to “DOOM” to “HAVE MY BABIES DENARD” (and the exact opposite for Notre Dame fans), and the fact that yes, Michigan can do night games with the best of them (side note: no one else gets Seven Nation Army anymore. That’s Michigan’s now). One guy ACTUALLY HAD A HEART ATTACK. The only thing missing was Ian Darke.
By waiting a day, it’s easier for me to stop and look at the game beyond the utter shenanigans of the last 72 seconds. If it’s possible to say that a guy that had 446 total yards didn’t have a great day, it can be said about Denard Robinson. As much of a man crush as I have on the guy right now, he was bailed out constantly by some twisted combination of his receivers, Notre Dame’s secondary and Gary Gray (who doesn’t deserve to be included with the rest of Notre Dame’s secondary right now). He completed 14 of his 24 passes… but three of them were to the aforementioned awful Notre Dame secondary. Still, that performance was nothing short of legendary, and it won’t be long before Michigan starts putting patches on the #16 jersey as well.
It’s amazing what Greg Mattison is able to do with Mike Martin and 10 MAC players. Of course, it didn’t hurt that Notre Dame started a 2-star QB with a noodle arm and got more predictable than Frank Caliendo’s jokes on 3rd down. Holding Notre Dame to just 7 points in the second half (before PREVENT DEATH in the last minute, that is) was the biggest reason why Michigan was able to come back.
Finally, I’m excited to watch the Notre Dame-Michigan State game next weekend. Notre Dame is way more talented than their 0-2 record and they will be in full-on desperation mode next Saturday. Michigan State might be running into a buzzsaw, but at least they can take comfort in the fact that they haved owned South Bend lately (that, and they curbstomped Florida Atlantic yesterday).
As for Michigan, the win is both a blessing and a curse. If they even begin to believe that they should be 2-0, they’re in for a rude awakening. They got a lot of breaks, but to their credit they took advantage of them. If Brady Hoke is truly the man for the job in Ann Arbor, he will be able to keep this team focused over the next few weeks as their schedule lightens considerably until Big Ten play in October.
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