Commentary from an Angry Domer
Charlie Weis made sure Michigan would beat Notre Dame today. This Domer is not pleased.
And I love these quotes from Michigan:
A dropped TD pass didn’t deflate Tate Forcier. The Michigan freshman simply threw another one on the next play.
After LaTerryal Savory bobbled and dropped a reception that would’ve been a go-ahead touchdown with just seconds remaining, Forcier hit Greg Mathews for a 5-yard score with 11 seconds left, lifting the Wolverines to a 38-34 win over No. 18 Notre Dame on Saturday.
"It will go down in history as one of the greatest games in the Michigan-Notre Dame rivalry," Mathews said. "I’m glad I got a chance to play in it."
Armando Allen ran for a touchdown and got the 2-point conversion on a nifty Statue of Liberty play with 5:13 left after Jimmy Clausen threw his third touchdown pass to give the Fighting Irish (1-1) the lead. But Charlie Weis chose to throw instead of trying to run time off the clock and Notre Dame’s defense could not deny Forcier and the Wolverines (2-0).
"I think it was mistake that they were throwing the ball because they let us save our timeouts," Forcier said. "Those timeouts definitely came in handy.
"I wasn’t expecting them to throw the ball. It really helped us."
No kidding.
I was having dinner with a friend at a local Chinese restaurant watching the game. With Notre Dame in the lead, all Charlie Weis’ fair-haired boy Jimmy Clausen had to do was run the ball. Run time off the clock. Make Michigan use its time-outs. Just don’t, don’t, under any circumstances, don’t throw the ball. Don’t take a chance on an interception. Don’t throw the ball. Control the game. And, of course, don’t throw the ball.
But Charlie had other plans. Charlie wanted to make Notre Dame work for the victory, and give Michigan another chance.
Charlie ordered pass plays. And Clausen failed miserably, unable to connect with any of his receivers, some of his passes flying wildly off-target.
Clausen completed 25 of 42 passes for 336 yards and three TDs, but he missed some throws throughout the game that proved to be costly.
That kind of thing tends to happen when you’re over-confident.
My dad tells me Weis boasted before the game that ND had a superior team, that Michigan would be no problem at all.
Sorry, Charlie. That’s the kind of arrogance that loses ball games.
Congratulations to Michigan. Did Charlie Weis bet against the Irish? I doubt it.
But he made certain they wouldn’t win.