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Notre Dame, turnovers leave Michigan drenched

Sep 14, 2008 - 1:21 AM SOUTH BEND, Indiana (Ticker) -- On a wet and wild day, Notre Dame coach Charlie Weis was drenched and in pain - but still smiling.

Jimmy Clausen threw two touchdown passes Saturday and Notre Dame took advantage of six turnovers to defeat Michigan, 35-17, on a rain-swept afternoon.

In the first half, Weis was wiped out on the sideline when an unidentified Notre Dame player collided with him. He suffered a torn ACL and MCL and spent the second half, which was played in monsoon-like conditions, on crutches.

"I have the Tommy Brady injury," said Weis, referring to the season-ending injury suffered last week by the New England Patriots quarterback. "So, Tommy's got nothing on me."

At halftime, the school honored the 1988 Notre Dame team on the 20th anniversary of the Fighting Irish's last national championship. Lou Holtz, the coach of that squad, spoke at Friday's pep rally.

"Today was not Lou and not the '88 team, it was those guys stepping up and trying to earn the respect that Mo Crum was talking about at the pep rally yesterday," Weis said. "They wanted to make a statement that Notre Dame is not some garbage school out there that everyone can (pick) on all the time."

The loss continued a rough transition for the Wolverines (1-2) under new coach Rich Rodriguez. Michigan had trouble holding on to the ball even before the conditions deteriorated in the second half.

"The turnovers, are you kidding me?" Rodriguez said. "I wanted to hurry up, take a shower, get out of here as quick as we can. Obviously, disappointed in our execution."

Michigan running back Brandon Minor fumbled on the game's first possession and Michael Shaw coughed up the ball on the ensuing kickoff. The turnovers resulted in short touchdown drives of 11 and 14 yards and a 14-0 lead for the Fighting Irish (2-0) just four minutes into the game.

"I think the most frustrating thing about today was the unforced errors," Michigan quarterback Steven Threet said. "Too many times we gave them the ball with a short field with turnovers."

Clausen's 48-yard TD pass to a wide-open Golden Tate made it 21-0 later in the first quarter.

"The question (today) was whether or not we would show up in the first quarter," added Weis, whose team had to rally in the fourth quarter last week for an unimpressive 21-13 win over San Diego State.

A game billed as a defensive battle between two struggling offenses began as a shootout, and Michigan climbed back behind the rushing of Sam McGuffie, who ran for 131 yards. The Wolverines closed within 28-17 on Kevin Grady's 7-yard TD run with 5:41 left in the first half.

However, the conditions made it difficult for the offenses, and the only points of the second half came on a 35-yard fumble return by Notre Dame linebacker Brian Smith early in the fourth quarter.

Threet had some success against Notre Dame's secondary, completing 16-of-23 passes for 175 yards and a touchdown.

The Wolverines put together an impressive drive in the third quarter, marching from their 20 to the Fighting Irish's 5 as the rain poured down at Notre Dame Stadium. But Michigan came up empty as Grady fumbled on 2nd-and-goal while trying for extra yardage.

Michigan forced a punt after surrendering one first down and took over again in good field position at its 48, but Smith's fumble return settled the issue.

Robert Hughes paced Notre Dame on the ground with 79 yards and two touchdowns on 19 carries.