Forcier And Wolverines Show Heart, Poise in Statement Victory Over Irish

Maybe the folks who set the betting line in Las Vegas knew something after all.  Michigan entered the game on September 12, 2009 as only a 3 point underdog against the 18th rated Notre Dame Fighting Irish.  Considering almost everyone from national experts on ESPN to your local sports talk radio host was picking Notre Dame to win the game outright, this line seemed particularly small.  Michigan was coming into the season after the worst season in school history.  Not just a bad season, the WORST season in school history.  Sure, Michigan had looked impressive the previous week in pounding a quality Western Michigan program, but a victory over a MAC school, even one with an NFL QB prospect like Tim Hiller, is not enough to turn a program around.  Also, though Kalamazoo, MI and South Bend, IN are less than 75 miles apart they might as well be light years apart when it comes to the talent and tradition they put out on the football field on Saturdays in the fall.  Notre Dame was also coming into the game having blasted a Nevada team that has gone to four straight bowl games.  The Irish beat the Wolfpack 35-0, but everyone knows that the score could have been much worse had Charlie Weis wanted to run up the score.  All this, and the Irish were only a 3 point favorite?  I guess now we know why.

Watching the game from start to finish I came away with a few observations.  Notre Dame had more talent than Michigan.  Michigan's offense was good.  Notre Dame's offense was better.  Notre Dame's defense looked pretty bad.  Michigan's defense looked worse.  Every time Michigan had the ball, I thought they could score.  Every time Notre Dame had the ball, I thought they would score. 

Jimmy Clausen looked every bit the #1 prospect from a few years ago.  He routinely found open receivers against a Michigan secondary that was just a step or two slower than the Irish receivers.  He was given plenty of time to throw by a mammoth offensive line reminiscent of the huge lines that good midwestern teams often have.  The Irish were not one-dimensional either.  They were able to run at will against the smaller Wolverine defense.  They put up a massive 490 yards total offense. 

How could this not be enough?  Did they turn the ball over repeatedly like the Wolverines had done the year before?  No.  There was one fumble in the third quarter, and it was a critical one that led to a Wolverine score, but the turnover battle was even.  The Irish picked off an equally critical pass in the fourth quarter that led to seven points.

There are three different theories as to why the Wolverines won this game: officiating, coaching, and Tate Forcier.

The viewpoint of about half the Irish fans is that they got screwed by the officials.  It was a Big 10 crew, and they called the game so the Big 10 team would win.  If you want to subscribe to that viewpoint just do a Google search for "Notre Dame Whining Officiating" and you'll find no shortage of web sites with angry Irish fans screaming at the top of their lungs as if the reader is a member of congress conducting a town hall meeting on health care reform.  You'll also find a sprinkling of Wolverine fans on these sites posting just enough comments to piss off these Irish fans even more.  I thought the officiating was not great, but it seems you rarely get a great game out of a Big 10 crew.  Given the choice of a neutral crew or a Big 10 crew, most Michigan fans would choose the neutral crew.  Big 10 officiating crews haven't done many favors for the Wolverines traditionally.  I thought that the holding penalties were very inconsistent, and this went both ways.  I also thought that Armando Allen stepped out of bounds on that long screen pass in the first quarter.  That is what I saw, I'm not going to debate it, make up your own mind.  Officiating did not cost the Irish this game.  Unfortunately, it appears that Charlie Weis disagrees with me and is very subtly letting fans believe they got hosed to take some of the pressure off him and his staff.  He is sending a hand picked group of plays that he has sent to the Big 10 for further explanation and has told the press that there are more plays than usual in this collection.  I will only say two things about the officiating.  First, this series should not have the home team with in conference officials.  Even if all calls are made correctly, you are providing fodder for the visiting side.  It shouldn't be hard to find neutral conference officials to come in from the MAC, ACC, SEC, Big 12, etc.  Why create a controversy when there doesn't have to be one?  Also the NCAA has got to do something about the holding calls.  I saw many "real" holds that were not called, and saw many situations in which the defensive player gets over-matched and falls to the ground and an offensive lineman gets called for holding when there is none.  Make it consistent.

The other half of the Irish fans lay the blame squarely at the feet of Charlie Weis.  The big fella didn't do himself any favors either by telling the press before the game that if both teams played their best games, the Irish should win.  When he said this, he might as well have said "We have better players.  If we lose, blame the coaching."  I think most people feel that Weis and his staff got out-coached this game.  I'm one of them.  The biggest point of frustration for the Irish fans is with the play calling late in the fourth quarter when trying to run out the clock.  Instead of running the ball, Weis chose to throw two deep passes.  Both fell incomplete, and the Wolverines got the ball back with just enough time to score the game winning touchdown.  Does anyone remember a time during the game when Michigan was able to stop Notre Dame on two running plays in a row?  I can't.  Even one unsuccessful run burns more clock and forces Michigan to use a timeout.  Rich Rodriguez seemed to call the right plays at the right time.  They converted on both of their fourth down conversion attempts, including the memorable scamper to the end zone by Tate Forcier in the fourth quarter.  The defense made just enough adjustments to slow down the Irish for a quarter, and it turns out that was enough to get the win.  Coaching played a big part in this game.

The biggest reason the Wolverines won that classic game on Saturday was Tate Forcier.  The true freshman stepped onto the largest stage he's ever been on and seemed to thrive.  There should be no more talk of the "three headed monster" at quarterback for the Wolverines.  This show is Forcier's to run the rest of the season.  Denard Robinson is a valuable back-up and is a nice change-of-pace QB.  Robinson did not lose the QB battle.  Forcier won it.  The Wolverines will find a way to get Robinson's speed into the game as much as possible, but it might not be at QB.  Forcier should not garner any comparisons to Joe Montana, Fran Tarkenton, or Pat White just yet.  After all, this was only game two of what hopefully is a very good career at Michigan.  Nobody brings out the Michael Jordan comparisons if some freshman shooting guard goes off for 30, and nobody should be comparing Tate Forcier to Hall of Famers.  However, nobody can deny that this kid is something special.  He plays with poise, he plays with heart, and he isn't afraid of the big moment.  And for a day, because everyone who doesn't love Notre Dame hates Notre Dame, he got to be America's favorite quarterback.  He is a true freshman.  He might have a bad game (or two, or three) in him this season.  However the future is bright for Tate Forcier, and the present is brighter than anyone realistically expected two weeks ago.  Anyone except Tate Forcier, that is.