Going into this week, Notre Dame is playing their dreaded rival Michigan.  They are ranked number two in the nation, so ND is up for a challenge.  The Irish came in ranked only number 24 in the nation, even after their win over Penn State.

3 minute quarters on All-American

Notre Dame kicked off to start the game, so they would get the ball to start off the second half.  On Michigan's first drive, they go 3-and-out.  When I get the ball, Clausen threw an interception.  Once Michigan had the ball, Henne threw a deep touchdown, giving them the 7-0 lead.  Clausen continued to throw interceptions, and Michigan continued to take advantage on them.  Henne threw another touchdown pass, this time to Manningham.  At halftime, Notre Dame was down 14-0.

I made a personnel change to start off the half.  I benched Clausen in favor of Demetrius Jones. This turned out to be a sucess.  Using the running game, Aldrdige scored a touchdown to start off the drive.  Michigan's offense also started to slow down.  Maurice Crum started to clog up the middle, which resulted in many 3-and-outs for scUM.  On ND's first possesion of the fourth quarter, Aldridge scores a touchdown to tie it up at 14.  But then Michigan comes back.  Henne again throws a 79 yard touchdown pass to give the the lead with only 1:46 to go.  But using the running and short passing game, Jones and ND were unstoppable.  They scored on another Aldridge run with 22 seconds to go.  OVERTIME!

Notre Dame won the coin toss, and I chose to start on defense.  Michigan's passing game was on it in overtime, but they couldn't get in the endzone.  They ended up kicking a field goal from the one.  This gave Notre Dame a chance to end it.  On third down, Jones completed a big pass to get inside the five.  All he had to do was run it in.  He sneaks it up the middle for the 27-24 win.

Clausen threw for three interceptions, and Jones threw for one.  Jones had 125 yards, however. Aldridge had 67 yards and three touchdowns.  David Grimes had 75 yards on three catches.  Maurice Crum had six tackles, with one being for a loss.  Terrail Lambert had one interception, and Anthony Vernaglia had a sack.

Next week is Michigan State, the day all of my recruits are visiting.  This will be the most important game so far.