Perhaps the hardest hit in the Notre Dame-Michigan game was suffered by Irish head coach Charlie Weis, who tore his ACL and MCL when defensive end John Ryan crashed into him on the sidelines during the game. Weis was taken to the locker room on a stretcher, but he returned to coach the entire second half while sporting a pair of crutches.
Notre Dame took advantage of six Michigan turnovers to crush the Wolverines 35-17.
Fast Facts
• For the second straight year and the second time in the poll-era, Michigan and Notre Dame played when both were unranked.
• Notre Dame QB Jimmy Clausen tossed two touchdown passes. Clausen has thrown multiple touchdowns in four of his last five games dating back to last season.
• Rich Rodriguez became the first Michigan coach to start 1-2 or worse since Bump Elliot started 1-2 in 1959.
• Michigan lost four fumbles in the game, one shy of the team record.
Apparently a win over Michigan was enough for Weis to forget about the torn ligaments in his knee because not only did he stay on the sidelines after the incident, but he also conducted a full post game press conference, too. That’s pretty impressive considering how bad the injury looked on replay.
As for the game, the Wolverines were (and are) a complete mess but that shouldn’t take away from how big of a win this was for Weis and Notre Dame. Weis is trying to get his program’s identity back and this was a step in the right direction. The Irish outplayed UM in ever facet of the game and will look to use this as a spring board for the rest of the season.
