Notre Dame gets blown out in the Big House by Michigan, 45-14

The Notre Dame Fighting Irish got their butts handed to them by the Michigan Wolverines, 45-14, on a wet and windy night in Ann Arbor. In what might be one of the most offensively inept performances by Notre Dame since at least 2007, there was very little that worked — and a whole lot that went up in flames.

On a stalled drive early in the first quarter, the Irish pinned Michigan back inside the 10 yard line and forced a punt. Bo Bauer was able to het a hand on it for a block, but Jonathan Jones tried jumping on a wet a wobbly ball that eventually found its way into the arms of a Michigan player.

And so began the insanity.

Michigan ended up with a field goal after that drive, but Notre Dame absolutely did not show up. Two yard run after two yard run on top of terrible 3rd down play calls. Ian Book added to the madness with terrible reads, happy feet, and an unwillingness to step up in the pocket to find his second read.

Michigan rode their running game in the first half and rolled the Irish defense. As both teams went into halftime with the Irish down 17-0, there was basically nothing that was working for Notre Dame.

Late in the 3rd quarter, Notre Dame finally found the endzone via an Ian Book 7 yard TD pass to Cole Kmet. That score gave new life to the Irish, but Michigan answered with a 75 yard drive to make it 24-7.

It only got worse from there as Jim Harbaugh and Don Brown decided to cut the throats of Notre Dame and suck out every drop of blood with a 21 point 4th quarter. Phil Jurkovec was finally inserted in the 4th quarter, and after a terrible start for himself (a theme for the night) he did manage to find Javon McKinley for a TD with a little under 4 minutes left in the game.

Shea Patterson was just 6-12 for 100 yards — and this game still happened. It was one of the worst games I ever witnessed.