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Notre Dame Comes Up Huge At The "Big House"

POSTED: Saturday, September 10, 2005

Brady Quinn completed 19-of-30 passes for 140 yards and two touchdowns to lead 20th-ranked Notre Dame past the third-ranked Michigan Wolverines, 17-10, at Michigan Stadium.

Darius Walker ran for 104 yards for the Fighting Irish (2-0), who followed up an impressive win over Pittsburgh last week with their first victory at the "Big House" since 1993.

Charlie Weis also became the first Notre Dame head coach since the legendary Knute Rockne in 1918 to begin his Irish career with back-to-back wins on the road.

"I'm happy for these guys," Weis said. "The defense made a lot of big plays."

Chad Henne was just 19-of-44 for 223 yards with a touchdown and an interception for the Wolverines (1-1), who had their 16-game home winning streak against non-conference opponents stopped.

Trailing by 14, Michigan started to make things interesting late in the fourth quarter. On 4th-and-3, Henne connected with freshman Mario Manningham from 25 yards out to make it a 17-10 game with 3:47 remaining.

After a three-and-out by the Irish, the Wolverines took over at their own 42, but did not get a first down and Notre Dame took over and ran out the clock to preserve the 10-point win.

Michigan, though, had its chances in the second half and wasted a pair of golden opportunities for scores earlier in the fourth quarter.

Following a Walker fumble, the Wolverines managed to set up a 1st-and-goal from the Irish seven. After two runs by Kevin Grady got Michigan to the five, Henne threw incomplete to Jason Avant. Then going for it on fourth down, Henne was again off the mark to Avant, giving Notre Dame the ball back on its own five.

Michigan again had a 1st-and-goal later in the stanza, but after one unsuccessful quarterback sneak, Henne fumbled the ball back to Notre Dame on the second attempt.

At first it looked as if Henne was just stopped, but after a review it was ruled a fumble.

Those weren't the only red-zone failures of the Wolverines.

Trailing by 11 at the half, Michigan seemed well on its way to finding the end zone on its opening possession of the second half. Notre Dame's defense, though, rose to the occasion, as Tom Zbikowski stepped in front of a Henne pass at the one-yard line and returned it 27 yards, thwarting the nearly six- minute drive.

Notre Dame marched right down the field on Michigan with its opening possession. Quinn capped the 76 yard march with a five-yard scoring strike to Rhema McKnight, who also had a 13-yard reception on the 12-play drive.

After Michigan reached the scoreboard on a 38-yard field goal, the Irish extended their lead even further on another five-yard touchdown pass from Quinn, this one to Jeff Samardzija, as Notre Dame carried a 14-3 advantage into the locker room.

Walker helped set up the scoring pass with back-to-back runs of 14 and 17 yards, respectively, and had 93 yards on 16 carries at the break.

The Irish ran their lead to 17-3 early in the fourth quarter when D.J. Fitzpatrick connected from 43 yards out.

Game Notes

Michigan's last home loss to a non-conference opponent came against Syracuse in 1998...Notre Dame trails the all-time series 14-18-1. Michigan is one of just 10 teams to hold a winning record over Notre Dame.

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