COLLEGE FOOTBALL RECAP

Notre Dame overpowers Michigan as rivalry ends

The Sports Xchange

September 06, 2014 at 11:14 pm.

Everett Golson has the Irish on a role to start the season. (Matt Cashore-USA TODAY Sports)

SOUTH BEND, Ind. — One of college football’s oldest rivalries has come to a stop.

Notre Dame might be just getting started.

Notre Dame quarterback Everett Golson passed for 226 yards and three touchdowns Saturday, and a swarming defense lifted the No. 16 Fighting Irish to a 31-0 win against Michigan at Notre Dame Stadium. The Wolverines were shut out for the first time since Oct. 27, 1984 at Iowa and for the first time in the history of a Notre Dame rivalry that started in 1887 and spanned 42 games.

Michigan exited the rivalry with a 24-17-1 series lead, but its offense struggled against a young, aggressive defense. Notre Dame (2-0) limited Michigan (1-1) to 289 yards of total offense and prompted four turnovers by Wolverines quarterback Devin Gardner a week after Michigan’s 52-point outburst against Appalachian State.

Notre Dame provided timely plays on offense, as Golson maintained his hot start to the season after sitting out the 2013 campaign. The Irish built upon a 21-point halftime lead with Golson’s second touchdown pass to wide receiver Amir Carlisle in the third quarter and a 43-yard field goal by Kyle Brindza in the fourth quarter.

Notre Dame opened the scoring when running back Cam McDaniel barreled into the end zone for a 1-yard touchdown run with 1:50 remaining in the first quarter. Michigan linebacker Jake Ryan leaped across the line of scrimmage to try to make a mid-air, goal-line stop, but McDaniel stayed low to avoid Ryan’s outstretched arms.

Notre Dame increased its lead to 14-0 with a 13-play, 80-yard drive that ended with a 1-yard touchdown pass from Golson to Carlisle with 3:58 remaining in the second quarter. Four plays earlier, Golson had sustained the drive by converting on fourth-and-3 with an 11-yard strike to wide receiver Will Fuller.

After Michigan went three-and-out on the next series, Notre Dame marched 56 yards in 50 seconds to go ahead 21-0. Fuller leaped in the right corner of the end zone to bring down a 24-yard touchdown pass with 34 seconds remaining in the first half.

Gardner completed his first six pass attempts and marched Michigan within scoring range on each of its first two possessions, but neither drive led to points. Kicker Matt Wile pushed a 46-yard field-goal attempt wide right on the first series, and Wile followed that with a low 48-yard attempt that was deflected at the line.

NOTES: Notre Dame S Austin Collinsworth, a team captain and the son of NFL broadcaster Cris Collinsworth, missed his second consecutive game because of a knee injury. … Michigan LB Desmond Morgan also missed the game because of an injury. He wore a cast on his right arm on the sideline. … An academic fraud investigation continued to sideline five Notre Dame players: CB KeiVarae Russell, WR DaVaris Daniels, DE Ishaq Williams, LB Kendall Moore and S Eilar Hardy.