Saturday, September 1, 2018

Notre Dame takes opening week over Michigan

The Michigan Wolverines traveled to South Bend to take on Notre Dame in a highly touted Week 1 matchup. This is the first time the teams have played each other since the 2014. Michigan comes in ranked 14th and Notre Dame is ranked 12th. Both teams come in returning several key defensive players but who would come out on top in this matchup? Let's find out!
  The Fighting Irish would start with the ball at their own 25. They would face a third and 10 early but Brandon Wimbush would throw to Chase Claypool for 16 and a first down. Wimbush would go to Miles Boykin for 28 to the Michigan 31 yard line. On second and 10, Wimbush would run for five but the Wolverines would get called for a facemask and move the ball to the 13 yard line. Very next play, Jafar Armstrong would go for 13 yards for an early 7-0 Irish lead. The Wolverines would then get the ball and on third and 1, Karan Higdon would go for five yards for a first down. However, they would go as far as the Notre Dame 43 yard line and would be forced to punt. A good punt by Michigan would have Notre Dame start at their own 4 yard line. Facing a third and 9, Wimbush would go to Alize Mack for 26 yards and would get an extra 15 yards after a personal foul on Michigan and the player would get ejected from the game. On third and 6 at midfield, Wimbush would run for seven yards. Next play, Wimbush would go to the air and find Chris Finke for a 43 yard touchdown and a 14-0 Notre Dame lead. The Wolverines would take over and on second and 3, Shea Patterson would go to Donovan Peoples-Jones for four yards. On a third and 4, Patterson would find Zach Gentry for eight yards. Patterson would find Grant Perry for 12 to the Irish 29 yard line. On third and 6, Patterson would be sacked by Khalid Kareem for a 16 yard loss and would be forced to punt. The Wolverines would force an Irish three and out. Michigan would take over at the Irish 41 yard line. Higdon would run for eight yards on second and 6 as the first quarter came to an end. On third and 2, Patterson would find Nico Collins for eight yards to the Irish 15 yard line. On second and 2, Higdon would go for two yards for a first and goal at the five yard line. They wouldn't be able to punch into the end zone and would settle for a 28 yard field goal by Quinn Nordin to cut the Irish lead to 14-3. The Irish would go fifteen plays on the next drive and would end with Jafar Armstrong's second touchdown on the night, this time from four yards out. On the ensuing kickoff, Ambry Thomas would return it 99 yards for the score to make it 21-10. The Irish would fail to score on their next drive and the Wolverines would take a knee as we headed to halftime with Notre Dame leading 21-10.
 Michigan would start with the ball in the third quarter and would get to the Irish 16 yard line and would try for a field goal but the snap would be bobbled and the Wolverines failed to get any points on the board. The first Notre Dame drive of the half would end with an interception by Brandon Watson and returned to their own 49. The Wolverines would go four and out on the next drive. After both teams traded three and outs, the Irish would go on a ten play drive that would result in a 48 yard field goal by Justin Yoon for a 24-10 Irish lead. Next Michigan drive, Patterson would be intercepted by Julian Okwara. The Irish would fail to capitalize as they started the fourth quarter. The Wolverines would go on a long drive and get to the Irish 44 yard line but the Dylan McCaffrey's pass would fall incomplete. McCaffrey came in due to Patterson suffering through a nagging injury. The Irish would punt with 5:02 to go. Shea Patterson would come back in and would drive down the field and it would end with Higdon scoring from three yards out to cut the lead to 24-17. The Irish would get the ball back with 2:16 left and Michigan would have all of their timeouts remaining to stop the clock. The Irish would run the ball three times and Michigan would get the ball back with 1:48 to go and 75 yards to go. On second and 6, Patterson would find Perry for 16 to the 45. On the next play, Patterson would be strip sacked by Jerry Tillery and recovered by Te'von Coney as the Irish would survive and beat Michigan 24-17.

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