Notre Dame Edges Michigan, 28-20

Turnovers hurt Wolverines in loss.

Chad Henne passed for 235 yards in his second start.

Chad Henne passed for 235 yards in his second start.

Sept. 11, 2004

SOUTH BEND, Ind. (AP) - Notre Dame used an unlikely hero to earn another surprising victory over Michigan.

Freshman Darius Walker had two fourth-quarter touchdowns and the Fighting Irish renewed hope for a turnaround season by upsetting the eighth-ranked Wolverines 28-20 on Saturday.

Walker, who did not play in Notre Dame's opening game, ran for 115 yards on 31 carries - the first Irish freshman to rush for more than 100 yards since Julius Jones had 146 yards against Navy in 1999.

The Wolverines (1-1) lost their opening road game for a fifth straight year.

The Irish were trailing 12-7 late in the third quarter when Wolverines freshman Chad Henne threw high to Braylon Edwards. The ball bounced high off Edwards' hands and cornerback Dwight Ellick intercepted it at the Michigan 29. Brady Quinn completed a pair of passes to Maurice Stovall for 19 yards, the second pass to the 6-yard line. Walker ran around right end untouched for the TD to give the Irish a 14-12 lead.

On Michigan's next possession, the Wolverines went three-and-out. On the punt, Jerome Collins broke up the middle and Chase Anastasio came in around the right end and they combined to block the punt. Corey Mays recovered the ball on the Michigan 5. Walker scored on the next play, this time going untouched around left end.

The Irish pulled away in the fourth quarter when Rashon Powers-Neal caught a play-action pass from Quinn for an 8-yard touchdown to make it 28-12.

The Wolverines closed to 28-20 with 2:27 left on a 25-yard TD pass from Henne to Steve Breaston. Henne and Breaston then connected for a two-point play. But Notre Dame clinched the win when Stovall recovered the onside kick.

Quinn was 10-of-20 passing for 178 yards with three interceptions and a fumble. Stovall had five catches for 82 yards. Henne, making just his second start, was 25-of-40 passing for 240 yards. Edwards had 12 catches for 129 yards.

Notre Dame's last three wins over Top 10 teams have all been against Michigan.


 

 

Notre Dame ended a scoreless streak of six quarters against the Wolverines when Quinn threw a 46-yard touchdown pass to Matt Shelton. Shelton leaped up over Michigan cornerback Markus Curry, caught the underthrown ball and fell backward into the end zone.

Both defenses came up with big plays in the first half, with the Irish defense forcing Michigan to settle for three field goals and the Wolverines stopping Notre Dame tailback Ryan Grant on a fourth-and-1 in the second quarter.

Garrett Rivas kicked four field goals for the Wolverines. His 47-yard field goal in the third quarter matched his career long set against Iowa last year and put Michigan up 12-7.