Michigan cleans house, routs Notre Dame 38-0
Hart backs up guarantee as Fighting Irish match worst-ever start at 0-3
 Rebecca Cook / Reuters Michigan's Mike Hart scores a touchdown against Notre Dame during the first half. |
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ANN ARBOR, Mich. - Michigan’s off the hook for now. It’s Notre Dame’s turn to face the critics alone.
The Wolverines humbled the Fighting Irish 38-0 Saturday in an unprecedented matchup of major college football’s winningest programs — without a win or ranking between them.
Mike Hart ran for 187 yards on 35 carries and scored two touchdowns to back-up his guarantee of a victory, and freshman Ryan Mallett threw for three scores in a game that seemed over soon after it began.
“I like being in the spotlight. For the wrong reasons? No,” Hart said. “Hopefully, we’ll be in the spotlight for right reasons now.”
Michigan (1-2) avoided its first 0-3 start in seven decades, and handed the Irish their worst loss since beating them by the same score four years ago.
Notre Dame (0-3) is winless after three games for just the second time in school history, putting coach Charlie Weis in unwanted company with Bob Davie. The Irish have lost five straight for the first time since the 1985-86 seasons, Gerry Faust’s last year and Lou Holtz’s first.
“My confidence isn’t shaken,” Weis said. “But as an organization, we haven’t done a very good job.”
Michigan looked like it might be able to salvage its season, while the Irish appeared to be even worse than expected after losing to Penn State and Georgia Tech by a combined 51 points.
“We’re starting training camp tomorrow,” Weis said. “Obviously, after three games, this team is headed in the wrong direction. The only way I know how to fix that is to go back to the start of training camp and start swinging.”
Hart, who after last week’s loss 39-7 to Oregon guaranteed the Wolverines would beat Notre Dame, had a strong performance even against a defense stacked to stop him.
“I knew I was going to perform because you can’t say something like that and not perform,” Hart said. “Especially with Chad (Henne) going down, it was more on my shoulders. I accept it. I love it, and I’m going to keep doing what I have to do to help the team win.”
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“Never again,” he said. “That was a one-time thing.”
Michigan’s defense suddenly was swarming to the football after giving up 73 points in losses to Appalachian State and Oregon.
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“I wouldn’t want to be in his shoes,” Mallett said. “But he’s a great player.”
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“What happened came as a surprise,” Weis said. “But I’m not going to use it as an excuse and say our team was distracted.”
Fittingly, Sharpley threw an interception just as it seemed that Notre Dame might avoid a shutout and possibly score a TD on offense for the first time this season.
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The Irish did move the ball enough on the ground on their final drive, however, to avoid breaking their school record of minus-12 yards rushing.
That wasn’t of much consolation.
“We have to make a lot of changes because we’re not getting the job done,” offensive tackle Sam Young said.
Starting because of Henne’s injury, Mallett was asked to throw just 15 times in his first career start. He had seven completions for 90 yards and TDs to three receivers.
Henne, who had started each of his 39 games at Michigan, is out with what appears to be a knee injury. Michigan coach Lloyd Carr has refused to give details, but Henne watched the game with a brace that seemed to be protecting his right knee. Carr said Henne is day-to-day.
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