Michigan Wolverines

TAMPA, Fla. -- Quick thoughts after South Carolina's wild 33-28 victory over Michigan in the Outback Bowl:

It was over when: South Carolina quarterback Dylan Thompson found receiver Bruce Ellington wide open down the field with 11 seconds left, scoring a 32-yard touchdown. Michigan had scored with 3:29 left on a pass from Devin Gardner to Jeremy Gallon, all part of a fast-paced fourth quarter.

Game ball goes to: South Carolina wide receiver Ace Sanders. The 5-foot-8 wide receiver had a massive game, catching two touchdown passes and breaking a 63-yard punt return for a touchdown. Sanders had nine catches for 92 yards and accounted for three of the Gamecocks’ four touchdowns.

Stat of the game: Michigan quarterback Denard Robinson finished his four-year career with 4,495 rushing yards, setting an NCAA record for rushing yards by a quarterback. He passed former West Virginia quarterback Pat White, who rushed for 4,480 yards. The two quarterbacks have always been linked because of the coach who recruited them both, Rich Rodriguez.

Turning point: With 8:15 left in the game, South Carolina defensive end Jadeveon Clowney broke through the Michigan rush and hit Vincent Smith as he took the handoff, crushing Smith, sending his helmet flying and causing a fumble that Clowney recovered. On the next play, Gamecocks quarterback Connor Shaw threw a 31-yard touchdown pass to Sanders that gave South Carolina a 27-22 lead.

Record performance: Jeremy Gallon had a career-high nine catches for 145 yards to go along with his two touchdowns. He was the only Michigan receiver with more than 27 yards and consistently made big plays and grabs. His first touchdown came in the back corner of the end zone and the second one, which gave the Wolverines a late lead, came on a slant in which he beat his defender inside.

ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- The time he’d seen before came in games long decided, when his role was to enter and finish the game without making any errors, not to have a say in the outcome of it all.

Yet when Denard Robinson left Saturday’s game with a hand injury in the first quarter, redshirt freshman Russell Bellomy was inserted into a game in the first half for the first time in his career.

“I liked how he got himself ready. Liked how he got himself ready during the week,” Michigan coach Brady Hoke said. “But Denard comes out and he’s taking snaps and getting himself ready to go.

“He was composed and calm and wasn’t overexcited.”

Bellomy completed 1 of 3 passes against Illinois over two separate stints -- one replacing Robinson in the first half and another in the second half with the game in hand.

His numbers, though, could have been better than that. Both of his incompletions were drops, one by Devin Funchess and the other by Roy Roundtree, which hit him right in the hands.

“When Russ got him, I told him to just do him, man,” Roundtree said. “It’s great that he got out there and I wish he would have had some completions. I felt bad for him after I dropped a pass.

“He didn’t get on me but I’m pretty sure he got upset. I told him I got him next time.”

Not the worst loss: Roundtree remembered riding home from East Lansing last season on a quiet bus. Most players had headphones on instead of the typical ride home chatter.

While the loss stung, it wasn’t his most difficult at Michigan. He wasn’t sure which one would be, actually.

“Nah, I probably had several of those,” Roundtree said. “When I first got here, coming in as a redshirt freshman to the winningest program and having a down year that we had.

“I wouldn’t want to say it was the hardest, most brutal loss because I took a lot of ‘L’s’ back then.”

His first three seasons at Michigan were not win-friendly as the Wolverines won three, six and then seven games under former coach Rich Rodriguez.

Injury update: Michigan running back Vincent Smith, who missed Saturday’s game against Illinois due to a hamstring injury, is expected back for Michigan State. So is fullback Stephen Hopkins, who has missed the past few weeks due to a hamstring injury. ... Hoke and Robinson both said the quarterback’s hand is fine after missing a quarter against the Illini due to injury. ... Safety Jordan Kovacs, who has worn a brace on his knee the past two weeks, said he knee is “fine” and that his bright blue knee brace is “a fashion statement.”

This and that: Going along with not wearing red, Hoke said Monday he doesn’t remember the last time he has worn green, either. ... Michigan offensive tackle Taylor Lewan, who is usually available weekly to the media, is not on the list of players for this week. Last season, Lewan and Michigan State defensive end William Gholston went at each other pretty well during the game. ... Hoke is planning on educating his team this week on Willis Ward, the second African-American to play at Michigan and the subject of a documentary about his benching due to racial issues when facing Georgia Tech on Oct. 20, 1934. The Michigan state senate deemed Saturday as Willis Ward Day.

Denard Robinson was the difference in the Michigan-Notre Dame classics in 2010 and 2011.

Robinson was again the key figure in the 2012 meeting, though not in a good way for the Wolverines. And the game was anything but a classic -- but Irish fans will gladly take the ugly 13-6 victory.

It was a bizarre game in South Bend that featured eight turnovers, including six of them by the losing team. Here's a quick look at how it went down.

It was over when: Tommy Rees found Tyler Eifert for a 38-yard gain on third-and-4 from the Notre Dame 31 with less than two-and-a-half minutes remaining. That play, coming against one-on-one coverage, allowed the Irish to run out the clock and keep Robinson from pulling off another miracle. It was Eifert's only catch of the game.


Game ball goes to: The Notre Dame defense. For the past two years, they were absolutely terrorized and traumatized by Robinson. This time, the Irish not only held Michigan out of the end zone, they forced Robinson to turn it over five times (four interceptions, one fumble). He had 228 total yards, and his longest run was only 20 yards. It was like a photo negative of Robinson's previous two performances in this series. The front seven got great pressure and stayed in its lanes, while Manti Te'o played an enormous game with two interceptions and two hurries that led to turnovers. That's why the Irish erased their nightmares from years past.

Stat of the game: Michigan had 299 total yards to only 239 for Notre Dame. But the minus-four in turnovers was too much to overcome.

How the game was won: Turnovers, turnovers, turnovers. Notre Dame coach Brian Kelly made the best move of the game when he lifted Everett Golson for Rees in the first half. Golson looked too skittish for this stage and had two bad interceptions. Rees settled down the offense and while he threw for only 115 yards, he was the only quarterback in the game who took care of the ball.

Second guessing: Michigan was driving the ball well in the first quarter and had the ball on the Notre Dame 10-yard line when offensive coordinator Al Borges got a little too tricky. He called for a halfback pass from the diminutive Vincent Smith, who jumped in the air with Te'o barreling down on him and lobbed an easy interception in the end zone. The Wolverines could have used the momentum early and ended up really needing the points.

What Notre Dame learned: While this one wasn't pretty, the Irish could hardly have asked for a better start to this season. Its defense is playing at a championship level -- to hold Michigan and Robinson to six points is an outstanding achievement. There are still questions for this team, and Kelly will have to answer even more quarterback controversy questions this week, but this is the toughest Irish team we've seen in a while.

What Michigan learned: The Wolverines still aren't ready for prime time. They got blown out in the opener against Alabama and then were ridiculously sloppy with the ball in this one. While Michigan had by far its best defensive performance to date and can build on that, Robinson is still making too many mistakes in the passing game. There's really no reason for the Wolverines to be ranked in the top 25 right now, but Michigan still will be a factor in the weakened Big Ten, which went 0-3 against Notre Dame.

SOUTH BEND, Ind. -- If it was possible, Michigan actually has put together a worse half than it did in either half against Alabama. The Wolverines trail 10-0 and have been inept on offense.

Here's some analysis of what happened.

Stat of the half: 7, as in the amount of interceptions thrown by both teams in a half. Denard Robinson was responsible for four of them with two thrown almost directly at defenders and the third a combination of a rough route run by Devin Gardner and a slight Robinson overthrow. His fourth was on a Hail Mary. Vincent Smith had one on a halfback pass. Notre Dame’s Everett Golson added two of his own before being pulled. Michigan's last five passes of the half were all interceptions.

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