Irish Nearly Stun Michigan in Holtz Debut

SOUTH BEND, Ind. —  You’ve got to be a real bottom-line fan if you don’t like the Lou Holtz Era, auspiciously begun on a glorious afternoon Saturday at Notre Dame. The new coach shook down thunder from the sunny skies, he woke up echoes in the fabled stadium, he did everything, in fact, except win.

But that’s a bottom-line kind of thing.

Of course, the bottom line is ultimately important even at Notre Dame, where the legacy of football greatness demands continued success. A loss is not much tolerated. And familiar fumbles and critical penalties may not have cheered some of those who suffered through the previous bumbling of Gerry Faust’s reign.

But the fashion in which the unheralded Irish challenged No. 3 Michigan, finally losing, 24-23, and that only when a last-ditch field-goal attempt sailed wide, had to announce a new excitement and hope for Irish fans everywhere.

For himself, Holtz claimed no happiness in his much anticipated debut. “There are no moral victories at Notre Dame,” he said, his face almost a caricature of sadness. After 16 years, coaching at eight schools, Holtz knows about bottom lines.

But the players, though having lost, were practically aglow with enthusiasm for the remainder of the season. This is something new at Notre Dame, which is presumed to have ebbed last year in a 5-6 season. “I can’t wait to get back out there,” senior quarterback Steve Beuerlein said. “There is a craving to get back on the field.”

Believe it or not, the Irish virtually manhandled the stronger and bigger and better Wolverines. Consider the strangeness of this game: Michigan, which led the nation last season in scoring defense, could not force Notre Dame to field its punter even once.

“That poor kid’s not going to letter,” Michigan Coach Bo Schembechler observed.

Michigan was actually outgained, 455 yards to 393, and trailed Notre Dame in almost every offensive category. But what the Wolverines couldn’t do to the Irish, the Irish could. They stopped themselves.

Twice, Notre Dame fumbled inside the 20-yard line. Once, Beuerlein was intercepted in the end zone. There was a weird Michigan kickoff that got caught in the wind, bounced upfield, and the free ball was recovered by Michigan. There was an offside penalty on Notre Dame’s final drive that made John Carney’s eventual field-goal attempt five yards longer.

And the Irish still could have had a tie if Carney had not missed an extra point in the third quarter. Or if you’re of a mind to consider controversial calls, you might say the Irish still could have won had Joel Williams landed in the end zone with a Beuerlein pass, as the Irish and their fans devoutly believe he did.

“The Michigan ball boy told our ball boy he was in,” Beuerlein said with a shrug. What’s a new era without controversy?

You could call all this the Luck of the Wolverines but you would offend Schembechler. “Aw, I know what you’re all gonna write,” he groused, “but let’s get one thing straight: When you play Notre Dame, with all the emotion out there, when you don’t know how they’re gonna line up for a first game, on their turf, in a game that every neutral fan wants to see Notre Dame win--you’re happy to take the win.”

Schembechler, admitting his defense failed to stop not only the gimmick plays--the shovel pass and reverse--but also the ordinary plunges, said any defense would be troubled by the variety of offense. The poor Wolverines, who had no idea what they’d be walking into, saw the wishbone offense and, well, practically everything known to football. Five or six formations, according to Beuerlein.

“It’s tough to defend if you’ve never seen it,” the Notre Dame quarterback said.

Michigan could have hardly played better on offense, with quarterback Jim Harbaugh, the nation’s most efficient collegiate passer last season, completing 15 of 23 passes for 239 yards. At least two of those completions were of the spectacular order. In the third period, on the play after Michigan’s Doug Mallory recovered his team’s own kickoff, Harbaugh led Jamie Morris into the end zone on a 27-yard pass that was so soft it seemed to have fluttered from the heavens.

Then in the final period, Harbaugh kept a drive alive when, on third down and six yards to go on the Michigan 22, he coolly lofted a 38-yard pass to John Kolesar. Notre Dame didn’t get the ball again until there was just 1:33 left.

But it was the Notre Dame offense that constantly startled. Even the Irish were surprised. “There was a doubt there,” said Tim Brown, a flanker by name but who nevertheless rushed for 65 yards and a touchdown. “You try to put all those things in, and rush it, you have a doubt.

“But after that first drive (in which Brown completed a 75-yard drive with a three-yard touchdown run), we said: ‘Hey, let’s go. This is going to be a picnic.’ ”

Notre Dame was never really stopped on offense. It might have scored on the possession after Brown’s touchdown, except for Reggie Ward fumbling on the Michigan seven-yard line.

Notre Dame went ahead, 14-7, in the second quarter when Mark Green went a yard for a score.

The third quarter, traditionally Michigan’s in any game it plays, went true to form, thanks to the short kickoff, of which Schembechler said: “We don’t practice that play, put it that way.”

That came after Harbaugh pitched to Morris to put Michigan ahead for the first time. Then Harbaugh swiftly passed the Wolverines further ahead, 24-14, on the 27-yarder to Morris.

To defensive lineman Robert Banks, this scenario was very similar to the Notre Dame collapse last season, when Miami defeated Notre Dame, 58-7, in the final game. “At that point,” Banks said, “it’s a question of whether we regress or progress. But instead of last year, when we were in ashes, we said, ‘What are we gonna do next.’ ”

For those who want to believe in Lou Holtz, it is satisfying to know that the Irish drove 66 yards on the ensuing possession, with Beuerlein, who had already broken Joe Theismann’s record for career passing yardage, faking the run and pushing the ball over the line to Joel Williams for a two-yard touchdown pass.

The telling play, however, was Carney’s extra-point kick, which hit an upright and bounced wide, leaving the score 24-20.

Then, on Notre Dame’s next possession, Pernell Taylor fumbled the ball away at the Michigan 16.

“Three turnovers,” Banks said, “that’s the difference.”

If the game lacked a certain perfection--Holtz drills his players in a brand of football called “no defects”--it was nevertheless exciting. The Irish were not going down easy, and the Wolverines were not going to button up and risk Notre Dame getting the ball sooner than possible.

Even discounting the goal-line ruckus when Williams’ feet either did or did not land in the end zone, the Irish were still in it after Carney’s ensuing 25-yard field goal with 4:26 to play. They finally got lucky, too, when Michigan’s Bob Perryman fumbled at the Notre Dame 26. Beuerlein promptly hit Alvin Miller for a 33-yard gain and eventually drove the Irish to the Michigan 28, but with 13 seconds left, Carney’s 45-yard field-goal attempt sailed wide, and that was that.

The Notre Dame fans stood and cheered all the same. Schembechler was left to say it was “a hell of a game,” knowing he got off easy. Holtz was left to look sad, being only the second Notre Dame coach in the 20th Century to lose his inaugural game (Elmer Layden’s 1934 team lost to Texas).

The Notre Dame players, meanwhile, appeared untouched by defeat. “I knew we’d be back this spring,” said Williams happily.

Said Beuerlein: “I feel great about the season. But there’s this big lump in my chest. I can’t stand to think what it would have been like if we’d won.”

And that is the bottom line, after all.