9 U w w W w V V V 1111jr-, - - qmw9mmmp w I w mr W- v w w -- . wolw- " " ' / Saura, etebe 5,207 - TeMcia a- l 2007 Depth Chart TALE. ES B. Englemon S. Brown CB M. Trent B. Harrison SS J. Adams C. Stewart They're supposed to be their school's future, but now they're expected to be the present, too. How do these two highly touted signal callers stack up? WILL C. Graham J. Mouton DE T. Jamison A. Patterson MIKE J. Thompson 0. Ezeh SAM S. Crable M. Pollock .' -.TAPE DT T. Taylor B. Gallimore DT W. Johnson J. Ferrara DE B. Graham G. Banks CB D. Warren J. Sears LT J. Long P. Dorrenstein LG A. Kraus J. Ciulla J. Boren T. McAvoy RG A. Mitchell C. Zirbel WR QB M. Manningham R. Mallett J. Hemingway D. Cone KR PR B. Minor J. Sears J. Sears D. Warren WR A. Arrington G. Mathews RT S. Schilling M. Ortmann K J. Gingell B. Wright TE M. Massey C. Butler MALLETT CLAUSEN Z. Mesko FB M. Moundros A. Criswell RB M. Hart B. Minor You can read it in a book ne comment changed the went into one of the oldest college course of my week and football rivalries. opened my eyes to story Here's a recap. behind the Michigan Notre Dame Michigan taught Notre Dame rivalry. how to play the game. Seriously. I have Mich- The Wolverine players took a igan coach train to South Bend on Nov.23, Lloyd Carr to 1887, offered some individual thank. instruction sessions, won 8-0 and During the j . then hopped back on a train to go football team's play in Chicago. weekly press George DeHaven, a member conference, of the Michigan team who was a reporter KEVIN instrumental in setting up the asked Carr WRIGHT game, put it best. what made the "We played gently with them rivalry special The Sophomore that day." for the coach, From that point, Notre Dame who's been a always looked to Michigan as an part of more than half of the games icon. The problem was, the Wol- the two teams have played against verines didn't feel the same way. each other (13 as an assistant, eight In 1910, Michigan coach Field- as a head coach). ing Yost wanted to cancel the game Carr's response was memorable. after Notre Dame won the year "This guy, John Kryk, who I before. Yost complained the Fight- think has written a wonderful his- ing Irish didn't adhere to the West- tory of the Notre Dame-Michigan ern Conference rules by playing game, I recommend you find his freshman and students who had book and read it," Carr said with a already used their eligibility. hint of sarcasm. Kryk describes the Michigan Lloyd was probably just trying mindset as an older brother who to muster -a few laughs. I took him felt the Fighting Irish shouldn't seriously and read it. always get to hang out with the I found the Kryk's chronicle older crowd. "Natural Enemies" at Barnes & It probably didn't help that the Nobles and settled into a cushioned Notre Dame coach in 1909 was chair to skim the 298 pages for Frank "Shorty" Longman, who had an hour (I'm a college student - I played fullback for Yost at Michi- don't read what's not required). gan. Longman lived in Ann Arbor And wouldn't you know it, Carr at the time and made every effort was right. I learned exactly what to brag about the win. The series didn't resume until 1942 after a 32-year hiatus, and it stopped a year later. In 1943, No. 1 Notre Dame beat No. 2 Michigan, and the series was cancelled again. The two storied programs didn't return to the same gridiron again until 1978, 35 years later. The Wol- verines won 28-14. The annual matchup became a fixture after 1978, and many of them were named after a game- changing play. There was the Miracle Field Goal (1980), Rocket's Returns (1989), the Catch (1991) and the Tie (1992). One of the most interesting stories surfaced in the 1985 game. Michigan coach Bo Schembechler had come off a 6-6 season and hadn't won 10 games in four straight years. Kryk said critics questioned whether the game had passed Bo by. Hmm. Sounds familiar. Michigan, quarterbacked by Jim Harbaugh, won 20-12, and Schem- bechler led that year's squad to a 10-1-1 record, including a win over Ohio State. Maybe Carr's thinking this year's Notre Dame game can have a similar effect on his team. Back to the history. Michigan leads the all-time series 19-14-1, but since the rivalry resumed in 1978, Notre Dame leads 12-10-1. Throughout the years and the squabbles, Notre Dame continued to pursue Michigan as a partner, See WRIGHT, Page 7B Height: 6 foot 3 Weight: 207 pounds Hometown: West- lake Village, Calif. Recruiting hype: No.1 quar- terback and player overall in class of 2011 (Rivals.com) Stats so far: 21-of-38, 178 yards, 0 touchdowns in two games. Quotable: "I thought he showed really good poise. I thought there were a number of times in that film where it's just obvious that he's going to be sacked, and yet he finds a way to get rid of the ball so that they don't lose yardage. I think he moves around well. He's got a good arm. He's a smart play- er." - Michigan coach Lloyd Carr