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Panic in Ann Arbor & South Bend
No sport induces panic quite like college football, where one loss creates a crisis and two can be catastrophic. At Michigan and Notre Dame, the first two weeks of the season have caused quite a calamity.
The Wolverines can't stop anybody. Their quarterback is hurt. Their star running back is guaranteeing victories. Their coach is under fire.
"There is nothing that can keep me down," Michigan coach Lloyd Carr said after Saturday's 39-7 loss to Oregon. "Not a loss to Appalachian State. Not a loss to Oregon. Not 100 losses. And, not the loss of my job. I think the same thing can be said for our team."
The Fighting Irish have struggled to make first downs and turned to a freshman quarterback to solve the problems _ the biggest of which is zero offensive touchdowns in two games. Coach Charlie Weis doesn't want to call it a rebuilding year, though if it's not than the Irish really are in big trouble.
On Saturday in the Big House, the plights of Notre Dame and Michigan intersect. For the winner there will be hope and the prospect of salvaging a season. For the loser, panic turns to despair.
For just a moment, though, let's put aside the panic and irrationality that comes with it and put to the problems in perspective.
Let's start with Michigan.
For the first 11 weeks of last season, the Wolverines appeared to be going through a renaissance of sorts. Michigan was undefeated. New defensive coordinator Ron English was being credited with injecting some desperately needed passion into the Wolverines. Carr, often criticized for being too set in his ways, was praised for giving the program a needed jolt of change.
Then Michigan lost to Ohio State for the third consecutive season and lost the Rose Bowl for the third time in four seasons and a great season was tarnished.
The good news was there was plenty of hope heading into 2007 with the return of quarterback Chad Henne, running back Mike Hart and offensive tackle Jake Long.
What got lost in the hoopla of a No. 5 preseason ranking and talk of the Wolverines having one of the best offenses in school history was all the top-notch defensive players lost to the NFL and the struggles Michigan had on that side of ball late last season.
Michigan's defensive problems are severe. The Wolverines' secondary can't keep up and appears to be helpless to stop a mobile quarterback _ a nagging problem that's been bothering Michigan for years.
Almost as troubling has been the offense's inability to make up for those defensive flaws. Other than Hart, Michigan's offense has been uninspiring.
Still, the Wolverines' performance against Oregon had to leave Michigan fans wondering if Appalachian State had taken more than a game from this team. Did seeing their national title hopes come crashing down 3 1/2 hours into the season crush the Wolverines' confidence and leave them directionless?
It certainly looked that way against the Ducks.
Even with all their defensive problems and a leg injury to Henne that will probably keep him out of Saturday's game against the Irish, the Wolverines should be talented enough to make something of this season, especially in a Big Ten with plenty of soft spots.
First, though, they've got to get out of panic mode.
Unlike Michigan, expectations weren't high for Notre Dame this season. Brady Quinn, Darius Walker and Jeff Samardzija took most of the Fighting Irish offense with them when they left after last season. It was clear there would be a drop off after Notre Dame reached the Bowl Championship Series in Weis' first two season.
Oh, has there ever been.
Simply, put, the Fighting Irish aren't very good. If anything, they put up a game effort against Penn State, but there's only so much you can do when you're top playmaker is safety and punt returner Tom Zbikowski.
About Hart's prediction, Weis said Sunday, "If I watched the (Notre Dame) games the last two weeks, I might have made the guarantee myself."
Weis' first recruiting class was considered so-so, but his second was rated highly by those who claim to be experts. The crown jewel of the class was quarterback Jimmy Clausen, who made his first start in 31-10 loss at Penn State on Saturday night and really never had a chance to succeed. Not without a running game. Not with all the hits he was taking from the Nittany Lions.
Maybe, things will get better this week against Michigan's broken defense. Michigan State and Purdue come after that and neither has a defense with much bite. There's reason for hope.
With four gimme games at the end of the season against Navy, Air Force, Duke and Stanford, a bowl game isn't out of the question for Notre Dame.
But with UCLA and Southern California also on the schedule, at least a couple of more bad beatings are still to come.
When they come, Irish fans, try no to panic.
Ralph D. Russo covers college football for The Associated Press. Write to him at rrusso@ap.org.
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