Five most heartbreaking games of the Brian Kelly era
By Bobby Norell
2011 – Notre Dame at Michigan
The Irish were just coming off a frusterating loss to South Florida in the opener. Dayne Crist had been benched in favor of Tommy Rees. Irish fans didn’t know what to expect going into the Michigan game, but they got off to a fast start. The Irish dominated the Wolverines from the start. They led Michigan 17-7 at the half and 24-7 at the end of the third. They had a 17 point lead going into the fourth. With how well Notre Dame was playing a Michigan come back seemed almost impossible.
Notre Dame kept Michigan in the game in the fourth because instead of pounding the ball on the ground, they would throw it on first and second down and didn’t really burn any of the clock. This gave Michigan the time to get back in the game.
Turnovers also plagued the Irish in the fourth quarter. Rees and the Irish offense looked like they were going to put the final nail in the coffin late in the fourth as they were driving down the field. Notre Dame got the ball inside the ten yard line. On first and goal from the seven, Rees got sacked and fumbled the ball.
Michigan would go on to take a 28-24 lead with 1:04 left. Rees took Notre Dame on a quick four play 61 yard touchdown drive that was capped off by a Theo Riddick touchdown reception.
With only 30 seconds left and 80 yards to go, it seemed like a Michigan victory would not be in the cards. But Denard Robinson pulled off his evil magic. On the first play he threw an incompletion. The next play he found Jeremy Gallon for a 64 yard reception to get inside the Notre Dame 16 yard line. On the next play, with eight seconds left, he threw a jump ball to Roy Roundtree for the game winner. I still have nightmares of Gary Gray not turning around and finding the ball.
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I remember I was sitting in the endzone of the game winning touchdown and I couldn’t believe what happened. Walking out of Michigan Stadium that night was one of the worst experiences of my Notre Dame fandom. Notre Dame had no business losing that game. In fact they probably should have one the game by two or three touchdowns. By far, the most heartbreaking game of the Brian Kelly era.