Michigan’s Robinson jolts ND

Associated Press

SOUTH BEND, IND.

If Denard Robinson’s performance last week was a jaw dropper, what he did against Notre Dame on Saturday topped it.

He broke off the longest run in the history of the Irish’s fabled stadium — an 87-yarder for a TD.

That’s just for starters. How about a school-record 502 yards total offense for a QB, including 258 yards rushing on 28 carries and 244 more passing?

And oh, yeah, he directed the game-winning TD drive, scoring himself from 2 yards out with 27 seconds left to send Michigan (2-0) to a pulsating 28-24 victory.

No wonder Wolverines coach Rich Rodriguez said the spectacular new star of his spread offense might sleep on the trip back to Ann Arbor. He deserves some rest.

“Man, I didn’t even know that,” Robinson said of his record-breaking day — the second week in a row he snapped single-game Michigan quarterback marks for total offense and rushing.

“Our offense came together,” he said. “The offensive line blocked, the receivers catching, everything was clicking. ... I’m a team player and I don’t look at stats.”

He doesn’t lace his spikes, either. And he’s durable.

“He’s a tough kid. That’s the one thing that stands out,” Notre Dame coach Brian Kelly said. “You run a quarterback 25 times, you got to have toughness.”

Kelly’s guy was tough, too. But he just couldn’t pull out the victory.

Dayne Crist missed most of the first half after getting blurry vision from hitting his head on the ground during a run in an opening TD drive. But he brought the Irish back in the second half and connected with tight end Kyle Rudolph on a 95-yard TD pass to put Notre Dame (1-1) ahead with 3:41 left.

Then Robinson showed that not only is he fast and strong, he’s a clutch player, too. He led Michigan on a 12-play, 72-yard drive, capped his game-winning TD — a fitting end.