Wolverines hand Irish a costly setback

ANN ARBOR, Mich. — Zach Charbonnet ran for two touchdowns in the first half and Shea Patterson threw for two touchdowns in the second, helping No. 19 Michigan cruise past No. 8 Notre Dame 45-14 in driving rain Saturday night.

The Wolverines (6-2) ended at eight games a losing streak against top-10 teams. The Fighting Irish (5-2) were knocked out of the College Football Playoff picture.

“We played our best game,” Patterson said. “When we do that, we’re a really tough team to beat.”

Notre Dame capitalized on a pass-interference call to set up Ian Book’s seven-yard touchdown pass to Cole Kmet to pull within 10 points late in the third quarter.

Michigan responded with Patterson’s eight-yard touchdown pass to Donovan Peoples-Jones on the ensuing drive, which got off on Hassan Haskins’ 49-yard run. The former linebacker finished with career-high 149 yards in 20 carries. Charbonnet had 74 yards in 15 carries.

Patterson threw his second touchdown, early in the fourth quarter, connecting on a 16-yard pass to Nico Collins to put Michigan ahead 31-7.

Book had 73 yards passing, the senior’s lowest total since last season’s opener.

With the game out of reach, coach Brian Kelly sent in sophomore Phil Jurkovec, who threw a 14-yard touchdown pass to Javon McKinley late in the game to cut the deficit to 31 points.

Tony Jones Jr. was held to 14 yards in eight carries, reminiscent of the game he had in Notre Dame’s loss to No. 3 Georgia last month when he had only 21 yards in nine carries. Jones ran for 100plus yards in his previous three games before being shut down by the Wolverines.