Frank Polich / Reuters

Michigan coach Lloyd Carr is drenched in ice water after his team defeated Notre Dame 47-21 on Saturday. It was Carr's first win at Notre Dame Stadium.

It began on the second play of the game, when Wolverines linebacker Prescott Burgess grabbed a tipped pass and returned it 31 yards untouched for a score. That domination on both sides of the ball only became more evident the longer the game wore on, suggesting that the talent pool is still surprisingly shallow at Notre Dame, and that the echoes Weis is supposed to have awakened aren’t quite booming loud enough to merit a No. 2 ranking.

Fact is, no more than a half-dozen current Irish players would get considerable playing time at Michigan. That explains in part why Weis, 15 games into his college career after a long apprenticeship under certified NFL wizard Bill Belichick, is still lionized. And why Carr, with a record and a clean program deserving praise, is still facing plenty of scorn.

Maybe that’s why, after all this time, he was genuinely surprised when a reporter asked afterward, “How important was it to you to get that elusive win in South Bend?

“Me?” Carr said, then paused.

“Well, as I said when I started, if you’re in enough of these games, you’re going to win some and you’re going to lose some. The ones that you lose, they hurt.”

Carr went on to explain what was special about Michigan-Notre Dame, about the fierce competition and the mutual respect, but it was clear a part of that question was still gnawing at him.

“There’s always some issues going that people will sometimes make more than they are,” he said. “So as a coach, when you can win against a rival like that, believe me, it’s special, because it’s hard.

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The once, at least, they played it exactly the way Carr wanted. And if that little smile he allowed himself at halftime was any indication, they just might continue playing like that all the way until the final whistle on a long season is blown.

“We proved a little bit,” running back Michael Hart said, “but we have a lot to do.”

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