SOUTH BEND, Ind. -Despite three first half turnovers the Western Michigan football team found itself trailing Notre Dame by only 10 points heading into halftime and getting the ball on Saturday afternoon in front of the Irish's 217th-straight sell out crowd of 80,795 fans. All three of the Broncos' first half scores came on drives of 10 plays or more.
Two offensive drives after giving up a touchdown on the first play from scrimmage, 80 yards from Dayne Crist to Michael Floyd, the Broncos went to work on their first scoring drive of the day. Alex Carder hit Ansel Ponder and Robert Arnheim for 13 yards each on successive plays. WMU drove down to Notre Dame's 11-yard line and on fourth-and-1, Carder burst ahead for two yards and a new set of downs.
The next four plays were all Carder as he rushed for three yards, no gain and one yard as the sophomore scored his fifth career rushing TD from one yard out on fourth-and-goal. John Potter extended his PATs made streak to 41, tying the score at seven all. It was the first points of any kind Western Michigan had ever scored against Notre Dame in the all-time series.
The Irish capitalized on three Bronco turnovers, turning two of them into 13 points, and in quick fashion. All four of Notre Dame's first half scoring drives took five plays or less and the longest lasted 1:36 of game time. Conversely, all three of WMU's scoring drives in the first half lasted 10 or more plays with its first going for a season-matching 15 plays.
On WMU's next scoring drive, Carder completed the first six passes he attempted but the last two found the ground instead of a Bronco receiver as Western Michigan had to settle for Potter's fifth field goal of the season. Carder scored his second touchdown of the game, giving him back-to-back multi-rushing TD games, with 15 seconds remaining in the opening half.
After a fourth-and-five conversion for a 39-yard score gave the Irish a 27-10 lead, Western Michigan took over at its own 20-yard line. Carder found Arnheim for seven yards and again for 17 on third-and-three. Back-to-back penalties gave WMU a first down at the Notre Dame 38. Carder had his longest run of the day, for 20 yards, to set the Broncos up with a first-and-10 at the 18. Carder found Jordan White for nine yards before Aaron Winchester carried the ball twice for a combined six yards, giving WMU first-and-goal at the three-yard line. WMU called time out and set up a play for Carder, which he carried through for a three-yard TD run.
Trailing by 10 at the break, WMU received the ball first but went three-and-out. Notre Dame showed its quick strike ability again, scoring on two plays to improve its lead to 34-17. The Irish didn't look back adding another TD in the third quarter and a field goal in the fourth. Western Michigan capped the scoring on Potter's second field goal of the day.
Drew Nowak blocked a PAT in the first half to give him two for his career, while Jamail Berry finished with a game best 11 tackles, his third double-digit tackle effort of the season. He also added his first interception of the season, sixth of his career. Paul Hazel had seven tackles with 1.5 sacks and 2.0 TFLs. The Broncos forced two fumbles on the day as Berry and Wiggins each made strips.
Offensively, Carder finished 28-for-43 for 277 yards passing with two interceptions. Juan Nunez went over the 100 yard mark for the second time this season with 11 grabs for 103 yards. Brian Fields had 105 yards on five kick returns, including a career long 36-yard retrun.
Western Michigan has six games remaining in the regular season, all in conference. The Broncos conclude its three-game October road trip at Akron on Oct. 23 before heading home to face MAC West leader Northern Illinois on Oct. 30.
