A 28-24 Escape by Irish : Notre Dame: Top-ranked team scores with 1:40 left to defeat Michigan.

The Gary Moeller Era in Michigan football began the same way the Bo Schembechler regime ended: with a loss.

Not merely any loss, mind you, but a typically heart-breaking, mind-numbing defeat at the hands of nemesis Notre Dame, a team that has hounded and haunted Michigan for years.

For the fourth consecutive time, Michigan opened its season by getting beaten by the Irish. This one ended with Notre Dame fans streaming onto the field and the scoreboard flashing the final score, 28-24.

Not since 1966 has a Michigan team lost this many consecutive games to one opponent. But Notre Dame, ranked No. 1 at night’s beginning, has some sort of special spell over the No. 4-ranked Wolverines, enough of a spell that many of Michigan’s players and coaches said they were “obsessed” with defeating the Irish Saturday evening.

Last year it was Raghib Ismail’s two kickoff returns for touchdowns that buried Michigan’s chances. The year before, a Notre Dame walk-on kicker destroyed the Wolverines’ chances.

And so on and so forth.

But this was going to be different. It had to be different.

Moeller, an assistant of Schembechler for 18 years, was now the boss. His mentor was back in Detroit at Tiger Stadium, his eyes on his baseball team but his emotions fixed squarely on the happenings at sold-out Notre Dame Stadium.

And in a departure from past Michigan strategy, Moeller promised a more wide-open offense. That, he thought, might be enough to confound Notre Dame’s defense.

“Honestly, when we came in here, we thought we were going to win the game,” Moeller said.

He was almost right. Michigan overcame an 11-point first-quarter deficit and took a 10-point lead midway through the third quarter.

But then the curse took control. Or, according to Notre Dame Coach Lou Holtz, “the luck of the Irish and the lucky lady on the Dome” began exerting themselves.

Trailing 24-14 at the start of the final quarter, Notre Dame went on to score two touchdowns and intercept two passes.

The first interception killed a sure-fire Wolvering scoring threat (first-and-goal at the Notre Dame 10-yard line) and the second allowed the Irish to almost run out the clock.

Michigan quarterback Elvis Grback, supposedly a poised junior, made all the mistakes in the late going. His counterpart, sophomore Rick Mirer, making his first start for Notre Dame, stayed relatively cool down the stretch. Sure, he threw an interception during the fourth quarter, but he also found flanker Adrian Jarrell for the 18-yard game-winning touchdown pass with 1:40 to play.

“I wasn’t really nervous even though I had a lot on my mind,” Mirer said. “I grew up a fan of Michigan and it was sweet to get my first victory against them. I know too many guys on that team to have let them take away my first chance at victory.”

Moeller entered the game with an admitted case of the jitters. What he didn’t know is that his team was equally nervous.

On their first possession, the Wolverines tried a simple off-tackle play to fullback Jarrod Bunch. Zilch. And then it got worse.

Tailback Jon Vaughn took the next handoff--or, at least, he tried to--and promptly fumbled at the Michigan 26. Notre Dame’s Greg Davis recovered and the Irish had their first scoring opportunity. Moeller could do nothing more than glance up in disbelief.

As promised by Holtz, the Notre Dame game plan did what it could to take the pressure off Mirer, who played 36 minutes last season as Tony Rice’s backup. The first five plays asked Mirer to do nothing more than hand the ball to his running backs and then admire the results.

Fullback Rodney Culver had runs of 11, six and two yards, while Ricky Watters and Tony Brooks added five yards. That took the ball to the Michigan two, where Mirer, supposedly the classic dropback passer, ran the option to perfection and scored on the short run. Rice would have been proud.

Michigan gained its composure soon enough. This time, Vaughn, a junior who was rarely used in 1989, took a screen pass from Grbac and dashed eight yards. He followed that with carries of 10 and 19 yards. Before long, the Wolverines had advanced to the Notre Dame 21. The drive stalled there and Michigan settled for a 38-yard field goal by J.D. Carlson with 7:01 left in the first quarter.

Vaughn finished with 201 yards, the most yards given up by an Irish defense since 1987.