Starting spots usually aren’t won or lost in spring practice, but young guys get a chance to prove themselves and gain experience while everyone else gets to show how much they developed throughout the winter.

Development was apparent in one key player today, as sophomore quarterback Denard Robinson lived up to the hype he’s been garnering all spring with a fantastic performance in Michigan’s annual spring game.

On the first possession of the scrimmage, Robinson guided the first-team offense down the field on a touchdown drive that included a nice bootleg pass to Roy Roundtree. Robinson ran it in from 10 yards out to cap off the drive.

On his next possession, which the offense started on its own three-yard line, Robinson hit Roundtree perfectly in stride about 25 yards downfield and Roundtree did the rest, outrunning the secondary for a 97-yard touchdown.

Later on, Robinson found Roundtree in the end zone again, this time from 12 yards out.

In the overtime drill, which simulates an overtime possession, starting from the opponent’s 25-yard line, Robinson completed a touchdown pass to Martavious Odoms from about 10 yards out. On his next possession, also the overtime drill, he threaded the needle for a 24-yard pass to Terrance Robinson to set up another touchdown.

By my count, Robinson led five drives, two of them overtime possessions, and all five resulted in touchdowns. Some of this can be attributed to playing against the second-team defense, but with the way Robinson was throwing, it wouldn’t have mattered if the first-team defense was out there or not.

One of the quirks about the spring game is that the quarterback is down once he’s touched in an effort to avoid an injury. On many of Robinson’s runs, he would have picked up significantly more yardage if he had to actually be tackled.

Most importantly, he showed poise in the pocket, where last year he would tuck and run after three milliseconds. A few times, he looked through several reads before pulling it down and running. On a couple of plays, he kept his head up while on the move and delivered an accurate strike to an open receiver.

This wouldn’t be all that significant if you hadn’t seen him play last season. While he dazzled Michigan fans with his feet in open space, his accuracy was terrible to the point where Michigan fans would rather him just run it up the middle for five yards even though the defense knew he’d do exactly that, than even attempt to throw a pass.

Today, he looked comfortable running the offense and seemed to be having as much fun out there as any other player in the maize and blue. About the only aspect that looked like it needed some work was a couple of bubble screens that were either underthrown or led the receiver too far.

I wish the coaches would have switched things up to pit Robinson against the first-team defense, but it was an impressive performance nonetheless.

The development and comfort level was evident and showed how dangerous a Robinson-led offense can be when every pass thrown doesn’t end up in the wrong hands.

Last year, almost every time he lined up in the shotgun the defense knew he was going to run it. He rarely even ran the zone read, the staple of Rich Rodriguez’s offense.

This year, he should know the offense and be able to effectively run the zone read, and if he can prove he has any kind of accuracy, he would be the ideal quarterback for this offense.

I certainly realize it’s a lot of “ifs” and you can’t really jump to conclusions based on the spring game, but at this point, I would say Robinson is the starting quarterback heading into the summer.

Click here to see highlights of the top 10 plays from the spring game.

Notes:

— Tate Forcier, who started all 12 games as a true freshman last year, looked basically the exact same, although he was working with the second-team offense against the first-team defense.

He made some good plays, scrambling away from pressure and hitting the receiver on the run, but he also made some mistakes.

One pass should have been picked off by linebacker Mike Jones and another was forced into quadruple coverage and somehow wasn’t picked. He also made a bad pitch on an option play, which was recovered by the running back for about a 10 yard loss.

On the bright side, he completed a nice, across-the-body touchdown pass to Je’Ron Stokes in the overtime drill.

—Freshman Devin Gardner started out shaky, fumbling a handoff on his first play and throwing an interception deep in his own territory to Obi Ezeh, but seemed to rebound nicely with a 20-yard seam pass to Brandon Moore.

He looked nimble with his feet, but still has a weird throwing motion that needs to be fixed. He could be great a year or two from now, but I’m glad we don’t have to start another true freshman this season. He’s certainly headed for a redshirt barring a freak injury to Robinson or Forcier.

—Roy Roundtree is the real deal. He played just as he finished last season and looks to be Michigan’s go-to guy this year. He caught deep balls and screens and showed some speed in pulling away from the secondary on the 97-yard touchdown.

—The running back position has a lot of guys vying for playing time and no one really stood out today. With Vincent Smith assumed to be the starter out with a torn ACL, it seems to be a three-horse race between Michael Shaw, Michael Cox, and Fitzgerald Toussaint.

It’s perhaps the most important position that needs someone to step up, at least on the offensive side of the ball, after the departure of Brandon Minor, Carlos Brown, and Kevin Grady.

Cox had a nice touchdown run of about 20 yards against the first-team defense and the other guys didn’t do very much.

Freshman Stephen Hopkins showed some good strength and should see playing time as the short-yardage back this season.

—The defense didn’t show much today in the way of schemes or big plays. Ryan Van Bergen and Craig Roh got some good pressure on Forcier and William Campbell looks huge in the middle of the line.

Troy Woolfolk sat out the game with a dislocated finger and converted wide receiver James Rogers started in his place, opposite J.T. Floyd. Jordan Kovacs remains the starter at one of the safety spots, at least until Marvin Robinson and Demar Dorsey arrive on campus this summer.

The secondary will continue to be the group in question as the season nears, but linebacker will also be a position to watch. Seniors Obi Ezeh and Jonas Mouton both have a lot of experience, but lost some playing time last season. They both started today, with Ezeh recording an interception and Mouton looking solid.

Redshirt sophomore Kenny Demens also looked promising and could factor in this season as well.

—The kicking game looked pretty shaky and will probably be so all season. Redshirt freshman kicker Brendan Gibbons figures to be the placekicker, but the lefty sure can’t punt. Two of his three punt attempts were shanked out of bounds off the side of his foot.

The punter role seems to be incoming freshman Will Hagerup’s to lose, but he hasn’t even arrived on campus yet, so he better live up to his high school acclaim.

—The stadium looked a bit more than half full, despite the frigid temperatures. The Big Ten Network announcers placed the attendance around 30,000, but it looked to be slightly more.

I’m looking forward to a couple of years from now when Michigan can have a nationally televised spring game drawing near 100,000 fans like Alabama did today.

Paul Bunyan woke up this morning somewhat confused. For the majority of the last four decades, Bunyan resided in Ann Arbor, while keeping a vacation home in East Lansing.

He hasn’t spent more than a year consecutively in East Lansing since Lyndon B. Johnson was the president and the first Star Trek episode aired on television.

But following Michigan State’s 26-20 overtime win over hated rival Michigan, Bunyan will be extending his stay for at least another year.

Michigan played poorly for 55 minutes before finally showing some resolve with two touchdown drives in the final five minutes to force overtime.

But it wasn’t enough, as freshman quarterback Tate Forcier threw an interception in the end zone in the first overtime, and State ran for a touchdown on the third play of its overtime possession.

So now that Michigan has tasted defeat for the first time this season, where does it go from here?

I think it all starts with getting its confidence back. It didn’t play well in last week’s win over Indiana, and continued the poor play for three-and-a-half quarters this week.

Remember, this is still a very young team. Nobody expected Michigan to win the Big Ten this year. The 4-0 start raised some expectations and probably gave Michigan fans a false sense of reality.

I wrote following last week’s game that expectations should be tempered a bit because the meat of the schedule began with Michigan State.

Well, in its first road test of the season, Michigan was outplayed for 55 minutes and still had a chance to win the game. This young team has shown it can fight, having already had two come-from-behind wins, and almost another on Saturday. But when it comes down to it, there’s still a lot of room to grow.

“Our team doesn’t give up,” Forcier said following the game. “We’re going to keep fighting until the game is over. It showed. We can’t win all of them, but our guys kept fighting.”

As much as fans of other teams like to rip on Forcier, there’s no denying that he’s a gamer. He’s not perfect. He hasn’t learned how to throw it away instead of taking a sack or an intentional grounding penalty, and he tries to force passes that shouldn’t be thrown. He is just a freshman after all.

Despite the mistakes, he has now led three game-winning or game-tying drives in five games. When it comes down to the final minutes, the freshman finds a way to get it done, and he’s only going to get better.

Forcier cannot be blamed for this loss. Several dropped passes in the first half either killed drives or kept drives from getting started.

For the game, Michigan’s average gain on first down was just a yard and a half (not counting the final two touchdown drives, which were run in more of a two-minute offense).

Second downs weren’t much better, as Michigan picked up just 29 yards on 13 second-down plays, forcing long third downs.

When you can’t pick up yards on first down, you put yourself in long down situations, and Michigan faced an average of nine yards per third down attempt.

Only three of 11 third downs were converted prior to the two touchdown drives at the end of the game.

Some of that was a result of poor execution, but give Michigan State’s defense credit.

In the first half, Michigan consistently tried to run between the tackles on first down. It seemed intent on trying to establish the run game even when it wasn’t working.

Once Michigan State stopped the run on first down, it was able to bring the pressure on Forcier on second and third down.

Michigan needs to work on establishing some offensive consistency. I’m not going to blame the coaching staff, because I know that Rodriguez is a great offensive coach as an innovator of the spread option offense.

The wheels aren’t falling off; Michigan fans just need to realize that the training wheels are barely removed.

If last season was the big wheel, this season is the tricycle. It’s going to take time before Michigan is able to rev up the engines against the good teams.

Running backs Brandon Minor and Carlos Brown had been great in the first four games, but Michigan State seemed set on stopping them on first down and making Forcier beat them through the air.

And that’s where Michigan has to improve. When things aren’t going well, it has to be able to adjust and find another way to get it done.

Maybe it means changing up tendencies on first down. Maybe it’s a matter of opening up bigger holes to run through. Maybe it is merely a matter of catching passes.

Regardless, the offense needs to be able to get some consistency to keep the defense off the field for large chunks of the game.

I’m making no excuses, and the coaches and players won’t either, but the fact of the matter is, it’s hard to get things going on offense with a freshman quarterback, freshmen and sophomores at receiver and tight end, and a banged up offensive line.

College football is a game in which individual freshmen can shine, but a team full of underclassmen is not a recipe for success.

Those realities can only be fixed with time, which means the second half of the season could be rough.

Remember that most reasonable fans and pundits predicted Michigan to win six to eight games this season. With four already under its belt, six certainly seems achievable, and seven likely. But fans need to realize that this isn’t yet a team that will win every game.

While a loss to rival Michigan State hurts, the season isn’t over.

Michigan needs to take things one game at a time, and that begins with Iowa next Saturday.

Iowa features a tough defense and a capable offense to go along with a night game in a stadium that doesn’t prove friendly to visiting teams.

Michigan didn’t seem to meet Michigan State’s energy level this weekend, but I don’t think it will have a problem getting up for a nationally televised night game next weekend.

I expect the coaching staff to work up a game plan to allow Michigan’s offense to function better against another tough defense.

While there is no mythical character to battle for, Michigan will have a chance to pull off the biggest upset so far of Rodriguez’s Michigan career and gain back some national respect.

The echoes woke up on Saturday in the Big House, but instead of Rockne, Gipp or Parseghian, the echoes resounded from Weis and much of the Notre Dame fan base.

In the aftermath of Michigan’s 38-34 win over Notre Dame, Charlie Weis refused to take the blame, instead choosing to join the chorus of his fan base in pinning the blame on the officials.

And even as a Michigan fan as thrilled with the win as anybody, I can honestly say I feel for them—at least partially.

The main quip with the officials was the reversal of Armando Allen’s touchdown catch-and-run with 2:22 left in the first quarter.

On that play, junior quarterback Jimmy Clausen threw a perfectly timed screen to Allen who raced 41 yards to the end zone to tie the game at seven. However, officials reviewed the play and ruled that Allen touched the sideline at the 22-yard line.

I must say that if I were a “Domer” I would be pretty mad about that one. I think we should all admit that from the angles we saw on TV, it was just too close to tell whether Allen touched the line or not.

When I saw the replays, my maize and blue colored lenses told me the edge of his foot touched the line for sure. But those with Irish eyes saw it the other way. [Editor's note: this video from WNDU appears to show Allen's heel touching the line.]

I think it was one of those plays in which the call on the field should have stood, whichever way it was called. If the side judge had ruled him out of bounds, I think it should have stood. But he didn’t, and I feel thankful that it was overturned.

Credit here goes to Michigan head coach Rich Rodriguez who, after seeing the replay on the Michigan Stadium big screen, called time out to give the officials time to review the play.

“I thought taking the timeout would give them more time to review, and I still have my challenge,” Rodriguez said. “You don’t want to burn a timeout unnecessarily in the second half. The first half doesn’t bother me as much to take the time out to give them a chance to review. That’s what I did. I said, I’m not going to challenge it, but this gives them enough time to see what I see on the screen up there.

“They said, yes, Coach, they are reviewing it. And they said you still have the timeout. I said that’s fine, as long as it gets called right.”

Whether it was called right or not is anybody’s guess, but it’s hard to tell how it would have affected the outcome of the game.

Notre Dame ended up with a field goal on that drive. The four-point difference between the would-be touchdown and the field goal was the difference in the final score, but it’s impossible to predict how the game would have played out had the score been 7-7 instead of 7-3 after that drive.

Nevertheless, Michigan receiver Darryl Stonum returned the ensuing kickoff 94 yards for a touchdown, sending Michigan’s defense right back onto the field.

Another situation that had Weis fired up was the way the game ended (or didn’t end, according to Weis).

Michigan kicked off with 11 seconds remaining. The squib kick seemed as if it bounced by Notre Dame return-man Theo Riddick and through the back of the end zone.

The game clock initially ticked down to 10 seconds, prompting questioning from Clausen. The officials got together and ruled that Riddick did, in fact, touch the ball, which replays clearly confirmed. The clock was then set to nine seconds.

Clausen then completed a pass across the middle to Golden Tate. Tate caught the ball at the 40-yard line near the left hash mark with five seconds remaining and was tackled at the 47-yard line near the right sideline.

The clock hit zero, the officials signaled the end of the game and Michigan players and coaches engulfed the field.

Weis kept his team on the sidelines as he pleaded with the officials to put a second back on the clock. But they were long gone and the final score stood.

“First it went from 11 to 10,” Weis said of the clock. “Then I complained and it went to nine. It went from 11 to 10 to 11 to nine. Maybe I shouldn’t have said anything. Maybe we’d have one more second, throw a Hail Mary.

“Their answer to me was they thought that Theo [Riddick] tipped the ball in the field of play on the kick, which would then start the clock. If he did, which I couldn’t really tell whether he did or he didn’t, so I’m going to take their word for it that that happened.”

The one thing Weis may have a right to be mad about is that the officials didn’t look to see if any time remained after Tate was tackled near the sideline.

The replay (at the 3:25 mark) seems to show one second still on the clock when the ball hits out of bounds.

Had the officials gotten together and looked at the replay, they may have put a second back on. However, it likely wouldn’t have mattered, because Tate was tackled in bounds and the clock would start when the ball is set.

It’s doubtful that Clausen could have gotten another snap off.

Even so, as a Michigan fan, I know what it’s like to feel cheated over one second. Yet, as mad as I was about that ending, it was hard to point the finger because Michigan never should have put itself in that position.

In that game, Michigan State faced 4th-and-16 with 1:25 to play. Quarterback Jeff Smoker’s pass fell incomplete, but a face-mask penalty on Michigan defensive back Jeremy LeSueur gave the Spartans a first down.

On a following play, Michigan was penalized for too many men on the field, moving Michigan State even closer to the end zone.

Had Michigan not hurt itself, that final second wouldn’t have mattered.

Likewise, had Weis run the ball, forcing Michigan to burn its remaining time outs, or had he chosen to throw a short, high-percentage pass on 2nd-and-10, rather than a deep ball towards Michigan’s best defensive back, he wouldn’t have even needed that last second.

Notre Dame fans: I understand your pain and I empathize with you. You do have a right to be mad. But it’s football and things don’t always go your way.

If Notre Dame would have won and the Allen play not been ruled out of bounds, Michigan fans would have had a right to gripe about that play.

Notre Dame will win a lot of games this year and next year, and they’re a fun team to watch with the great play makers they have at receiver.

I’ll be rooting for you to knock off Michigan State next week and USC next month.

This week, however, I’ll bask in the glory of out-scoring Touchdown Jesus.

In sports, just as in life, it’s not always fair.

Quote of the Day

“Everybody kept saying, ‘A freshman can’t do it.’ And I did it. I’m happy.

“I’ve been like that my whole life. Ever since I was a little kid, I never got nervous. It showed today. I didn’t get nervous. Our guys kept saying, ‘We can do this. We can do this.’ I believed in them, and we did it.”

-UM freshman quarterback Tate Forcier after beating Notre Dame in just his second college game. Forcier completed 23 of 33 passes for 240 yards and two touchdowns. He also rushed for 70 yards and a touchdown, out-staging Notre Dame junior quarterback Jimmy Clausen.

Quote of the Day II

“They will win a lot of games. The quarterback’s an NFL guy. They have two of the best wide receivers I’ve seen in years, and their running back’s a big-time player.

“And geez, did you see the size of the linemen? They could eat peanuts off our guys’ heads, for crying out loud. That’s a good-looking team. But thankfully, our guys made one more play than they did and we won.”

-UM head coach Rich Rodriguez on Notre Dame. Michigan had a hard time stopping Notre Dame’s offense all day, especially receivers Michael Floyd and Golden Tate.

Quote of the Day III

“I’ll hand over my job after today’s performance.”

-UM senior punter Zoltan Mesko after averaging only 32.5 yards per punt, well below his career average of 42 yards.

Meanwhile, quarterback Tate Forcier booted a 50-yard pooch punt that was downed at the four-yard line.

Stat of the Day

72.

The combined points between the two teams were the most points scored in the history of the rivalry. The previous high was 68 points in 2006.

It was also the fifth time Michigan has scored 30-plus points against Notre Dame. Michigan has won all five.

Stat of the Day II

The 94-yard kickoff return for a touchdown by sophomore wide receiver Darryl Stonum was the first since Steve Breaston took one back 95 yards against Minnesota on Oct. 18, 2005.

It was only the second since 1994, when Seth Smith returned a kick 100 yards against Wisconsin, and only the 10th in Michigan history.

Hard to believe it’s only happened 10 times in 1,205 games, given all the athletes Michigan has had over the years. That’s one per 120.5 games, or basically one per decade.

Three Go Blue Stars of the Game

1. Tate Forcier.
I started to say the numbers speak for themselves, but they don’t. Forcier did everything Michigan needed him to on Saturday, and more. The freshman refused to be rattled in his first career rivalry game, showing the poise and moxie of a veteran quarterback in leading Michigan on a game-winning drive.

Most of Clausen’s yards came from dropping back and throwing deep to Floyd and Tate. Forcier, on the other hand, made plays happen all day, from juking ND linebacker Darius Fleming and sprinting 31 yards to a touchdown to eluding the pass rush and delivering perfect throws on the run.

2. Darryl Stonum
Stonum’s kickoff return for a touchdown put Michigan ahead 14-3 early.

Stonum also caught four passes for 54 yards and hustled down the field on Forcier’s punt to down the ball on the Notre Dame four-yard line.

3. Greg Mathews
The senior wide receiver has been a steady sure-handed receiver the past couple of years. Though he doesn’t quite have the breakout speed, he managed to make a great 40-yard reception on third-and-12 in the first quarter.

The biggest play of the day, however, came on the last play of the game, when Mathews caught a four-yard touchdown pass from Forcier.

“It was a slant-and-out,” Mathews said of the game-winning play. “I saw him sitting inside, so I knew we had a chance. I just had to sell the slant as well as I could. Tate was getting pressure. He made a wonderful throw, and I just had to do everything I could to catch the ball.”

Mathews finished the game with five catches for 68 yards and a touchdown.

Five Go Blue Observations

1. The “maize-out” at the Big House looked great on TV, especially the block “M” in the student section. I haven’t been to a game yet this season, but it sure looks like the atmosphere and electricity in the Big House is a lot higher than past seasons.

Maybe I’m just disillusioned after what happened last season, but I think it’s more of a bi-product of Rich Rodriguez and the excitement he is bringing to Michigan football. I believe the fan base has bought into the “All-in for Michigan” mantra and it definitely shows on TV.

I can’t wait to get to another game.

2. I have to mention the difference that Brandon Minor made today. I wanted to put him in my “Three Stars” section, but snuck Mathews in because he made two great plays.

Minor, I think, really made a big difference in this game with his running in the third quarter. He finished with 16 carries for 106 yards and a touchdown. 80 of those yards came in the second half, helping Michigan take control of the clock and keep Notre Dame’s dynamic offense off the field.

But it’s not just rushing that Minor does well. He excels in pass blocking and is a big reason Forcier stays upright.

“Brandon brings so much because he’s so physical,” said UM offensive coordinator Calvin Magee. “He gave us so much protection on those passes, and then he ran hard. The guys follow Brandon because he’s a senior, and he runs hard and he’s physical.”

Minor will be a huge key to Michigan’s success this season if he stays healthy.

3. Credit Martavious Odoms for a big play for the second straight week. He doesn’t get as many looks this season as he did last season, because he’s not the only play maker Michigan has, but he’s still making a difference.

On Michigan’s game-winning drive, Odoms made a huge catch for a first down. On third-and-four at the Notre Dame 36, Odoms secured a low pass from Forcier to pick up the first down and keep the drive alive.

4. I feel like we have to get Denard Robinson on the field more often. Don’t get me wrong. I’m not saying there’s something wrong with our offense. It has been great, averaging 34.5 points per game so far.

But Robinson is such a good athlete, I could see him being a Percy Harvin type player. I know Rich Rodriguez says Robinson is staying at quarterback, which is smart this season at least, in case anything happens to Forcier. But I can’t help but think of how explosive he could be lined up in the backfield, in the slot, returning punts, etc.

I know the coaching staff knows what they’re doing, so I’m certainly not questioning them.

5. Michael Floyd and Golden Tate remind me of Braylon Edwards. I think they make Clausen better than he actually is, just like Edwards helped make a true freshman Chad Henne look great in 2004. Just throw the ball up and they’ll go get it.

Five Non-Go Blue Observations

1. I can’t believe Michigan State lost to Central Michigan. I know Central has a good quarterback in Dan LeFevour, but wow. That gives me some hope that Michigan can go into East Lansing and pull out a road win.

2. I was really impressed with Ohio State’s defense against USC. The USC offensive line is supposed to be one of the top lines in the nation and OSU’s defensive line shredded them most of the game.

I am, however, interested in seeing how Ohio State responds this week against Toledo.

It’s not exactly a home game—in Cleveland Browns Stadium—and Toledo’s offense has looked great in its first two games. Granted, those two games were against Purdue and Colorado, and Toledo’s defense has given up a lot of points, but Ohio State better watch out in this one.

3. I’m looking forward to the Florida-Tennessee matchup this weekend. It’s in Gainesville, so I don’t think it will be much of a game, but it should be pretty chippy.

We all know the verbiage going back and forth between first-year UT head coach Lane Kiffin and some of the Florida players in the past few months, so it will be a fun game to watch.

4. Houston pulled off the latest upset of the week, beating No. 5 Oklahoma State 45-35. I still think OSU’s Dez Bryant is the best receiver in the nation.

5. I’m also looking forward to Texas-Texas Tech this weekend. I really like Colt McCoy and hope he wins the Heisman this year, but Tech features a QB that shares my namesake, Potts (not related).

He’s been impressive so far, averaging over 400 yards and five touchdowns per game.

Go Blue!