Irish intercept Wolverines

SOUTH BEND, Ind. — This time, Notre Dame made sure Denard Robinson and Michigan had no shot at a last-minute victory.

Manti Te’o had two interceptions as the 11th-ranked Fighting Irish picked off five Michigan passes and backup quarterback Tommy Rees sparked the Notre Dame offense in a 13-6 victory over the 18th-ranked Wolverines on Saturday night.

Robinson, who amassed 948 yards of total offense in victories over the Irish the past two years, wasn’t as effective this time around as the Irish repeatedly forced him into mistakes. He threw four interceptions in the first half, then lost a fumble at the Notre Dame 8 on the first drive of the second half.

The Irish (4-0) are off to their best start since 2002 and took another step in trying to re-establish themselves as a college football power. It was a setback for Michigan (2-2), which lost its eighth consecutive road game against ranked teams since beating second-ranked Notre Dame 47-21 in 2006.

The victory also ended a streak of three consecutive games in which Michigan beat the Irish in the final 27 seconds.

Notre Dame ran out the clock after a 31-yard Brendan Gibbons field goal with 3:27 left in the game made it 13-6. Rees, who came in for an ineffective Everett Golson midway through the second quarter, connected with Tyler Eifert on a 38-yard pass down the sideline on a critical third down. Then an 8-yard run by Theo Riddick on third-and-8 with a minute left wrapped up the victory.