Tyrone Willingham, a guy too many people had called a coach-by-accident, was turning out to be the real deal. Given the messy failed romance with former Georgia Tech coach George O'Leary, Fighting Irish students, alumni and supporters nationwide, began to exhale.

But not fully. The guys wearing the opposing uniforms last Saturday also wore one of the most fabled helmets in college football history — the Maize and Blue of Michigan.

If that didn't get Domers focused from sea to shining sea, there were a few in-week and pre-game flashpoints that snapped all to full attention.

• During the early week, Michigan coach Lloyd Carr, ever the gamesman, rhapsodized at length about the importance of the Notre Dame-Michigan rivalry, calling it a meeting of "The two best traditions in college football."

Fine, right? Only then in a mid-week session with a few Motown media types, he homilized how Michigan should drop the Irish after the current six-year contract is up.

"...Bad for us in the B.C.S. current set-up..." he said as a couple of jaws dropped. But others thought maybe you could drop the "C." in properly assessing Carr's comments.

Notre Dame 25, Michigan 23 was a nice feel-good story for the Notre Dame 94% of the stadium crowd of 80,795. But the real emotion between the two schools was taking place in various locations on the field, in the stands, even in the media to a certain degree.

A game filled with eight turnovers — a matching three fumbles lost and one interception by each side — wouldn't be an instant classic for the Must-See T.V. network, but there was enough raw emotion to overcome even that.

Michigan's pre-game taunting was a final coating of a terrific mosaic of emotion that filled the stadium. "(Some of their guys were saying) 'You guys aren't ready,'" defensive tackle Darrell Campbell said to South Bend Tribune Irish beat writer Jason Kelly. "The moment an opponent just disrespects you like that, they're just primed and ready to have an upset.

Carlyle Holiday, who guided the Irish to their first two offensive touchdowns since last Dec. 1, when Ryan Grant bolted 14 yards to score with 11:21 left in the second quarter at Purdue, heard some off-campus and pre-game crowing as well.

"It's Michigan, and it's not a secret that a lot of us hate Michigan at Notre Dame," said Holiday, who opened the game by leading a precise 80-yard, 11-play drive capped by Grant's first of two touchdowns, a 1-yard smash off right guard.

"This game provided so much extra going through your body."

Up in sections 101-106, where the majority of Michigan's slightly-over-5,000 rooters resided, there was plenty going through many of the frat boys' bodies. And it led to some trying moments for stadium security.

Any of the very few uncommitted in Notre Dame's 163rd consecutive sellout easily aligned themselves with the Irish.

If the quality of play didn't reflect the presence of two ranked teams — Michigan No. 7 beforehand, Notre Dame 20th — the emotional output would have rivaled a Verdi opera.

But in beginning the season 3-0 for the first time since 1996 when a guy named Holtz prowled the sideline, the now-No. 12 Domers found a resiliency that may serve them well as they face a schedule that includes Saturday's visit to angry Michigan State (2-1), which has whipped the Irish five straight, Air Force, Florida State and U.S.C.

Holiday showed he hadn't fully mastered Willingham's version of the left coast offense when he threw football's version of a hanging slider toward Arnaz Battle in the right flank and Michigan cornerback Marlin Jackson, ironically a huge N.D. fan growing up in Sharon, Pa., didn't miss it, running it back for the game-tying T.D. with 2:52 left in the first quarter.

"I thought they were gonna run a slant," Jackson told South Bend Tribune reporter Curt Rallo. "I just read (Holiday), broke on the ball and picked it off..."

But Michigan's offense floundered big time, which had racked up 66 total points in its opening two victories over Pacific 10 power Washington and Western Michigan, thanks to yet another solid performance by one of the nation's best, if unheralded, defenses.

It was a holding penalty against what seemed to be the entire Michigan offensive line trying to protect quarterback John Navarre in the end zone that swung the game Notre Dame's way for the rest of the half. The resultant safety and a 27-yard drive late in the quarter set up by Vontez Duff's fumble recovery and a questionable pass-interference call on the talented Jackson in the end zone set up Holiday's three-yard T.D. scramble with just 23 seconds left in the half.

But both teams were finding a discomfort zone with the ball and in the second half, and after a legit 72-yard march set up Philip Brabbs' 19-yard field goal, Michigan's Ernest Shazor forced Battle to fumble the ensuing kickoff.

That was an offer the No. 14 Wolverines couldn't refuse. Suddenly feature back Chris Perry was finding some serious running room and with just four seconds left in the quarter, he slammed the final two yards to tie it and Brabbs, who earlier had had a chip-shot field goal blocked, banged through the go-ahead conversion for a 17-16 lead.

While the Irish battled for self-control in the early phases of the ensuing possession, the upstairs Maize and Blue frat boys began chanting "Why so quiet..." to the huddled masses below.

But the Irish fans and players were focused on only one thing — composure. They had blown a spectacular chance to put the game away early in the third quarter when Holiday fumbled just before he dove into the endzone. But Michigan's usually-strong defense had struggled to stop the Irish.

"Back to basics," Willingham said to the media mass. He is a man of few words, but many offensive looks. And while some U-M defenders strutted onto the field, Notre Dame came out with a clear sense of purpose.

"There was plenty of time," Willingham said.

"Some people," Holiday told Chicago Sun-Times columnist Jay Mariotti, "may say it feels like an upset. We just had the goal in mind that we should come out and dominate this game because we're in our house."

There was no mistaking this venue for "The Big House" at Ann Arbor. With the crowd howling its support, the Irish assembled a classic 76-yard march, highlighted by two Holiday-to-Omar Jenkins big gainers, 29 and 47 yards and climaxing with Grant's three-yard run with 13:01 left. Even a missed two-point conversion couldn't dim the joy.

"I think the most disappointing play of the day for us was the long pass to start the fourth quarter," Carr told Kelly. "We had just taken the lead. We had just begun to run the ball (Notre Dame held the Wolverines to 91 total rushing yards), and we had the wind in the fourth quarter. But Notre Dame did a good job."

The banshee screams did the rest, forcing a pair of false starts and nullifying a couple of Michigan gains. When Gerome Sapp, who scored a huge T.D. the previous week on special teams vs. Purdue, forced a Perry fumble at midfield that Glenn Earl recovered, the Irish seemed in total control.

But things are never quite as they seem in N.D.-Michigan games. The next sequence was pure Lewis Carroll.

With the ball on the Michigan 27, the Irish were flagged for holding after a Grant run. But instead of backing Notre Dame up to the 39, including the spot of the foul and giving the Irish a third-and-17 look, Carr declined the penalty.

And Setta, who had earlier had a 47-yard field goal attempt blocked, knocked home a 46-yarder that proved to be the game-winner as the Irish took a 25-17 lead.

"I don't think 10 yards would have made a difference," was Carr's spin to South Bend Tribune columnist David Haugh. "If they complete a pass, they would have had the same kick."

 Um, the odds were against it, coach. Holiday was only 8-for-17 and your defense had sacked him six times, remember?

"I just didn't want to take a chance they'd get a big play, because a touchdown would have put us out of the game, he told Sun-Times N.D. beat guy John Jackson.

What was he telling the rest of his defense, said to be the Big Ten's best before the season?

But there were enough imperfections to go around. After a possession tradeoff, the Wolverines drove 81 yards to pull within 25-23 when Navarre, aided repeatedly by what the Big Ten officiating crew considered legit pass-blocking -- but often involved blocking from directly behind -- passed them downfield.

His eight-yard strike to Bennie Joppru came with only 10 Irish defenders on the field. Duff, an outstanding corner whose right calf muscle tightened up on him, was not replaced.

"Sometimes  the game is quite hectic," Willingham said to Kelly, "and the communication is not what we want it to be. We made a mistake."

But make no mistake, the Irish more than made up for it when Shane Walton batted away Navarre's two-point conversion attempt for Braylon Edwards. And when Walton later cradled a Navarre pass deep in Michigan territory on the Wolverines' last-gasp possession, the Irish had gained enough credibility to jump from No. 20 to 12 in both polls.

The crush of kelly green-clad humanity delayed the sweaty players' return to the locker room. Exhaling became a luxury. Ahhh, who cared? This was Michigan. And for Notre Dame, it was time to shake down the thunder once again.