Michigan State took an early punch from Notre Dame and never fully shook it, but the Spartans still left with something to build on in a 27-10 loss that gave them their first defeat of the season.
The night began with fireworks for the Fighting Irish. On the first play from scrimmage, CJ Carr launched a 61-yard strike - Notre Dame’s longest play of the season so far - before MSU tightened up in the red zone and forced a field goal for a 3-0 deficit. Michigan State’s first series went nowhere, ending in a three-and-out and a partially blocked punt that kept the Irish on the Spartans’ side of the field.
Notre Dame then leaned on fourth-down aggression. It converted two fourth-down tries on the next drive, and Nolan James Jr. finished it off with a 2-yard rushing touchdown to push the lead to 10-0.
Michigan State briefly gave the ball back on a rough break when Alessio Milivojevic threw his first interception of the season on a deep ball intended for Rodney Bullard Jr., with Luke Talich coming away with the pick. The Spartans’ defense answered with a stop, and then Notre Dame tried a fake punt on 4th-and-14 near midfield. MSU sniffed it out, took over at the 50, and moved into scoring range.
That drive should have ended with seven. Cam Fancher found Kenneth Williams wide open in the end zone, but the catch was dropped. Michigan State settled for a 32-yard field goal from Liam Boyd to get on the board.
Notre Dame answered with more toughness in the trenches. Kenny Soares Jr. came close to bringing Carr down on a third-down play, but Carr stayed upright by using his hand to keep from hitting the ground and still picked up the conversion. A few snaps later, Aneyas Williams punched in a 1-yard touchdown to make it 17-3.
Then Michigan State landed its best throw of the season. Milivojevic hit Bullard on a 53-yard bomb that dropped perfectly in stride and flipped the field in a hurry. From there, the Spartans turned back to Fancher, who scored on a 15-yard RPO keeper to pull MSU within one score at halftime, 17-10.
The second half opened quietly for Michigan State. The Spartans, receiving the kickoff, couldn’t generate much on their first possession.
Rhys Dakin did help pin Notre Dame inside its own five, but the Irish pieced together a couple of runs to get back into the red zone. MSU held firm again, though, forcing another field goal and keeping it a two-score game at 20-10 with a minute left in the third quarter.
From there, the pass rush started to tilt the game. Notre Dame got to Milivojevic with sacks on two of the next three possessions, and another Dakin punt followed. Carr then connected on two deep balls to Micah Gilbert to get inside the five, and a designed quarterback run gave Carr his first rushing touchdown of the day and a 27-10 lead.
The pressure kept coming. Boubacar Traore forced another opening for the Notre Dame front, and Milivojevic was intercepted again on the first play of Michigan State’s next drive. Notre Dame followed that with a three-and-out and missed its third field goal attempt of the game.
Milivojevic kept battling with both his arm and his legs, but the Irish blitzes kept collapsing the pocket. A fourth-and-long turned into another punt, and Notre Dame finished off the clock for the 27-10 win.
Even in defeat, there was a clear silver lining for Michigan State. The Spartans were expected to lose by 30, and instead they were within a touchdown at halftime against the No. 3 team in the country. Pat Fitzgerald’s team played hard for all 60 minutes, and the first half showed a group that’s ahead of schedule, even if the talent gap was impossible to ignore.
The next test comes next Saturday, when Michigan State hosts Nebraska in its first matchup with a Big Ten opponent.
In Other News...
Michigan State Showed One Encouraging Sign In A Frustrating Notre Dame Loss
Michigan State left South Bend with the kind of loss that can sting in more than one way, because the 27-10 final against Notre Dame did not look as competitive on the scoreboard as the Spartans would have hoped. Even so, there was at least one encouraging sign tucked inside a frustrating afternoon: the defense, with Jordan Hall leading the way, brought a gritty edge and held up better than the result suggested, even if missed tackles and penalties still showed up at bad times.
The bigger problem was on the other side of the ball, where Michigan State never found much room to settle in under pressure. Milivojevic threw two interceptions, and the offense spent too much of the day chasing the game instead of controlling it, while Cam Edwards was limited late by injury. For a team trying to find traction, the defensive effort offered something to build on, but the Spartans are still left sorting through the missed chances that turned a winnable stretch into another reminder of how much cleaner the operation needs to be. [Read more 🡒]
Michigan State Showed Something Against Notre Dame Fans Can Rally Around
Michigan State came out of its matchup with No. 3 Notre Dame on the wrong side of the scoreboard, but not without a few reasons for its fans to feel better about what comes next. The Spartans dropped the game 27-10, yet there were stretches when the defense made strong plays and the offense showed some encouraging signs before mistakes and penalties started to pile up.
Pat Fitzgeralds group still has a long way to go, and this was not the kind of result that changes the record book. Even so, the response from the fan base suggested something more important may have happened for a team trying to build momentum: a performance that, despite the loss, gave supporters a glimpse of a future they can get behind. [Read more 🡒]
Michigan State Showed Promise At Notre Dame But One Issue Ruined It
Michigan State left Notre Dame with a loss, but not without a few reasons to think there is something to build on. The Spartans fell 27-10, yet there were encouraging flashes from second-string quarterback Cam Fancher and linebacker Jordan Hall, who helped keep the game from slipping away too quickly and showed the kind of effort the staff will point to while sorting through the tape.
Kenneth Williams, Tre Bell and Charles Brantley were also part of the story, though not in the way Michigan State needed. The game turned on costly mistakes that blunted some of the positive signs and kept the Spartans from turning a competitive stretch into anything more lasting, leaving plenty of production to review and one obvious issue that overshadowed the rest. [Read more 🡒]