Michigan State hung around for a half, but Notre Dame steadily pulled away after the break and beat the Spartans 27-10 on Saturday night in primetime at Notre Dame Stadium.
The loss dropped MSU to 2-1, while No. 3 Notre Dame moved to 3-0. Michigan State was down only 17-10 at halftime after answering an early deficit with a second-quarter push, but the Irish shut the door with a 10-0 second half.
Senior captain linebacker Jordan Hall paced the Spartans with 13 tackles. Tre Bell, Devin Vaught, Dion Crawford and Eli Coenen each finished with five tackles.
Redshirt sophomore Alessio Milivojevic went 9-of-17 for 123 yards and threw two interceptions. Redshirt freshman tight end Jayden Savoury led MSU’s receivers with three catches for 30 yards, and fifth-year wideout Rodney Bullard Jr. had two catches for 66 yards.
Notre Dame wasted no time testing the Spartans. On the game’s first snap, CJ Carr hit Micah Gilbert for a 61-yard gain to the MSU 14, but Bell saved a touchdown with the tackle. Michigan State then held firm and limited the Irish to a 25-yard field goal.
The next Notre Dame score came after a partially blocked punt gave the Irish a short field. They turned that into a 41-yard, 11-play drive, converting two fourth downs along the way before Nolan James Jr. punched in a 2-yard touchdown run for a 10-0 lead with 4:31 left in the opening quarter.
Michigan State finally got moving late in the first and into the second. After Notre Dame tried a fake punt on fourth-and-13 near the end of the first quarter and came up 12 yards short of the line to gain, the Spartans took over near midfield. They put together a 12-play, 36-yard drive and got a 32-yard Liam Boyd field goal to cut it to 10-3 at the 10:05 mark of the second quarter.
Notre Dame answered with another touchdown march, this one a 10-play, 75-yard drive capped by a 1-yard run from Aneyas Williams to make it 17-3 with 4:46 left in the half.
MSU had one more response in it before halftime. Milivojevic found Bullard for a 53-yard grab, with Bullard laying out for the catch and setting the Spartans up at the Notre Dame 15. After the play was confirmed on video review, Cam Fancher finished the drive with a 15-yard touchdown run, pulling MSU within 17-10 with 3:21 remaining.
That was as close as the Spartans would get.
Notre Dame opened the third quarter by forcing a three-and-out, then leaned on a long, clock-chewing possession. The Irish went 17 plays and 77 yards in 9:43, ending the drive with a 35-yard field goal from Spencer Porath to stretch the lead to 20-10.
The final blow came early in the fourth. With 10:57 left, Carr capped a four-play drive with a 3-yard rushing touchdown. Gilbert set up the score with catches of 28 and 39 yards on the possession, and Notre Dame closed it out from there.
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Michigan State Showed One Encouraging Sign In A Frustrating Notre Dame Loss
Michigan States 27-10 loss to Notre Dame had plenty of familiar frustrations, but there was still one part of the night that offered a little encouragement. The Spartans defense, with Jordan Hall helping set the tone, battled hard and played with real grit for much of the game, even if missed tackles and costly penalties kept knocking them off schedule.
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Rodney Bullard Jr. and Cam Fancher helped the Spartans trim the margin before halftime, giving the game a brief sense of momentum and a reminder that there is at least something to build on. Add in the way fans responded to the effort and the early Pat Fitzgerald era, and the takeaway was less about the final score than about a team still trying to piece together a more complete performance. [Read more 🡒]
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