Notre Dame vs Michigan State Recap: Should Notre Dame Fans PanIC?

The Battle for the Megaphone is a historic rivalry dating back to 1897. Since then, the two teams have met 80 times. On Saturday, the Fighting Irish took home the victory 27-10, in a game where they were favored by over four touchdowns. This has resulted in panic across the Notre Dame fanbase, but is this justified?

The game began on a big 61-yard pass from CJ Carr to Wide Receiver Micah Gilbert on a perfectly thrown ball. Running Back Aneyes Williams would follow this up with two 0-yard runs, and the Irish would be forced to settle for a short field goal.

A three-and-out for Michigan State and a blocked punt would set the Irish up with good field position on their next drive. A 2-yard touchdown run from Running Back Nolan James Jr. would give Notre Dame a 10-0 lead.

On the next Michigan State drive, Safety Luke Talich, who replaced injured Safety Tae Johnson, would intercept the Spartans. However, the Irish would follow this up with a turnover on downs on a fake punt attempt on 4th&14. A gutsy call from Coach Freeman and his staff, but one that has typically paid off in the past.

Wide Receiver Brayden Robinson would be stopped two yards short, but likely would’ve gotten the first down if he took the right running path. The Spartans would take advantage of this Notre Dame lapse with a field goal.

A 10-play, 75-yard drive from the Fighting Irish would give Notre Dame a 17-3 lead on a short touchdown run from Aneyes Williams. A 53-yard deep ball to Wide Receiver Rodney Bullard Jr. would set up a 15-yard touchdown run for backup Quarterback Cam Fancher.

The rest of the half would result in punts, and the game would be 17-10 Notre Dame heading into the half.

Michigan State would start the half with a punt, and the Fighting Irish would follow it up with a gritty 9:42 drive, resulting in a field goal. The drive included a 17-yard run from Nolan James Jr., the longest run for the Fighting Irish this season. The long drive ended the quarter, and the Fighting Irish would force another punt, thanks to sacks from Loghan Thomas and Boubacar Traore, and followed it up with a rushing touchdown from CJ Carr.

The touchdown was set up by another deep pass to Micah Gilbert, this time for 39 yards. Adon Shuler picked off Alessio Milivojevic on the first play of the next drive, but Notre Dame failed to capitalize, missing a field goal. 

Notre Dame would force another punt, led by Luke Talich who had a sack. From there, the Irish would run out the final five minutes of the game, and finish with a 27-10 victory.

CJ Carr starred again, tallying 234 yards and a rushing touchdown off an efficient 18 for 24 passing. Nolan James Jr. seemed to pass Aneyes Williams as the RB1 for the Irish. He had 26 carries, to Williams’ 9.

James Jr. tallied 121 yards on 4.7 YPC and a touchdown, along with two receptions. Aneyes Williams struggled again, averaging just 2.8 YPC. He now has 144 rushing yards on the season off 38 carries. 

The big question mark for the Irish was the Wide Receiver room heading into this week. Jordan Faison had been consistent to start the year, but had a slightly worse game, finishing with 5 receptions for 38 yards. Micah Gilbert stepped up big time, finishing the game with 170 yards on 8 receptions.

If the Irish want to make a run in the CFP, Gilbert must continue producing. Only one other receiver had a catch on Saturday, Mylan Graham, who had an 8-yard reception. No tight ends recorded a reception for the Irish, the first time that has happened since 2022. 

On the defensive side of the ball, the Irish defense showed out, to no surprise. Teams are simply throwing the ball away from Leonard Moore, which you could expect. Safety Luke Talich stepped up, replacing injured Tae Johnson, and recording a sack, 1.5 TFL and an interception.

His counterpart, Adon Shuler had the other half of the TFL, and his own interception. Drayk Bowen led the team in tackles with 8, and Jaylen Sneed had 5. The defensive line looked better than it has in a long time, tallying four sacks from four different players.

Transfer Defensive Tackle Tionne Gray has been great to start the year for Notre Dame, and is just part of the depth that they have at that position.

Michigan State

For Michigan State, Alessio Milivojevic struggled against the best secondary in the country, completing only 9 passes and throwing 2 interceptions. Star Running Back Cam Edwards finished with only 38 yards rushing, and was injured late in the game, which is being labeled as a significant knee injury. Losing Edwards would be detrimental for the Spartans. Rodney Bullard Jr. led Michigan State in receiving yards with 66 on 2 catches. 

On the defensive side of the ball, Linebacker Jordan Hall was everywhere. He tallied 13 tackles, which was 8 more than any other Spartan player.

DL Isaac Smith recorded a sack, the only Spartan sack of the game. Notre Dame was able to wear down the Spartan defense, finishing the game with four separate 10-play or more drives. 

So is it time for the Irish to panic simply because of the scoreboard? I say no.

The two biggest weaknesses heading into the game were the receiver play and rushing game. Overall, I would say those two question marks took a major leap this game. Another wide receiver, Micah Gilbert, produced big in the passing game, and the Irish found their running back in Nolan James Jr.

This Irish secondary was always going to be elite, but the pass rush has been the best it has been in a while. The Irish seemed to never fail to get pressure, each time from someone else on the defensive line.

The score may have indicated that the game was competitive, but it never felt close. A few mistakes – the botched fake punt, missed FG, and big pass play allowed are what made this game close.

Notre Dame simply could’ve thrown the ball every play to run up the score, but establishing a run game seemed to be more important to OC Mike Denbrock.

The 10-minute drive in the third quarter clearly indicated this. Notre Dame led Michigan State in total yards by more than double, led the game in rushing yards by nearly four times, won the turnover margin by two, and led the T.O.P. battle by nearly 15 minutes. 

While there are still things they need to figure out, Marcus Freeman and his squad will have three games to try things out, until they head to Provo to face #9 ranked BYU. Next week, they head to West Lafayette to face Purdue, where they are a 27.5-point favorite.

Next week, Michigan State hosts Nebraska as a 5.5-point underdog in what is set-up to be a must-win game for the Spartans. After that they play a weak Big Ten schedule, playing Wisconsin, Illinois, Northwestern and UCLA the next four weeks. A successful season is still achievable for Pat Fitzgerald in his first season as the Michigan State head coach.