Hey guys, had an idea today while I was sitting at my desk at work looking at the EA Sports NFL Simulations on ESPN.com – why not do a weekly simulation with NCAA Football 2009 for each week’s Notre Dame game. So from now on I will do a simulation of each game towards the end of the week and do a quick recap based on the stats.
Notre Dame at Michigan State |
|||||
| 1st |
2nd
|
3rd
|
4th
|
final
|
|
 |
0
|
7
|
10
|
7
|
24 |
 |
14
|
7
|
0
|
0
|
21 |
Irish Jump Out to Early Lead, But Fall to Spartans 24-21
Notre Dame used a pick 6 by safety Kyle McCarthy and a Jimmy Clausen to Armando Allen touchdown pass to build a 14-0 first quarter lead but ran out of gas in the second half. Michigan State scored 17 unanswered points in the final two quarters after Notre Dame build a 21-7 half-time lead.
The Irish successfully contained Javon Ringer, holding the talented Michigan State running back to just 39 yards on 6 carries, but couldn’t keep the Spartans out of the end zone through the air. Brian Hoyer and Kirk Cousins combined to throw for 201 yards and three touchdowns. Notre Dame intercepted the Spartans quarterbacks twice with Kyle McCarthy retruning one of the interceptions for a touchdown in the first quarter, but couldn’t keep Mark Dell out of the end-zone on a 30 yard pass from Cousins with less than two minutes remaining.
Notre Dame had a chance to tie the game at the end of regulation, but a 46 yard Brandon Walker field goal couldn’t find its way through the uprights to force overtime.
Third down efficiency was the difference in the game with Michigan State converting on an impressive 9 of 18 attempts. Notre Dame meanwhile strugged converting third downs as they have the previous two weeks with just 2 conversions on 11 attempts. Notre Dame also struggled on fourth down converting just one of three atempts.
Scoring Summary |
|||
| First Quarter | |||
| 11:35 | Notre Dame | TD | Kyle McCarthy, returned interception 43 yards (Walker Kick) |
| 2:27 | Notre Dame | TD | Armando Allen, 4 yard pass from Jimmy Clausen (Walker Kick) |
| Second Quarter | |||
| 11:07 | Michigan State | TD | D. Curry, 18 yard pass from Brian Hoyer (Swenson kick) |
| 7:50 | Notre Dame | TD | Armando Allen, 28 yard pass from Jimmy Clausen (Walker Kick) |
| Third Quarter | |||
| 9:50 | Michigan State | FG | Swenson, 40 yard FG |
| 6:59 | Michigan State | TD | Jimmerson, 18 yard pass from K Cousins (Swenson Kick) |
| Fourth Quarter | |||
| 1:44 | Michigan State | TD | Mark Dell, 30 yard pass from K Cousins (Swenson Kick) |
Individual Stats |
|
| Passing | |
| Notre Dame | Clausen (16-26-1; 121 yds, 2 TDs) |
| Michigan State | Hoyer (14-18-2; 80 yds, 1 TD); Cousins (15-22-0; 121 yds, 2 TDs) |
| Rushing | |
| Notre Dame | Clausen (13-50); Aldridge (6-42); Schwapp (3-11); Gray (2-7); Allen (1-4) |
| Michigan State | Jimmerson (13-57); Ringer (6-39); Ray (5-11); Cousins (3-(-10)) |
| Receiving | |
| Notre Dame | Tate (4-13); West (4-9); Allen (3-65, 2 TD); Schwapp (2-23); Kamara (2-6); Parris (1-5) |
| Michigan State | Dell (9-94, 1 TD); F Smith (7-9); D Curry (4-44, 1 TD); Jimmerson (3-33, 1 TD); Cannt (3-20); Hawken (3-1) |
Team Stats |
||
|
Notre Dame
|
Michigan State | |
|
21
|
Score
|
24 |
|
8
|
First Downs
|
14 |
|
235
|
Total Offense
|
292 |
|
25-114
|
Rushes – Yards
|
29-91 |
|
16-26-1
|
Comp/Att/Int
|
29-40-2 |
|
121
|
Passing Yards
|
201 |
|
2-11
|
3rd Downs
|
9-18 |
|
1-3
|
4th Downs
|
2-2 |
|
0-0
|
2 point
|
0-0 |
|
2-1-0 (50%)
|
Red Zone Att – TD – FG
|
2-2-0 (100%) |
|
2
|
Turnovers
|
2 |
|
1
|
Fumbles Lost
|
0 |
|
47
|
PR Yards
|
16 |
|
127
|
KR Yards
|
86 |
|
409
|
Total Yards
|
394 |
|
6-42.5
|
Punts – Avg
|
5-44.6 |
|
5-25
|
Penalties – Yards
|
1-5 |
|
25:30
|
Time of Poss.
|
34:30 |
@pkl, I guess that’s why its a simulation 🙂 I figured this wouldn’t be too accurate, but I think it could be a fun feature to the blog each week.
hilarious. we might see more than 6 carries from Ringer.
Frankie, the score is backwards…….they are not going to beat us in the air.
I got 0-41 MSU.
Scoreless 1st quarter. Would have been better had Clausen not decided to play like Mike Vick. The dude is painfully slow. Golden fumbled at the MSU 10.
MSU opened with a 8 play TD drive, capped by a Ringer dive. After ND going 3 and out, another long MSU drive capped by a play action pass to Curry, I believe.
Jimmy threw a pick 6 on his first pass. 0-21 MSU.
ND drove 50 yards, and missed a FG in the last 50 seconds.
MSU got an FG just as time expired.
After halftime, ND got the ball back and went three and out (really, a draw on 3 and 8?!)
Ringer took the handoff 72 yards for a TD.
Jimmy threw another pick 6.
Then I shut off the PS3 and went to go set myself some beer for the real game. In fairness, the ground game was working, just like we expect it to today. ND tried to pass almost every play once they were down 0-14 in the early second quarter.
Ringer was 12 for 87. Hoyer was 19 of 20(!) for 200 yds. Clausen was 15-22 for 118 and 2 pick-6’s. Rushing was a combined 21-81. Schwapp had the longest rush of the day(!) with 8 yards on a shotgun draw. Honestly, they looked more like last year’s team than this year’s.
Now we’re predicting with xbox. Great.