Can Notre Dame win back to back games for the first time since November 2015 this weekend? Get ready to find out with our weekly opponent primer.
What you Need to Know:
- Game Time: September 23rd at 8:00 p.m. ET on Fox
- Location: Spartan Stadium, East Lansing, Michigan
- Matchup: Notre Dame leads the all-time series 48-29-1 (last meeting 2016 at Notre Dame); Battle for the Megaphone Trophy
- Odds: Notre Dame -4.0
Gameday Weather:
The current forecast calls for a high of 86 degrees with overnight lows in the upper 50’s and a 10% chance of rain on Game Day.
Michigan State Details:
- Conference: Big Ten
- Head Coach: Mark Dantonio
- 2017 Record: 2-0
- 2016 Record: 3-9
Michigan State Storylines
Michigan State is coming off a bye week and some weak competition against Bowling Green and Western Michigan (although the Broncos did give USC a run for their money). Mark Dantonio will have a well-rested team when the Spartans take on the Irish. Michigan State had the same game plan last season. They had two cupcakes, then a bye week before they took on the Irish. This strategy worked for the Spartans last year, and they expect it to work again this season.
Will the Spartans get back to being an elite college football team? From 2013-2015 the Spartans under Dantonio went 36-5. This included wins in the Rose Bowl and Cotton Bowl, capped off by an appearance in the College Football Playoffs. Michigan State went 3-9 last season, but they were still able to beat the Irish. Michigan State is 2-0 this season, but will face their first real test this Saturday.
Can Michigan State slow down the Irish rushing attack? Last week the Irish accumulated 515 yards on the ground. The Spartan Defense, however, has only allowed 24 points in the first two games. Is the Defense back to the old Michigan State Defense? Since the Spartans have only faced Bowling Green and Western Michigan, it’s hard to assess. Mark Dantonio will likely try to load the box and force Brandon Wimbush to beat the Spartans through the air. But then again the Boston College Eagles tried the same thing.
Notre Dame Storylines
Once again the passing attack was underwhelming Saturday for the Irish. Wimbush was 11 for 24 with 1 interception against the Boston College defense. Wimbush is now 47 for 93 on the season, with just a 50.5% completion percentage to go with only 2 passing touchdowns. Sure the offense is running the ball extremely well, but look what happened against Georgia when the Irish faced a top ranked defense.
Wimbush has to develop as a passer for Notre Dame to win big games. There have been numerous balls thrown out of the reach of receivers – receivers such as St. Brown who is 6-5. For Notre Dame to take the next step Wimbush has to start completing at least 60% of his passes.
Will the Notre Dame Offense see more of Dexter Williams? Josh Adams is the clear number 1, no one is debating that. But when you have Williams’ talent on the sidelines, the Irish have to find a way to get this man more reps. Last week against Boston College, Williams had only 6 carries for 50 yards but still scored 2 touchdowns. If this Offense is going to continue to run the ball, Notre Dame needs fresh legs in the game via Dexter Williams.
Can Brian Kelly get back to winning primetime games? Michigan State is not ranked and Notre Dame is favored on the road. But I will give Kelly credit for a major road win if he can go into East Lansing and beat the Spartans in their backyard. At home Michigan State only lost to Michigan by 9 points last season, and to Ohio State by only 1 point due to a failed two point conversion by the Spartans. Michigan State plays tough at home, and this will be huge step forward for Kelly if he wins.
Head to Head Matchups
Notre Dame Offense vs. Michigan State Defense- Tie- But wait Notre Dame has rushed for 992 rushing yards this season? Yes, but the passing game is nowhere to be found. The Notre Dame offense looked awful against Georgia and inconsistent in the first half against Boston College. Notre Dame’s superior talent finally got the best of the Eagles in the second half. Notre Dame’s offense is 1 dimensional right now, and Mark Dantonio always puts out a good defense.
Michigan State Offense vs. Notre Dame Defense– Advantage Notre Dame- Notre Dame’s Defense has come back to life. The defense is young, but has played great through the first 3 games. This Michigan State Offense relies on a heavy run game right into the teeth of the defense. Last year Michigan State ran all over Notre Dame. This year the Irish have already faced better running backs against Georgia and are reading for a battle in the trenches.
Michigan State’s quarterback, Brian Lewerke, does present a challenge as a dual threat quarterback with 150 yards on the ground already. But the Irish still have the advantage in this matchup.
Special Teams– Tie- There are no real distinctions between the Spartan Special Teams and the Irish. The Spartans have a freshman kicker who has yet to attempt a field goal, but is 9 for 9 in extra points. Yoon showed up in the primetime matchup against Georgia, but wasn’t used last week other than PAT’s because the Irish took care of business in the red zone.
Kickoff return specialist CJ Sanders was able to return the opening kickoff against Michigan State last year, which was then called back due to a holding penalty. Sanders has only returned kickoffs for the Irish this year with Chris Finke on punt return. The Irish haven’t had an impact play on special teams this season. If anyone can make a difference in the game through special teams returns it would be Sanders. Finke honestly doesn’t have much of a chance to get going due to the lack of setup on punt returns.
My Prediction
I’m going with the Michigan State Spartans. Mark Dantonio is a great coach, and always gets the most out of his players. Last season I watched the Spartans dominate most of the game against Notre Dame. Michigan State ran a burn offense that accounted for extremely long drives. Notre Dame does have a vastly better defense, but the Spartans still have Dantonio. If the Spartans do that again this year, it will be even harder to get the Irish running game going, which took almost 3 quarters to do so last week.
I cannot pick the Irish in this game. I can’t recall the last time the Irish won a primetime matchup, especially on the road. Notre Dame is 1-9 in their last 10 games decided by 1 possession. Brian Kelly needs this win desperately after the week 2 loss to Georgia, it will be interesting to see how this game plays out.
My Prediction: Michigan State 24 Notre Dame 21
Its a rivalry game. Expect a close, physical game.
That’s enough already on Wimbush. He’ll be just fine. He’s going to loosen up and start adding touch. Receivers are more at fault than he, as well as a surprisingly porous offensive line in pass protection.
Last quality road win in primetime for the Irish was 2012…@ Oklahoma.
Defense has moved towards bend-don’t-break which is just fine. Looks better than it has since Diaco left.
Irish pull out a close one, somehow Kelly retains his job, and then remarkably gets an extension at the end of the year (BIG MISTAKE).
Nothing surprises anymore.
MSU’s DE’s are 50 lbs lighter that ND Offensive tackles. If the Irish just run right at them over and over they will be beat up and worn out by the 4th quarter.
Ted, That’s exactly the Biggie Munn/Dan Devine school of thought. (Gentle Dan was a Munn assistant, along with Duffy Dauraghty(SP), and I think Frank Kush and Pepper Rogers, though I could be wrong on the last two). Devine once explained his “philosophy” this way: “The team with the biggest tackles wins.” Ironic if we should use it against MSU! But you’re right – we should identify their weak link(s) on the line and just pound away with double teams and tackle blasts and second man through plays until they just can’t hold up anymore! But we still need to keep their LB’s honest.
Bruce G. Curme ’77 ’82
Just checked my facts and Pepper was never associated with Munn or Devine, though DD did give Rogers the finger once (Gentle Dan did that a lot). Frank Kush was a Devine assistant coach, not a Munn assistant coach. I knew Frank learned his friendly affable approach to the game somewhere!
BGC
For all the negativity around Wimbush I think as fans we need to take a closer look at the facts. Wimbush has already one two games as a starter this season and lost the other to Georgia by one point. Last season Kizer won four games TOTAL for the season and lost to Navy and to Duke at home!!! I think the QB position this year is trending up…Give the kid some time to develop. I personally think Wimbush can potentially become a stud. GoIrish Beat Sparty
won not one lol Jeeeze
I believe we will win this. Alot of motivation from being punched in the mouth last season.
MSU Defense hasn’t allowed 24 points in two games. They have allowed 3. The other points came off of two fumble returns and one kickoff return.
Thinking back through the years, noone remembers the QB’s names that handed the ball of to such college stars as Gale Sayers, OJ Simpson, Archie Griffen, Tony Dorsett, Emmitt Smith, Ernie Nevers, Bronko Nagurski . To much emphasis on passing game. Just work opening the running lanes for premier back Josh Adams. Sure, the defense will know what we are gonna do. Pound, pound pound.
If this predicted score comes true this will officially end the BK era. Unless he pulls out an upset against either Stanford or USC
Well, there is some question about the valuation of the Sparty units in this article.
There are some analysts who take a peek at the Phil Steele unit rankings.
Michigan State ranks 10TH in the Big Fourteen according to Steele.
When the clock strikes midnight on September 23rd, we will see whether Steele or the author has a better handle
on the quality vel non of the Spartan units.
Anybody who has a Phil Steele magazine can easily look this up.
I agree for the most part – Wimbush has got to deliver through the air- he was missing open receivers consistently – any decent team will stack the line and stop the running . Wimbush has been a bust so far as a quarterback – runner yes
quarterback – no.
Long season again if the air game does not show up
Am I the only one not worried about Wimbush…yet? It will slow down for him and he will settle down. This guy hasn’t played in three years.
Georgia is better than MSU and ND should’ve been the victor in that game. Give MSU a bump for being at home.
ND 24 MSU 20
I’m on your page Brad…far too early to give up on .Wimbush as a passer. The current ESPN Total QB Ratings has him as at #64 (out of 130), not want you need for a highly successful team, but I predict he gradually gets better as a passer. It wont happen sooner but later as his receivers need to perform better. If it were not for his running his rating would be lower
To Fitz and Brad
I surmise that part of the problem is that Wimbush is now being hit, and that he has to adjust (as do the coaches) to
factor in the wear and tear from RUNNING into his ability to execute PASSING plays.
Back in the ancient days of the Wishbone, there was some allegedly conventional wisdom that because the Wishbone quarterbacks got hit so often, (and many teams hit the Bone QB every play, whether he had the ball or not) the wear and tear prohibited their ability to throw effectively.
Deshaun Watson, in last year’s Clemson run, was only rushing 11 times a game.
Wimbush is at 16.3 per game, or 50% more collisions than Watson endured.
We report, you decide……..
Wow, what a sad state of affairs that would be. To only score 21 points, and lose this game, would be a disaster. It would imply a .500 or less finish. Collapse of the recruiting class, etc. So, I will predict that doesn’t happen and will go with ND 31 – 17.
MSU front 4 is okay, but they have two former walk ons and DE. Their LBs play the run well, but I believe NDs OL is an excellent RUN blocking unit and therefore will get to the second level. Their secondary is suspect and if NDs passing game can keep them honest, meaning it doesn’t have to be great just semi-effective then it will force their secondary to have to make tackles in space against NDs RBs and Wimbush. I don’t see them winning the majority of those battles. Our defense has been much better inside the Red Zone and is sort of similar to the 2012 D that allowed teams to move between the 20s and then stopped people in the Red Zone.
I foresee a close game for 3 Qtrs with the Irish prevailing 31-20.
Play nastier, fight, fight, fight!
I hate to day it but I think Michael has it right. Of course I will keep my fingers crossed but it looks like every is going MSU’s way in this game.
That being said, I’ve been wrong before. Relentless execution can win games. Do your jobs boys and you will control the outcome.
MSU likes to run dogs with their linebackers…they always have. Short drops with quick passes, especially to TE’s and slant guys, can put a screeching halt to that behavior…but so far Wimbush shows absolutely no inclination that I can see to execute this. Also, there will surely be some spying techniques going on against our QB. Taking off on a solo run may be a little harder than it seems, even for a great running QB like BW. So go to the other passing option: Real good pass protection by the line, and by our running back. We could try that, we have the talent to do it with McGlinchey et. al., but we still need separation by our receivers and some decent throws by Wimbush on a consistent basis. Stay in the pocket young man (even in a rolling pocket). This could make the spy a wasted man long enough to let our receivers find places to settle in or blow by.
Either way, I think we will need at least an average passing game to win Saturday night. I’m not calling out Brandon W. here, other than to say set your feet and take a deep easy breath…then execute your pass. I’m calling out the receivers – Get some separation guys on every down, at least some, and catch almost everything you can touch. Help your QB out a little bit! Play like Champions on Saturday night!
Bruce G. Curme ’77 ’82