CFB: NOTRE DAME FIGHTING IRISH WEEK 3 PREVIEW
By Stiofán Mac Fhilib
After trouncing the poor Rice Owls 52-0 last week and giving game time to multiple backups, Notre Dame welcomes Michigan State 60 years after the famous 10-10 ‘Game of the Century’ in East Lansing. The stakes are a little lower on Saturday, but the Irish, still ranked #3, have plenty of areas still to work on.
Looking back at last week
Two plays and 14 seconds into the game with Rice last week, Notre Dame’s defense had already taken a 7-0 lead, courtesy of a fumble forced by hard-hitting Safety Adon Shuler, picked up and run back by Boubacar Traore for the TD. It was the second consecutive game with a defensive score for the Irish, and fans’ thoughts turned to the Syracuse game last season when ND led 21-0 before CJ Carr and his offense even set foot on the Notre Dame Stadium field.
It wasn’t quite that level of dominance, though, when the next Rice drive also ended in a fumble – the Irish would recover four on the day – Carr took just over a minute to go 38 yards and throw a deep post for Jordan Faison to snag for the opening offensive TD.
Six of the first seven Notre Dame drives ended in TDs. Nolan James Jr. took full advantage of his carries to run for a pair of scores, while Carr threw four TD passes, taking him to six for the season, with still zero INTs so far.
Against a hugely overmatched Rice team, Carr had his way in the passing game and was able to come out after the first drive of the second half. Backups Noah Grubbs and Teddy Gerrard both got snaps as they battle for the QB2 role, and both had impressive moments. Twelve different Irish players caught a pass, as the second- and third-string wideouts got a chance to show off.
But for all that, the Notre Dame running game is still not firing on all cylinders. No one expected anything close to the 2025 production with two first-round draft picks, but between the Offensive Line still not gelling fully and the RBs lacking patience at times, they generated 118 yards at just 3.7 ypc. Freshman Jonaz Walton was the most impressive late in the game, and he led ND with 48 yards at 6.0 ypc. He will be expected to contribute more in the coming weeks, no doubt.
The Irish defense put on a masterclass. They generated four turnovers and allowed just 53 yards on the Owls’ first ten drives. Rice could only run for 1.9ypc out of their unique shotgun-option offense and their longest run was just 11 yards, by their mobile QB.
The week ahead
Michigan State Spartans (Notre Dame Stadium); 7.30pm EST; 12.30am IST/BST
129 years after the first meeting of the two schools, this weekend will see the 80th encounter between Notre Dame and one of their oldest rivals. The Irish lead the series 49-29-1 and will be favourites to again lift the Megaphone Trophy on Saturday night.
ND’s scheduling arrangement with the ACC saw a temporary hiatus from 2017 in a series that had been played almost every year since 1948. The Spartans are a program that Irish fans have great respect for. When the school in Ann Arbor tried to blackball Knute Rockne’s Notre Dame teams a century ago, MSU refused to stop scheduling the Irish. And games with the Spartans this century have been filled with dramatic and memorable moments.
In 2006, in an East Lansing rainstorm, the Irish trailed 21-37 entering the fourth quarter before Brady Quinn led an amazing comeback capped by a game-winning Terrail Lambert pick-six with less than three minutes to go. Four years later, it was the Spartans who tasted late success when Mark Dantonio called the famous ‘Little Giants’ fake FG in OT that gave them a 34-31 victory.
It’s also a matchup that saw possibly the greatest TD celebration of all time when Golden Tate caught a deep pass at the back of the endzone in the 2009 game and then promptly jumped right into the middle of the Spartans marching band!
This weekend’s game may be a tad less dramatic. The Spartans are 2-0 after a pair of wins over MAC opposition, and have a clear running focus, on the back of UConn transfer, Cam Edwards. But his running for 152 yards against Eastern Michigan is not necessarily a guarantee of similar success against an Irish defense that has successfully made stopping the run a point of emphasis.
QB Alessio Milivojevic, a junior who started four games in 2025, has thrown for almost 1,700 yards in his career, with a 13-4 TD-INT ratio, but is prone to being sacked. Clean pockets may be a rare luxury against the Irish front seven, and if ND can continue to be stingy against the run – they have allowed only two rushes of 10+ yards so far – Milivojevic may well struggle in obvious passing situations.
As a team, Michigan State have gone through large-scale transfer portal turnover, losing 44 players, including 15 starters, and the lack of depth on defense could well be problematic for them. Joe Rossi is a very good DC, and Max Bullough, the former ND LB coach, returned to his alma mater last year. They will be a trademark tough MSU defense but they may struggle to maintain their effectiveness in the fourth quarter.
With rain forecast, it will be interesting to see how Mike Denbrock plans to attack the Spartans. The Irish passing game has started stronger than its running companion, but it may be an evening for trying to establish the run and giving opportunities to the likes of Nolan James Jr. and Jonaz Walton, as well as letting Aneyas Williams try to get into a rhythm.
Special Teams is a relative strength for MSU, so they should be fairly evenly matched with Marty Biagi’s units.
Game Prediction
NOTRE DAME 38-10 MICHIGAN STATE
In a game where the outcome is never in doubt, Notre Dame will gradually squeeze the life out of the Spartans’ challenge. The Irish running game will improve enough to not require CJ Carr to win the game with his arm, and the ND defense will continue to ensure the Irish win the turnover battle.
Where to watch:
Sky Sports NFL (Channel 412 on Sky) coverage starts at 12.30am IST/BST
NBC (in the USA)
Playoff Picture
Texas put down a marker with their dramatic 24-23 fourth-quarter comeback win over Ohio State last week. The Longhorns have the inside track on the #1 seed, but Georgia will doubtless have something to say about that in due course. Oregon were upset, and also outplayed, in Stillwater by Oklahoma State. After scraping by Boise State, the Ducks have a remaining schedule that could see them now emulate 2025 Penn State or Clemson if they don’t turn things around quickly.
This week’s slate is disappointingly light, though the ACC matchup of SMU at Louisville may give insight into who is most likely to challenge Miami for the conference title. Irish fans will all be cheering for the Mustangs.
STIOFÁN MAC FHILIB
COLLEGE FOOTBALL ANALYST
A VERY LONG-DISTANCE SUBWAY ALUMNUS OF NOTRE DAME, COUNTY ANTRIM-BASED STIOFÁN HAS BEEN A FAN OF THE FIGHTING IRISH SINCE 2000. FOLLOW HIM ON TWITTER @SMACFHILIB.
