Week 3 of our retrospective series commences after a short week off! This week brings us to a familiar foe, in a reprise of a once-annual rivalry that now hasn’t been played for nine years. Lisa actually wrote about this recently, and if you want a detailed recap of the game I highly recommend her piece. In order to avoid too much repetition, we’ll just take a look at the outcome, what was happening at the time, and dip out ’til next week. Let’s do this:
Week 3: Michigan State Spartans
Last matchup: September 23, 2017 – Notre Dame 38, Michigan State 18
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Again, I can’t recommend Lisa’s piece enough as it touches on the resonance this game had at the time. Coming off a disastrous 2016 season, it was still uncertain at this point in 2017 whether the Irish, sitting at 2-1 with two wins over unranked teams and a close loss to the eventual national runner-up Georgia Bulldogs, would really get off the mat in 2017. Returning to a familiar venue and opponent and scoring a dominant win like this was, in her words, a reset that was badly needed for the program.
Looking back at the statistics from this game, I am struck by how much it set the template for everything that has come in the years since, as the foundation of dominant offensive line play paving the way for sound running and aggressive, turnover-generating defense that was established in this season has only grown stronger and more effective in the years since. Although no ball carrier put up massive numbers, the Irish found a ton of success on the ground as a unit. Their four primary runners (Josh Adams, Dexter Williams, Brandon Wimbush and Deon McIntosh) gained 183 yards and three touchdowns behind a punishing offensive line. The defense delivered two game-changing moments of its own. Julian Love returned an interception 59 yards to put the Irish up 14-0 early, and then Shaun Crawford delivered a knockout turnover when he stripped the ball from Spartan running back LJ Scott at the goal line, turning a sure touchdown that would have tightened the game to one possession into the setup for a long, essentially game-ending drive that put Notre Dame up 28-7.
NCAA Football: Notre Dame at Michigan State
As the culture changed around the program and particularly with the transition from Brian Kelly to Marcus Freeman, this formula built around physicality and aggression on both sides of the ball has only grown stronger and intensified. So while the Spartans proved to be a decent, but not truly daunting foe (10-3 with a Holiday Bowl factory) this was nonetheless a significant win in the program’s recent history, as it showed they had moved on from a very recent period where those sorts of foes still regularly defeated Notre Dame. Extended highlights below:
