How one night in East Lansing helped Notre Dame remember who it was again
There are games that define seasons, and then there are games that restore belief.
By the time Notre Dame vs. Michigan State kicked off on September 23, 2017, Notre Dame fans were still carrying the emotional scars of 2016. The Irish had stumbled to a shocking 4–8 season the year before, a season filled with close losses, defensive collapses, frustration, and a program that suddenly seemed to have lost its identity. Questions surrounded everything about Notre Dame football. Could Brian Kelly still lead the program back? Had the toughness disappeared? Was Notre Dame falling permanently behind college football’s elite?
Advertisement
The first few weeks of the 2017 season hinted that things might be changing. Brandon Wimbush had brought new energy to the offense, Josh Adams was emerging as one of the most explosive running backs in the country, and the offensive line looked far more physical than it had the year before. But even with those encouraging signs, there was still hesitation among Irish fans. After what happened in 2016, nobody was fully ready to believe again.
That’s why East Lansing mattered so much.
Spartan Stadium has never been an easy place for Notre Dame to play. The atmosphere always feels heavy there — loud crowds, physical football, and a rivalry that rarely lacks emotion. Adding to the tension was the memory of Michigan State beating the Irish the year before in South Bend. This wasn’t a playoff elimination game or a matchup between top-five teams, but emotionally, it carried enormous weight for a Notre Dame program trying to prove that 2016 had not become its new reality.
From the opening drive, the Irish looked different.
Advertisement
They looked confident. More importantly, they looked tough.
Notre Dame immediately established itself at the line of scrimmage behind an offensive line anchored by future NFL players Quenton Nelson and Mike McGlinchey. Wimbush attacked the Spartan defense with confidence both through the air and on the ground, while Josh Adams continued to show the effortless explosiveness that would define his breakout season. The Irish jumped out quickly and never allowed Michigan State to regain control of the game.
By halftime, Notre Dame held a commanding 28–7 lead, and for the first time in a long time, the Irish looked physically dominant again.
The defense matched that intensity all night. Leaders like Drue Tranquill and Nyles Morgan flew to the football with an edge and aggression that had been missing the previous season. Notre Dame forced turnovers, controlled field position, and dictated the pace of the game from start to finish. According to the official stat sheet, the Irish scored 21 points off turnovers and outrushed Michigan State by more than 100 yards, but the statistics only tell part of the story.
Advertisement
What made this game memorable was the feeling surrounding it.
After the disaster of 2016, Notre Dame fans did not need perfection. They simply needed proof that the program still had fight left in it. They needed to see toughness return. They needed to believe that Notre Dame football still had an identity worth believing in.
Somewhere during that cool September night in East Lansing, the panic that had followed the program for nearly a year finally began to fade.
Looking back now, “The Reset” feels like the perfect description for this game because it marked the beginning of Notre Dame’s emotional recovery. When people remember the 2017 season, they often focus on the 10-win turnaround, the dominant offensive line, the emergence of Josh Adams, and the return of Notre Dame to the national conversation. But before any of that fully took shape, there was East Lansing.
Advertisement
This was the night Notre Dame stopped looking backward.
It may not have been the biggest victory of the Brian Kelly era, but it was one of the most important. The Irish walked into a difficult environment carrying the weight of an entire lost season and walked out looking like themselves again.
Full game highlights:
Cheers & GO IRISH!
(Article sourced from ND vs Michigan State 2017 Game Notes, Scoring Summary PDF, and Game Play-By-Play.)
