Notre Dame vs. Michigan State prediction roundtable with the Campus Insiders staff. Breaking down what will happen in Saturday’s matchup between the Fighting Irish and Spartans.
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And when the Spartans and Fighting Irish meet at 7:30 p.m. on Saturday at Notre Dame Stadium, that historic game will be on the minds of many, nearly as much as the fact the 2016 version of each team is trying to find its footing and jump into the national championship hunt. Sparty looked sluggish in its opener against Furman before taking an early, Week 2 bye.
Notre Dame showed its own share of mental toughness in last week’s victory over Nevada, bouncing back from a double-overtime loss to Texas in the season-opener. In a stacked weekend, this is one more game with CFP implications.
Spread: Notre Dame opened as a 7-point favorite. Come at me, band geeks. Notre Dame didn’t throw a pass in the final six plays and ran a quarterback sneak on the final play, leading to criticism of Parseghian.
For Notre Dame, DeShone Kizer continues to grow as a quarterback and leader, and the offense has confidence, but the Irish have to worry about their young, banged-up secondary. “The teams will always debate who was better Michigan State or Notre Dame?”. Dave MillerThe Spartans weren’t crisp in their season-opening win over Furman, but they did have an extra week to prepare for Brian Kelly’s squad, which knows it needs to run the table to have any chance at a College Football Playoff berth.
Most of these Irish have never felt what it’s like to collide with the Spartans in the battle for the Megaphone Trophy.
“The only play that we ran that would be suggestive of going for a tie was the last play of the game”, the 93-year-old coaching great said.
“I couldn’t imagine that”, Michigan State linebacker Riley Bullough said.
Again, Notre Dame has little reference material to study, so again Kelly turns to his memory bank to evaluate O’Connor. But, I have a job to do.
And somewhere, Jim Harbaugh can still be heard yelling, “Who’s got it better than us?!?!” The last time MSU went to South Bend, the Fighting Irish used an all-pass-interference offense and took advantage of multiple frightful calls to win in 2013. That’s both because of the way the top-ranked Irish and No. 2 Spartans played that day, but also because of the collection of talent in Spartan Stadium.
“I think that it’s better to declare a victor”, Brennan said” You want to win.
The No. 18 Fighting Irish are 1-1, while the No. 12 Spartans are 1-0.
“I remember Amp Campbell was a safety who had a very serious neck injury and that was his return”.
Will the Spartans pick on Nick Coleman too?
ND is hosting Michigan State for the first time in a couple of seasons, the 17-13 defeat in South Bend was the only loss for the Spartans that season.
Michigan State, on the other hand, had trouble putting away the Paladins at home. Notre Dame’s got a tricky defensive front to crack, even if Texas’ Tyrone Swoopes did it with apparent ease two weeks ago.
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Other famous ties include fourth-ranked MI tying No. 1 Ohio State 10-10 in 1973, No. 1 Texas holding on for a 15-15 tie with No. 3 Oklahoma in 1984 and a game in 1968 that led the Harvard school newspaper to run the famous headline “Harvard Beats Yale 29-29”. DeShone Kizer is electric, but he has limited weapons at wideout. Beyond their former quarterback, most of the biggest pieces from last year’s Big Ten champion are still in place, but things were rocky in their only game so far.
