Inside The Irish Huddle: Live Blog of Notre Dame vs. Michigan State

One of the better rivalries in college football takes place today as Michigan State invades South Bend to face Notre Dame. Both teams are coming off crushing losses last week and will be looking to take possession of the Megaphone.

Let’s go inside the huddle for today’s kickoff.

The game starts off with another short kickoff by Irish kicker Nick Tausch and the ball is taken close to midfield by the Spartans.

A nice five-yard run on first down by State is followed up by a dropped pass and an incomplete pass so the Spartans are forced to punt.

The Irish have come out in a five wide set and Clausen wastes no time moving Notre Dame down the field with three completions including a 52-yarder to tight end Kyle Rudolph. On the fourth play of the drive, running back Armando Allen takes the ball out of the wildcat formation and runs unmolested into the end zone.

State’s second drive is moving much better as they are mixing up run and passing plays and have converted a big third down in Irish territory. But the drive stalls after State moves near the red zone but settle for a field goal.

Theo Riddick takes the kickoff close to midfield and the Irish are back in business on their second drive. Notre Dame remains in empty back-field sets and Clausen has yet to throw an incompletion. Seconds later, Clausen nails Michael Floyd on a corner route in the end zone. The extra point is missed by Tausch.

A long run and a 12-yard pass and State is moving once again into Notre Dame territory. A couple nice defensive plays by Kyle McCarthy and State is in third and long. Spartan quarterback Kirk Cousins is unable to hit his receiver and the ensuing field goal hits the upright and is no good.

Once again the Irish are in empty back-field sets and Allen has not seen the field besides his wildcat touchdown run. The first quarter ends with the Irish left with their first third down attempt of the afternoon.

This is the kind of moment where I think Weis needs to convert the third down. The Irish can really put the pressure on Michigan State and Weis tends to call very odd plays in these situations. And he does once again, with a wildcat to Allen that comes up a yard short. Luckily, a pitch to Allen comes within inches of picking up the first down.

After a false start and holding call on Notre Dame, the Irish are left with a second down and 25. Oddly enough now, Weis decides to line up in a run formation. Clausen is sacked immediately after receiving the snap and is being looked at by the trainers.

Backup quarterback Dayne Crist comes in for the third and forever and a screen pass to Hughes goes nowhere. That was a drive Notre Dame needed to put points on the board in my opinion. They need to put State away in moments like this.

So it happens, Michigan State has grabbed some momentum and after a horrible call against Robert Blanton for a late hit and another penalty against Harrison Smith for a late hit, the Spartans have moved into Irish territory.

You have to love college referees.

On the next play, a half back pass finds the end zone and the Spartans are back in the game. To add more salt to the wound, Michigan State recovers an onside kick at only nine yards from the kickoff, but it was ruled the ball had gone ten yards.

Would it be called any other way?

The Irish defense steps up and on a screen pass Kapron Lewis-Moore causes a fumble that is recovered by Toryan Smith. That was a much needed turnover.

Now Clausen throws his first incompletion (a drop by Parris) and Allen is now getting carries and showing a nice blend of power and speed. Weis is looking to run the ball more now and Jonas Gray rips off a long run to the left side for 15 yards.

A fade route to Floyd looked to be a touchdown but was ruled it was not so, even after a review by Notre Dame. A wildcat run by Allen brings the ball to the goal line, but Clausen fumbles the snap on third down and Notre Dame settles for a field goal.

The Irish defense looks sloppy here as the first half is coming to an end and the Spartans are threatening to score. Notre Dame’s blitzing continues to be ineffective and State is inside the red zone after a couple nice completions.

After yet another penalty by Notre Dame, this time a face-mask call, Michigan State punches the ball into the end zone from the goal line and takes their first lead of the game.

Notre Dame doesn’t have much time left and after a couple plays Crist throws a deep ball that is intercepted by State as the clock hits zero. Clausen left for the locker room just moments before to get treatment for his injury.

It looks as if Notre Dame has not learned from its mistakes last week and continues to blitz all nearly every play. Just like last week there is not enough pressure on the quarterbacks and State is content with quick passing and running up the middle.

Coming out of half time Notre Dame picks up a first down followed by a long completion to Golden Tate. On another wildcat formation, Allen takes the snap and throws a touchdown pass to Parris giving Notre Dame the lead on an efficient and quick first possession.

On State’s ensuing drive, they get nowhere and are forced to punt. This time on third down, the Irish blitz got pressure and forced an incompletion. Tate takes the punt into Michigan State territory as we got to commercial for the 85th time today.

It’s just been announced that Floyd has broken his collar bone—this is a huge blow to the Notre Dame offense. The Irish are committing themselves to running the ball now as a 3rd-and-5 approaches.

Tate makes a strong second effort to gain the first down, but now the Irish are in second and long after yet another holding penalty. That’s followed by a huge drop by Tate near the five yard line and an incomplete pass leaving a long-field goal attempt. Tausch nails it so it’s now 26-17 Notre Dame.

State comes back with a big third down conversion and a long pass to the tight end to move into Irish territory once again. The Spartans convert another third down followed up by a long pass bringing the ball inside the five yard line.

Moments later State runs to the left side and gets another touchdown. However, the PAT is blocked keeping a three point lead for the Irish.

Another holding call on the kickoff leaves the Irish a long way from the end zone. Notre Dame picks up a first down on a pass to Kamara but the third quarter comes to an end with the Irish left with a third and two. After the commercial Allen picks up the first down.

The drive stalls near the midfield and the Irish are forced to punt. The Spartans take over inside their own 20 with 12 minutes to play in the game.

Notre Dame forces State into a third down, but a dump off on a slant pattern picks up huge yardage and the Spartans are inside the red zone. Two plays later Cousins hits his receiver in the end zone to take the lead.

Notre Dame takes the ball and is slowly moving the chains down the field and into Michigan State territory. There’s now less than seven minutes left and the Irish are at the 39 yard of State. If the Irish score will they leave too much time on the clock?

Indeed they may as two plays later Clausen connects with Tate for a big touchdown pass. Once again, the play is under review. It looked like he had a foot in with possession and the replay confirms it.

The onus is now on the Irish defense which has not played well all day long. Notre Dame leads by three and needs to come up with a stop on this Spartan possession.

On the first play, Walls nearly picks up an interception and the second down pass is thrown high and incomplete. It’s a big third down here. Another blitz package is dialed up and the Spartan receiver just can’t hang on to the pass from Cousins. State is punting.

On first down, Allen rushes up the middle for a nice gain but a personal foul penalty against Irish lineman Sam Young brings the ball back to the twelve yard line. That was the tenth penalty of the day on Notre Dame.

A huge play by Golden Tate as he catches the ball and shakes two defenders to pick up the first down. A wildcat formation goes nowhere and Allen picks up some nice yards, but Notre Dame is stuck with a third down and six.

Clausen tries to find a receiver but Goodman cannot come up with it and the Irish are forced to punt. On the punt there is an illegal block against State.

State is continuing to utilize short passes and has moved the ball into Irish territory with under two minutes to play. A third down pass is almost intercepted by Ray Herring but is miraculously caught by the State receiver.

After another huge blitz by Notre Dame, Cousins had a target wide open by a mile in the end zone, but just misses the completion. He’ll remember that pass because he throws an interception to Kyle McCarthy and it looks as though Notre Dame will hold on to the victory 33-30, their first in six attempts against Michigan State in South Bend.