Notre Dame Football: Fighting Irish on Brink of Disaster vs. Spartans

The Notre Dame Fighting Irish football team is on the brink of disaster, and they don't have any more room for error.

If there was ever a must-win game for Brian Kelly and the Fighting Irish, it would be this week against the Michigan State Spartans.

That would be a good first step to righting the ship, but, unfortunately, I think it’s going to be much easier said than done.

The Spartans are a good team; there is no way around that.

They have a well-rounded experienced quarterback in Kirk Cousins, a two-headed monster in the backfield, and a stout defense.

Cousins has his option of handing it off to either Edwin Baker or Le’Veon Bell in the backfield, and both backs have the potential to take it to the house on any given carry. He can also take to the air where he has weapons in B.J. Cunningham and Keshawn Martin, and that’s just naming a few of his offensive options.

Simply put, the Spartans are a great team. There's a reason they were the Co-Big Ten champions last year and have a legitimate shot at repeating again this season.

Just as in last week’s heartbreaking loss to Michigan, the Spartans pulled off a last-second miracle against the Irish in 2010. According to the Associated Press via SI.com, the Irish know they need to snap out of this slump if they have any shot at turning their season around:

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If that 34-31 loss was crushing a year ago in East Lansing, so was the 35-31 defeat at Michigan last Saturday when the Wolverines scored 28 fourth-quarter points, including a game-winning TD with 2 seconds to go.

"Similar to last week, I mean, it was hard to take it," receiver Michael Floyd said, comparing the two losses.

He called the experience at East Lansing "shocking." "You never want to end a game like that. ... We want to get revenge."

First of all, the Irish want to stop making the mistakes that have plagued them in two games and put their season on the brink already. There have been 10 turnovers and 17 penalties.

Coach Brian Kelly made it a point Wednesday during a rainy practice that it's time for the Irish to wake up. He even had his team tackle during the practice, saying it was the first time Notre Dame had done that in regular season drills since he arrived. It was high energy and physical.

"I think everybody is a little bit - I don't want to say annoyed. Nobody is happy. And I'm OK with that. Nobody should be in a great mood," Kelly said. "We got work to do."

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Coach Kelly is right, the Irish do have a ton of work to do, and if they want to salvage what’s left of their season, it’s going to have to start with the Spartans.

If they give the ball away anywhere near as much as they have in the first two games of the season, they don’t stand a chance. They may have been able to stay in the games against USF and Michigan, but Michigan State is far too good.

They won’t have the luxury of making mistakes, so that’s going to have to be the first thing they deal with.

The offense has shown the capability to put up points, and if they want to beat the Spartans, they are going to have to get them in a shootout.

State likes to play a grind-it-out fundamental style of football. They won’t blow too many teams out when they are playing their way, so the Irish need to try to force them to pick up the tempo and get in a scoring match.

Take their balanced attack and running game out of the picture, and the only way to do that is by scoring a lot of points.

The Irish have to make the Spartans play from behind and play fast, but in order to do so, they have to take care of the football.

This season is on the brink of disaster, but it can be salvaged.

Simply put, there’s no room for mistakes anymore.