Notre Dame Football: Brian Kelly Turns Irish Ship in Right Direction with Upset

The Notre Dame Fighting Irish may have been the favorite coming into their matchup with Michigan State, but I don’t think many people saw them beating up the No. 15 ranked team in the country the way they did.

Notre Dame was just the better team in every sense of the word.

Offensively, they were able to get the running game going and, once they established that momentum, they never looked back. Running back Cierre Wood punched in two touchdowns on 14 carries for 61 yards and Jonas Gray added 65 yards on 12 carries.

Quarterback Tommy Rees struggled with turnovers for the second straight game, but in the end he was able to go 18-of-26 for 161 yards one touchdown and one interception.

The story of the game was Notre Dame’s defense and special teams, though.

Freshman George Atkinson III ran back a dynamic 89 yard kickoff which really set the tone for the rest of the game and put the Spartans behind the eight-ball.

They put the clamps on a very powerful Michigan State offense and forced a normally solid Kirk Cousins into a bad 34-of-53 for 329 yards with one touchdown and one interception.

Those aren’t horrible numbers, but the truth is that the Irish forced the Spartans out of their game plan. I guarantee you MSU didn’t want Cousins throwing the ball 53 times, but they just couldn’t get their running game going against a powerful Irish defensive front.

Michigan State only totaled 53 yards on the ground between Edwin Baker and Le’Veon Bell.

I’m not sure if this means coach Brian Kelly has finally righted the ship, but it’s definitely a push in the right direction.

Who’s The Biggest Winner?

Notre Dame desperately needed the win after a horrible 0-2 start, so I think they obviously are the biggest winners of the bunch. That being said, I think the Michigan Wolverines also benefited from this win. Notre Dame beating the No. 15 team validates their win over the Irish last week in a way. It also gives them the edge over the rival Spartans as far as records go.

Does Notre Dame Still Have BCS Chance?

Obviously beating the No. 15 ranked team in the country is going to help the Irish in the voter’s eyes, but I still think their first two losses are hanging over them. They are going to have to win a few more games now and prove to the voters that they deserve to be ranked.

Biggest Thing to Fix:

At this point, it’s rather obvious that if the Irish continue to turn the ball over they will not win many games. They dominated this game, but they were still hindered by turnovers and almost let MSU back in the game. Turnovers are going to have to disappear if the Fighting Irish want to salvage the rest of this season.

Pivotal Turnaround Game:

Next week’s game at Pittsburgh will really let us know whether or not Notre Dame can turn it around, or if this was just a good win in the midst of a very bad season. They should be favored, but they are going on the road and playing a formidable opponent.

Who They Play Next:

Saturday, September 24 at Pittsburgh 12 p.m. EST on ABC