Michigan State dominated the line of scrimmage on both sides of the ball and wore down one-dimensional Notre Dame with a relentless ground attack to win by 23-7 on Saturday. Javon Ringer rushed for 201 yards and the Spartan defense held the anemic Irish ground game to 16 net yards. Notre Dame contributed to its own demise by committing three turnovers, which led directly to ten MSU points and ended two promising visits to the red zone.

The Irish defense played well throughout and kept the team in the game until the game’s final minutes. Unfortunately, mistakes by the offensive and its overall ineptitude prevented Notre Dame from mounting a serious threat to pull out a win. Special teams breakdowns were also a factor in the loss, as two missed field goals and a short kickoff after the lone Irish touchdown were momentum changing plays.

The game was lost up front, however, as the Spartan defensive front ran around and through the much larger but plodding Irish forward wall. Aside from a successful reverse by wide receiver Golden Tate, Notre Dame running backs mustered only 30 yards on 15 carries. There simply was no room to run as the Irish linemen could not reach the second level in time to block the quicker MSU linebackers. The stunting, aggressive Spartan front four accounted for three sacks of quarterback Jimmy Clausen and harassed him into throwaways on numerous other occasions.

Brett Swenson opened the scoring with a 45-yard field goal early in the first quarter, and Notre Dame set the tone for what was to come by turning the ball over on its first promising drive of the afternoon. Spartan safety Otis Wiley outfought Duval Kamara in the end zone for a Clausen pass and the interception ended the Irish threat.

Wiley struck again in the second quarter by picking off a poorly thrown sideline ball at the Notre Dame 22. A key pass interference penalty on Terrail Lambert helped MSU get into the end zone for a 10-0 lead. The Irish completely abandoned the run in favor of a spread passing attack just before halftime. They started to move the ball, but breakdowns in pass blocking killed the threat and the Spartans led 10-0 at the half.

Notre Dame again moved the ball through the air early in the third quarter. Clausen hit Michael Floyd for what would have been a first down inside the Spartan 15, but Floyd fumbled the ball and Michigan State took over. The ensuing five minute drive resulted in only a field goal, but it took its toll on the deflated Irish and set the stage for a dominant fourth quarter performance by Ringer and his mates.

The Irish continued the aerial assault and broke through after a roughing penalty moved them into scoring position. Clausen hit Floyd for a 26-yard touchdown on the first play of the final period to cut MSU’s lead to a manageable 13-7. A short kickoff by Notre Dame and a good return by A. J. Jimmerson set up the Spartans on their own 40 to start the next series. Brian Hoyer hit Mark Dell for 28 and 14 yards, but the Irish defense managed to perpetuate hope with another key stop by Brian Smith on third and goal. Swenson converted a short field goal for a 16-7 advantage.

Clausen led Notre Dame back down the field as time became a factor. Outstanding plays by Tate and Floyd combined with a pass interference penalty to give Irish fans hope, but three straight incompletions and a false start penalty on running back James Aldridge caused Notre Dame to settle for a 41-yard field goal attempt with six minutes left. A bad snap caused a poorly executed kick that did not come close, and the defeated Irish trudged off the field.

Ringer added an exclamation point on the next series for MSU with a 63 yard burst to the Notre Dame 14. He rumbled into the end zone a few plays later against the spent Irish defense for the final 23-7 margin of victory. The drive was reminiscent of Notre Dame’s style of play in an era that is fast becoming a distant memory. While the Irish were able to hold Ringer in check for much of the day, the cumulative effect of the relentless Spartan ground game was too much for a gutty defense that did not get much support from the other two phases of the team.

Notre Dame’s inability to run the ball is by far the most frustrating reality for its fans. While Coach Charlie Weis seems determined to display a brilliant offensive mind by attacking the perceived weaknesses of an opponent, the team has not developed the running game as a core competency and the passing game remains very inconsistent. Incorrect reads by the quarterback, poor routes from receivers and missed blocks from the linemen all contribute to kill drives at inopportune times. While Weis and Mike Haywood often call plays that should work in theory, the Irish games are not played on a Nintendo screen.

A compounding factor is that the team’s overall mindset is very passive and many players are tentative. The offensive line is anything but nasty. They failed to dominate a weak San Diego State front seven and could not block a similarly sized Spartan group that attacked the Irish blocking schemes with quicker athletes. Michigan tried to beat them physically as they had done in the past, but found out too late that the Irish grew stronger during the offseason. Future Notre Dame opponents are sure to copy the Spartans and Aztecs, but the Irish may not have the personnel to adjust.

A review of the key questions that determined the outcome:

Will the Irish avoid an early deficit and execute their game plan?
Notre Dame was technically never out of the game, but the Spartans defense dictated a change in the game plan.

Will the offense run well enough to win the time of possession battle?
A miserable failure.

Will the Irish defensive front be able to contain Ringer?
A good job overall, but the inevitable occurred when the offense failed to hold up its end of the bargain.

Will the Irish build on last week’s performance or will they regress?
A painful regression that casts doubt upon the future of Weis’ regime.

Can Hoyer win the game for MSU through the air?
Hoyer was not very good, but Notre Dame could not force the issue.

Which defensive staff will adjust more quickly and effectively to slow their opponent?
Both defensive staffs did well to maximize the effectiveness of their personnel throughout the game.

Which team will exhibit poise in the fourth quarter?
The Irish had a chance to come back, but it is difficult to flip a switch and play perfect football after three quarters of ineptitude.

After a euphoric victory over Michigan, I picked Notre Dame to win this game because I believed the Irish had better players. This result falls on the shoulders of the Irish coaching staff, although the players are probably going to blame themselves for poor execution. Unfortunately, the coaches will probably do little to dissuade them from that notion and take the initiative to make substantive changes to a failed approach.

Hours after posting my ill-advised prediction last week, my wife and I dined at our favorite Chinese restaurant. The message in my fortune cookie always contains a positive if not trite message. This time, my fortune read, “Your judgment is a little off at this time.” I knew then that the Irish were in trouble, but I never dreamed that the offense would look like a Chinese fire drill.

For those that believe Notre Dame was close to victory if not for untimely turnovers, think again. It’s the fundamentals and style of play adopted by the coaches that resulted in this failure, and those factors are now four years in the making. The time to show patience and perpetuate the “young team” excuse is definitely running short.

The Irish offense does not yet seem comfortable in its own skin, while the Spartans are one
of several teams on the schedule and throughout college football that have built an identity and can achieve a reasonable level of success against any opponent. Radically changing game plans from week to week may work in the NFL where the physical and experience levels of the players is mostly equal, but Weis has unwittingly allowed Notre Dame to morph into a team without a soul.