Category: Notre Dame Football Game Day

There’s really no defense for this. #NotreDame began the college football season ranked No. 10 in The Associated Press poll, and after just three games the Fighting Irish are more likely to end the year in the Quick Lane Bowl than the College Football Playoff.

Notre Dame Saturday in prime time played the second contest in a three-game home stand against a Michigan State team that qualified for the College Football Playoff a year ago. Here are some Irish takeaways from their 36-28 loss to the eighth-rated Spartans: 1. Turnovers against good teams are lethal. Notre Dame after three games ranks 48th in turnovers, after the Irish didn’t commit any in the opener at Texas and what proved to be only one harmless interception against Nevada. ….

… No. 12 Michigan State took advantage of mistakes by No. 18 Notre Dame and held on for a 36-28 victory …. The Spartans (2-0) turned what had been a close game at halftime into a 29-point lead with three third-quarter touchdowns. But Notre Dame made it close as DeShone Kizer threw for two touchdowns and ran for another and the Irish (1-2) cut the lead to 36-28 with 6:02 left on a 12-yard touchdown pass to tight end Durham Smythe. On Notre Dame’s next possession, Kizer was sacked for a 5-yard loss by Raequan Williams on third-and-2 and Notre Dame punted with 3:37 left in the game and the Spartans ran out the clock. …  Kizer threw for a career-high 344 yards, completing 20 of 37 passes with one interception with heavy pressure at times from the Spartans.