Michigan State Game (September 19, 2009)

 I think I aged a few years after these past two weekends of action.  The 33-30 victory by Notre Dame over Michigan State mirrored both past and recent events.  Being a history major, let’s start with the past. 

Anyone that has been a Notre Dame fan for awhile will tell you that the Michigan State game is one of the most physical tests of the year.  They get up for three games a year (Notre Dame, Michigan, and Ohio State).  Historically, the Spartans do not live up to expectations based on their athletic roster.  Case in point, last week they lost to the Central Michigan Chippewas but were in the game until the last minute against the Irish. 

Saturday’s game was no different.  You could see a lot of gold paint chipped off our helmets and a laundry list of injuries.  Jimmy Clausen banged up his toe late in the first half and had to gut through most of the game.  #7 has been the rock for us so far this season with incredible numbers and finally some recognition in the Heisman watch.  There was a stereotype that he had a Hollywood surfer mentality when he arrived in South Bend. 

That has not been the case this year.  One example from the MSU game occurred in the second half when a Spartan defensive lineman came in for the sack and proceeded to step on his head in celebration.  Jimmy popped right up and got in his face.  That is evidence that he will not take any nonsense from anyone and finally understands what it means to be the Notre Dame quarterback.  Unfortunately, we lost arguably the best wide receiver in the country in Michael Floyd for the remainder of the regular season (he underwent surgery on Sunday to fix his broken collar bone).

So let’s take a look at the recent events from the past two weeks.  In both games we faced a Big Ten foe from the state of Michigan.  Both games were high scoring battles that came down to plays within the final minute of play.  The difference was finishing the game. 

Against Michigan the offense did what they had to do minus the only qualm of not taking enough time off the clock (but you never ever take points off the board).  This week they again were unable to run the clock down before punting the ball away.  Both weeks the defense was tasked with stopping a game-winning drive by our opponents.  In both games, the opposing team had a sure thing touchdown that was dropped in the endzone.  Michigan took advantage of the next play and scored. 

Michigan State threw the ball into the hands of strong safety Kyle McCarthy.  It is hard to come out like gangbusters each week when you are Notre Dame because you always get everyone’s very best game.  It is inevitable that you will be in a few dogfights each year.  Finally, this team has proven that they can win those games.  It is a week like this that builds the confidence we need to make a run the rest of the year.

So where do we go from here?  Priority #1 is to get healthy.  I am sure there will be more people than usual in the training room this week so we need to avoid making injuries worst.  The best way to do this is too wipe the floor early against an inferior in-state rival next week in West Lafayette.  We need a strong performance early so the main guys can get a rest and the backups can get some experience at game speed.  In conclusion, you had to have a feeling this was going to be another close one in a rivalry full of them.  We regained our home field advantage and are starting to put old ghosts to rest.

Go Irish Beat Boilermakers!