This was the game I was most excited to watch coming into the season. Michigan State traveled to South Bend to face a Notre Dame powerhouse with championship expectations, giving the Spartans an opportunity to measure themselves against one of the best teams in the country. The Toledo and Eastern Michigan games were fun, but these are the matchups that really get your juices flowing as a fan. You want to see whether your team can compete with, and possibly beat, a top-10 opponent. I also loved seeing this rivalry return after nearly a decade away.
Although Michigan State did not get the win, we still saw plenty of encouraging signs and a foundation the Spartans can build upon. This performance gave me confidence heading into Big Ten play. Outside of the conference’s upper echelon, Michigan State showed that it can compete with and beat anyone on its schedule. This team continues to look better than the sum of its parts. The Spartans play hard, play physically and play for one another. Most importantly, they keep fighting until the end. That has become a staple of this coaching staff, and the players appear to be taking on the identity of their head coach.
Cam Fancher once again gave the offense a spark with his legs. In the wind and driving rain, I would have liked to see more read options designed for him, creating easy throws and forcing Notre Dame’s defense to adjust. He can serve as the changeup that keeps a defense from settling in. His snaps may also help Alessio Milivojevic by allowing him to step aside, watch the defense from the sideline and process it from a different perspective. This offense is better with Milivojevic behind center, but we also saw some of his growing pains. He continues to lock onto his 1st read at times, and he often needs to see a receiver come open before delivering the ball instead of throwing with anticipation.
Notre Dame’s speed, awareness and anticipation made those weaknesses even more difficult to overcome. The Irish repeatedly put Michigan State in unfavorable situations that played directly to their strengths. The deck was already stacked against the Spartans, and they needed to play nearly perfect football to give themselves a chance late. They did not reach that standard, but they showed enough fight and promise to make the rest of the season much more interesting.
Before we dive in, a light apology for the excessive use of “damn” and “darn” throughout this week’s Film Room. After spending hours rewatching Notre Dame, I couldn’t help myself. You could say it was Dame near inevitable.
Defense Needs Consistency to Finish Plays
Jordan Hall was a beast in this game and a huge reason Michigan State kept it close. Hall made the tackle on 6 of Notre Dame’s first 7 offensive plays, including 5 solo tackles. Even better, 4 of those solo tackles went for no gain. Hall is quickly becoming one of my favorite Spartan linebackers since I began watching the team in the 1990s. If he continues playing at this level, his name is going to belong in the same conversations as Greg Jones, Joe Bachie and Max Bullough.
The rest of the defense did not consistently match Hall’s All-Big Ten level of play. Notre Dame found ways to attack Michigan State’s commitment to stopping the run, particularly through play action. That created problems behind the defense, but what stood out to me was MSU’s ability to respond when something went wrong. The Spartans rarely allowed one mistake to become two. The difference between being a good defense and becoming the elite unit this group wants to be is consistently finishing plays. Michigan State repeatedly reached the doorstep of making a huge play against Notre Dame, but the Irish kept finding ways to win those pivotal moments.
PLAY 1: Notre Dame Attacks MSU’s Run-First Tendencies
Notre Dame starts its first possession with 1st-and-10 from its own 25-yard line. The Irish line up in 11 personnel with 1 running back and 1 tight end. Michigan State shows man coverage on the outside with zone principles underneath. What is interesting is MSU playing 3 safeties, a look I like considering the talent and versatility it has at the position with Vaught, Richard and Martinez.
Notre Dame immediately attacks tendencies Michigan State showed on film through its first 2 games. Maybe the Irish even read my Film Room. At the snap, almost the entire middle of the defense takes a step forward expecting the run. Safety No. 2 Devin Vaught bites especially hard on the play fake, leaving No. 3 Tre Bell without help over the top.
Quarterback No. 13 C.J. Carr does a great job avoiding pressure from MSU’s No. 55, Ben Roberts, sidestepping him and still delivering an accurate throw. It is an even better route from No. 14 Micah Gilbert, who quickly beats Bell’s press coverage, gets on top of the cornerback, stems his route to keep Bell guessing and then breaks inside. Notre Dame creates another advantage through the play design, using shallow routes from the other receivers to occupy the underneath defenders and pull their attention away from Gilbert. He runs underneath Carr’s moon ball for the explosive play. By the time Vaught and Bell realize what is happening, both are running off balance trying to recover, their arms circling like they accidentally wandered into a tai chi aerobics class.
Bell gets beaten initially, but watch the recovery. He never gives up and somehow gets himself back into position to prevent what easily could have become a touchdown. That effort matters. MSU survives the explosive play and eventually holds Notre Dame to a field goal. Notre Dame successfully uses MSU’s commitment to stopping the run against it, but Bell prevents 1 mistake from turning into an even bigger one. Instead of 7 points, Notre Dame walks away with 3.
PLAY 2 : CJ Carr the Magician
I have rewatched this play several times like the Zapruder film and still cannot believe C.J. Carr escaped. Notre Dame faces 2nd-and-3 in the 2nd quarter and spreads the field with 4 wide receivers and 1 running back. The running back initially checks for a potential blitzer before peeling off into his route. No. 1 Kenny Soares does an excellent job sneaking underneath a much larger offensive lineman with a ghost move that would make Von Miller proud. He gets to Carr and appears to have him on the ground, but Carr somehow stays upright. Only his hand touches the turf. His knee, elbow and forearm all remain off the ground, which keeps the play alive.
No. 3 Mylan Graham catches the pass before taking an absolute wallop from No. 21 Nikai Martinez, who looks understandably frustrated. It is a great individual effort by Soares to get into the backfield and seemingly have the sack, but an even better play by Carr to escape it. I think some of Martinez’s frustration comes from how the game was unfolding for Michigan State. The defense was playing a pretty damn good game and continuing to fight, but the hard work was not always showing up on the scoreboard. This looked like a sack. It felt like a sack. Instead, Carr keeps the play alive.
That is the kind of play that shows why Carr has the talent to eventually become a 1st-round NFL Draft pick. If he does not put his hand down to brace himself, Soares takes him to the ground. If his backside, elbow, forearm or knee touches the turf, the play is over. Carr has the awareness to keep all of them off the ground while regaining his balance and finding Graham. If MSU finishes the sack, Notre Dame faces 3rd-and-long, with the Spartans potentially holding the Irish to another field goal instead of a touchdown.
Alessio’s Growing Pains
Alessio Milivojevic did not have his best day throwing the football. He finished 9-of-17 for 123 yards with 2 interceptions and was sacked 4 times. Cam Fancher has starred in his changeup role, but this offense is flat-out better with Milivojevic as the starter because of his ability to utilize the playmakers on the outside with accurate passes at every level. Rodney Bullard, Fredrick Moore, Chrishon McCray and Charles Taplin have all shown enough talent to support that argument. The same is true of pass-catching tight end Jayden Savoury and Cam Edwards out of the backfield.
In a game with wind and driving rain, however, I would have liked to see more of Fancher. Some of Milivojevic’s greatest strengths became less effective in those conditions. He has the arm talent and confidence to attack downfield, but the weather made those throws more difficult and created a game where Fancher’s legs could have forced Notre Dame to defend something different. Quarterback confidence is a delicate balance, so I understand Michigan State continuing to trust Milivojevic. The next time the Spartans play a road game in rough conditions, I want to see more Cam.
PLAY 3: Chutes & Ladders
This play comes on Michigan State’s 2nd drive, near the 3-minute mark. MSU comes out in 11 personnel with 1 running back, 1 tight end and 3 wide receivers spread to the left rather than bunched together. Notre Dame has 4 down linemen, linebackers watching the quarterback and running back and 5 defensive backs in a nickel look. Once the linebackers recognize the pass and see Edwards staying in to protect, they rush the quarterback. Michigan State does a nice job getting a hat on a hat and picking everybody up. Protection is not the problem here.
I think Milivojevic gets a little greedy, and the nerves may also get the best of him. You can see him in the picture below staring at No. 3 Rodney Bullard before the ball is even snapped. He predetermines the read, and Notre Dame is too damn good defensively to get away with that. The Irish immediately recognize where he wants to go. Milivojevic tries to win at Chutes and Ladders by taking the ladder, but instead he gets the chute.
Notre Dame has one of the best secondaries in the country, led by No. 15 Leonard Moore, who is an absolute beast and could become a top-5 or even top-3 NFL Draft pick. I think Michigan State threw in his direction only once, which was probably smart. The problem is that the players beside and behind him are pretty damn good, too. Notre Dame is playing tight man coverage, and Michigan State hopes to sneak Bullard behind the defense. No. 28 Luke Talich is the single-high safety in Cover 1. He reads Milivojevic’s eyes and takes the ball away before Bullard can reach it.
I also think the play design could have done more to occupy Talich. Having No. 82 Brennan Parachek run a deeper out-breaking route could force Talich to respect another threat instead of allowing him to focus entirely on Bullard. As designed, the throw only has a chance if Milivojevic does a better job looking off the safety. He stares at Bullard the entire way, and I am not sure he ever sees Talich. He cannot give future Big Ten safeties that much information before the ball is even snapped. Plays like this will continue to end badly until he learns to manipulate defenders with his eyes.
PLAY 4: Learning When to Take the Shot
Notre Dame had just scored to extend its lead when Milivojevic took another shot downfield, looking to take a large bite out of the deficit. Unfortunately, that is exactly what Notre Dame wanted, and the decision played directly into its defensive scheme.
On 1st-and-10, Michigan State comes out in 11 personnel with pass catchers aligned on both sides of the formation. Fredrick Moore motions from left to right before the snap, while Edwards stays in to block. The zone defenders circled below all settle near the 1st-down marker, crowding the middle of the field and closing the throwing window for Michigan State’s intended chunk play.
Milivojevic comes off his 1st read this time, which I love to see, but he again stares at his next target for too long. He needs to recognize sooner when the shot is no longer available, take the underneath option and live another day or simply throw the ball away. He has the arm talent and confidence to make difficult throws, but he must become more decisive. He also has to learn to release the ball before the receiver comes open and throw with greater anticipation. That is one of the things that separates good quarterbacks from great ones.
Notre Dame’s No. 5, Boubacar Traore, does not make the decision any easier with an excellent pass rush against right tackle No. 55 Rakeem Johnson. Johnson jump-sets while expecting Traore to take a wide berth around the outside. Instead, Traore cuts inside, catches Johnson off balance and drives him backward before hitting Milivojevic’s throwing arm and affecting the pass.
That is part of the growth I am looking for from Milivojevic. Physically, the talent is there, and his confidence does not seem to have wavered. If anything, he appears determined to keep getting better. Games like this are how a young quarterback learns to recognize coverages, identify tendencies, find weaknesses and, maybe most importantly, understand when he can take those risks.
PLAY 5: Almost Magic
On 3rd-and-13, Michigan State spreads the field with 4 wide receivers and Cam Edwards in the backfield. It is an obvious passing situation, and Edwards is waiting to do his damnedest in pass protection. Notre Dame’s No. 27, Kyngstonn Viliamu-Asa, times the snap perfectly and comes screaming into the backfield with a huge running start. Alessio must do a better job varying his cadence because allowing defenders to anticipate the snap this cleanly is eventually going to get somebody hurt.
To Edwards’ credit, he does an admirable job stepping into the path of a larger defender moving at full speed. That gives Alessio just enough time to stand in the pocket and deliver an absolute beauty downfield to No. 31 Jayden Savoury.
It is interesting to see Michigan State drawing up a shot for Savoury on 3rd down this early in his career. I think the Spartans found a good one if he continues to develop. The 4-wide look is designed to get Savoury matched against a safety, where he can use his speed to his advantage. No. 3 Rodney Bullard provides the eye candy beside him, selling outside before stopping on a dime and breaking back inside on a whip route.
This is what I love most about Alessio’s game. His best quality might be his ability to remain accurate on intermediate and deep throws with pressure closing in around him. He is willing to take the hit, get back up and do it again. You cannot ask for much more from the quarterback on this throw.
The ball drops gracefully onto Savoury’s right hand, but he cannot free his left arm after the defender hooks it while running alongside him. A little more loft might give Savoury additional time to separate, but this is also where experience against higher-level competition will help him. If Savoury can get a cleaner release off the snap, stem the route, work across the defender’s face and keep him from remaining hip-to-hip, he gives himself a much better opportunity to finish the catch. Either way, Alessio puts the ball exactly where it needs to be. It is a beautiful throw that deserved a completion.
Emptying the Bag
Before getting to the takeaways, here are a few more plays that I found interesting. Spartan_Rising asked in the comments of Robbie’s postgame recap for a closer look at the possible fumble on Notre Dame’s 2nd touchdown, so I have you covered in Play 7. Between a beautifully designed fake punt, a disputed goal-line fumble and a touchdown pass that slipped through Michigan State’s hands, this game still had plenty left to unpack.
PLAY 6: Fake Punt
Notre Dame empties the bag with a beautifully designed fake punt that looks like a fake reverse and a jet sweep stitched together. The wide receiver circles back toward the punter, but the snap goes directly to the upback, who immediately pitches it outside. The misdirection creates exactly what Notre Dame wants: one of its fastest players in space with a blocker in front and only 1 Michigan State defender left to beat.
That defender shows tremendous awareness, fights off the block and makes the tackle after a gain of about 12. Notre Dame nearly converts, but nearly means nothing on 4th down. It could be 13-and-a-half yards. If the offense needs 14 and the defense gets the stop, that is all that matters. I’ll take it.
PLAY 7: Fumble on the 2nd TD
This play generated plenty of discussion following Robbie’s postgame recap, so it deserves a closer look. The broadcast barely mentioned the possible fumble, and without the celebration penalty extending the stoppage, we might not have seen another replay at all.
Notre Dame running back No. 22 Aneyas Williams approaches the goal line with his back turned, throws his hips forward and leans backward with the ball in a movement that almost looks like a dance move. When that does not clearly get him across, he twists around and extends the ball toward the goal line. A Michigan State defender keeps fighting and punches it loose. The only question is whether the ball crosses the plane before it comes out, and it is extremely close.
More than the ruling, I love the fight on this play. Michigan State continues hustling, attacking the football and refusing to concede the touchdown even at the goal line. If the Spartans play with that effort all season, some of these close fumbles will eventually bounce their way and help change games. Effort does not guarantee the break, but it puts you in position to benefit when it comes.
PLAY 8: Cam Fancher Creates, Michigan State Lets It Slip Away
This 2nd-and-13 play in the red zone highlights both Cam Fancher’s value and the general craziness of the night. Michigan State appears to run an RPO with a run fake to Cam Edwards, but Fancher keeps the ball as Notre Dame’s No. 5, Boubacar Traore, comes screaming toward him. Fancher escapes the pocket, keeps his eyes downfield and delivers an absolutely perfect pass to Kenneth Williams, who is somehow standing wide open in the end zone.
Williams might have been too open. It looks like one of those moments when a player is so shocked to be that alone in a big game that he starts thinking about the celebration before completing the catch. The ball slips through his hands, and a sure touchdown disappears.
Because the offensive line is executing the run-blocking portion of the RPO, several linemen continue upfield and drift well beyond the line of scrimmage. A flag is thrown for an ineligible receiver downfield, but the officials inexplicably pick it up. Michigan State is essentially gifted a free play and still comes away with nothing, making this a rough encapsulation of the entire night.
Watch Fancher at the end and you can see the joy get ripped straight out of his soul. I also love the coaching Williams receives on the sideline afterward. The message is simple: The drop happened, and nobody can change it. What matters now is the next play, how he responds and how he gets back up. That is resiliency.
Bonus Play Courtesy of Stephen Brooks
TAKEAWAYS
The near sack by Kenny Soares is a good summary of how this game went. So is the dropped pass in the end zone after the officials picked up the penalty flag. Michigan State played hard and entered with a good plan for the matchup. Notre Dame was simply the better team with more talent, and the Irish seemed to get the better of nearly every toss-up play. Missed opportunities add up quickly against a team like Notre Dame. Michigan State repeatedly reached the brink of making a game-changing play but could not finish. That became the difference between a sack and a completion, a field goal and a touchdown, or a competitive effort and an upset.
What I am starting to learn about this Michigan State team is that this is who they are. They are better than the sum of their parts. They can beat you with talent, but they are also going to try to beat you by being more fundamentally sound, committing fewer errors and simply playing good football. More importantly, they do not let 1 mistake compound into another. You hear the coaches and players talk about letting the last play go and playing the next one, and we saw that mentality throughout this game. Bell gets beaten on the opening play, but he recovers and prevents the touchdown. The rest of the defense responds by holding Notre Dame to a field goal. Even after a loss, the same mentality applies. Identify the mistakes, learn from them and move on to the next play.
Milivojevic has a similar opportunity to grow from this performance. Kirk Cousins built his career around elite mental processing, manipulation before the snap and precise intermediate and deep accuracy when playing on time. Those are the areas where Milivojevic can make his biggest jump. We need to get Alessio some time with Kirk this offseason.
Michigan State should not need much extra motivation for Nebraska after last season’s 38-27 loss. That game was defined by catastrophic special teams errors and offensive mistakes, with responsibility shared by the players and coaching staff rather than falling on 1 individual. Nebraska returned a blocked punt for a touchdown. Michigan State fumbled a kickoff return. Nebraska had another kickoff return touchdown called back. Aidan Chiles was injured, and we received our 1st extended look at Milivojevic. If I were a Michigan State player, this is a game I would have circled throughout the offseason. The Spartans should have won it, and now they get another opportunity.
Unfortunately The Red Cedar Rundown was on the injury report this week and was unable to play. But come check us out after the Nebraska game. You can also find me on X @W00dsyOwl. Shoutout Izzo4POTUS for the suggestion for this film session to cover Alessio more. Comment below what you would like to see more of in future breakdowns and I’ll try to include them. I’m always happy to go back to the film.
Go Green!
Don’t forget to vote in this week’s poll. https://www.theonlycolors.com/post/_Ylg6nG__XcM
