On Saturday in South Bend, Ind., his number was called. And for the first time, he ran the ball without his grandmother.

“I was in the middle of meetings,” Holmes said of his grandmother’s death. “I kind of broke out in tears and ran out, but I knew I had a game today and took the motivation from her and came out here and balled.”

Holmes’ grandmother died Friday. And on Saturday, he ran the ball for 100 yards on 13 carries, including a dart through the Irish defense for a 73-yard touchdown.

“Christmas,” Holmes said of the hole he saw opening up when he took the handoff at his 27-yard line. “I was looking at my gift, that’s basically what happened in my head.”

Defenders on Holmes’ tail couldn’t get their arms around him, staying just out of reach as he crossed the goal line.

That 73-yard score proved to be the game's longest run and the game winning touchdown. Up 29-7, Holmes' cut through the defensive line, the linebackers and secondary boosted the Spartan lead to 36-7, putting the game out of reach even as Notre Dame mounted a comeback.

“It felt amazing, it felt like high school all over again,” Holmes said. “Running through the hole, you know I give a big thanks to our o-line (offensive line) today, they blocked the best they ever have since I’ve been here.

“Without them, we basically wouldn't have had the yards we had.”

The offensive line created gaps in the Notre Dame defensive line, allowing MSU tailbacks nearly free reign to move unabated. MSU would finish the night with 260 yards on the ground on 52 carries between six different runners.

Just like in week one, MSU split time at tailback. Scott and sophomore Madre London split the carries against the Paladins, though Scott saw the bulk. Scott again saw the most carries with 22 to Holmes’ 13, but Holmes’ runs carried the larger impact.

“As far as giving him the ball, you know, really he's a hot back, we're going to give the hot back the ball,” Dantonio said of Holmes seeing a lot of touches. “I don't care who runs it, but he got hot, so we're going to give him touches.”

Holmes’ first carry was a quick five-yard gain, a menial type play for a unit used to plugging in backs when needed. But as he saw more reps, he began to break through more tackles forcing yards after contact.

The bye week extended Holmes time without the ball as well. But he went out and ran not looking any worse for wear.

“It was tough,” Holmes said. “I felt like I came off a good year last year so coming in, not really playing it kind of hit me but at the end of the day Coach D (Dantonio) told me to be ready and I trust his word, so when my name was called, I came in and had to ball out.”

LJ Scott picked up 98 yards on 22 carries in the game. He’s listed as the starter and will presumable be so in a week against Wisconsin. He, London and Holmes will all undoubtedly play throughout the year but if one gets too hot to ignore, any one of them will take on the role.

“I kept grinding,” Holmes said of his battle to get on the field. “Being a Spartan, that’s what we do, we grind until our name is called.”