Coming into the season, the MSU football team was expected by many experts to be undefeated when the men from South Bend, Ind., came to Spartan Stadium.
Instead, it’s Notre Dame (3-0) that boasts a perfect record.
“They’re not beating themselves,” MSU head coach Bobby Williams said. “They’re playing really good, sound football. This is going to take a tremendous effort on our part.
“We can’t turn the football over. Anytime you do that and then they’re getting points from turnovers it’s hard to overcome that.
The Spartans (2-1) committed five turnovers in last week’s 46-22 lost to California.
This season, Notre Dame has taken advantage of its opponents’ mistakes.
The Irish have 11 takeaways and 43 points off those turnovers.
Committing turnovers isn’t the only trend the Spartans hope to end against the Fighting Irish.
The last two games, opposing teams have combined to outscore MSU 35-7 in the first half. Junior quarterback Jeff Smoker said it’s time for the talk about scoring early to translate into points.
“We’ve been saying it, but we haven’t done it yet this year,” he said.
“We’ve gotta get off to a good start this week. We’ve gotta come out and be strong early and get the crowd into it.”
The Spartans’ top playmaker and scoring threat comes in the form of junior wide receiver Charles Rogers.
On the season, Rogers has 22 catches for 459 yards and four touchdowns.
It could be more difficult for Smoker to find his favorite target with Notre Dame cornerbacks senior Shane Walton and junior Vontez Duff manning the secondary.
Both have shown the ability to come up with big plays.
Walton leads the nation with four interceptions, including an interception to clinch Notre Dame’s 25-23 win over Michigan last weekend. Duff has just one pick, but he returned it 33 yards for the game-winning score in a 24-17 victory against Purdue on Sept. 7.
“If we play our game, we feel like we can come out, showcase our skills and get the job done,” Duff said. “As a duo we want to be the two greatest that have come out of Notre Dame.”
Williams said he knows the Spartans have to get the ball to Rogers for big plays, but he wants to establish the ground game as well.
“We’re going to continue to work on the running game,” he said. “It’s an area that we definitely have to improve. It’s one of the keys to this football game.
“We have to run the football and we’re going to have to stop the run because these guys run the ball pretty good.”
Getting the running game started against the Irish doesn’t appear to be an easy task. Notre Dame has only allowed 84.7 yards per game on the season.
In the last two contests, the Spartans only have gained 145 yards on the ground.
Throughout the week, the Spartans have downplayed their five-game winning streak over the Irish.
But Notre Dame senior inside linebacker Courtney Watson, who has played in the last two Irish defeats, has been thinking about it.
He said he doesn’t have a favorite memory of the Spartan-Irish rivalry but anticipates having one after Saturday.
“I’m looking forward to this week and trying to break the streak,” he said.
“My best memory will be this week when we win.”
