After an offseason of relentless questions about its ability, the MSU defense has put some critics to rest.
With two games against teams with damaging passing attacks under its belt, the Spartans' defense has yielded just 28 points.
Aided by the return of senior cornerback Jaren Hayes and the explosion of sophomore bandit Sir Darean Adams, the Spartans were largely able to shut down Hawaii.
MSU head coach John L. Smith credited his fellow coaches for the team's success.
"Our coaches put together a good plan, particularly from a defensive standpoint." Smith said. "Holding those guys scoreless the first half I thought was an exceptional effort."
Adams came in and recorded a career high 12 tackles including one sack, the first of his career, and two tackles for loss of yardage.
"Sir Darean is coming of age, isn't he?" Smith said. "He's getting better. He was a little bit sissy on some of those blitzes and we had to toughen him up there, but he's coming around. He's starting to make some plays."
Adams charged up the crowd with a big hit on Hawaii receiver Ryan Grice-Mullen in the fourth quarter.
"Sir D is getting better and better each week," senior safety Eric Smith said. "If he keeps improving, we should be good."
Hayes, playing in his first game after returning from a team suspension, picked up five tackles and one pass breakup as he was worked into the lineup in the nickel defense.
"Getting him back is a plus because we have very little depth there so it's good to get him back," John L. Smith said. "In fact, what we did a little bit of the time late, we threw him out at the corner spot."
John L. Smith is hopeful that Hayes can work his way back into the starting lineup.
"We hope he starts competing," he said. "I don't know if he'll step in and beat any of those guys out, but he's going to start working back as much as he can."
Hayes said he'll do whatever the coaching staff needs him to do.
"I just want to be a contributor any way I can," Hayes said. "I just want to be on the field. Punt team, kickoff team, it doesn't matter."
On a whole, John L. Smith was happy with what he saw from his defense, especially the other corners, senior Ashton Watson and junior Demond Williams.
"Demond's still making a few junior college mistakes, but he's a good football player and he's getting better all the time," John L. Smith said.
Playing without senior Brandon McKinney, the defensive line stepped up its game from last week, bringing down Hawaii quarterbacks Colt Brennan and Tyler Graunke twice each. Last week against Kent State, the Spartans' starters were unable to record a sack.
McKinney did not dress because of a sprained ankle.
Junior defensive tackle David Stanton, who started in place of McKinney, was a big part of the improvement, recording two tackles, one of a loss, while having a sack called back due to a face-masking penalty.
"We were just trying to get at the quarterback," Stanton said. "We watched a lot of film and (the coaching staff) prepared us well."
Now the defense has the challenge of going against Notre Dame, coached by one of the greatest offensive minds of this era, Charlie Weis.
"It's going to be a tough game," Adams said. "We've got to play by far our best game of the season. They proved themselves."
