Notre Dame tight end Kyle Rudolph is brought down by several Spartan defenseman during Michigan State’s 33-30 loss to the Fighting Irish, Saturday evening in South Bend, Indiana at Notre Dame Stadium.
South Bend, Ind. — For the second straight game, the MSU football team’s defensive backfield was picked apart by a veteran quarterback.
Last week, Central Michigan senior quarterback Dan LeFevour threw for 328 yards and three touchdowns by completing short passes in the flat and deep passes down the sideline.
Saturday, Notre Dame’s three-year starting quarterback Jimmy Clausen went 22-for-31 passing for 300 yards and two touchdowns, essentially doing the same thing.
Clausen’s second touchdown pass was a 33-yarder down the sideline to wide receiver Golden Tate that gave Notre Dame the lead for good.
“They got some big plays from Tate and you could see the experience on this football team,” head coach Mark Dantonio said of the Fighting Irish receiving corps. “They had ten starters back on offense and you could see that.”
Tate finished with seven catches for 127 yards and one touchdown.
Notre Dame came out with offensive sets similar to what Central Michigan did the previous week, often putting out four or five receivers.
“For four years I’ve been here, we’ve started off slow against them every time playing normal football,” Notre Dame head coach Charlie Weis said.
“When we’ve rallied, it’s (because we) spread them out. I just figured we’d take the opposite tact and spread them out early.”
The multiple-receiver sets gave the Spartans’ defense fits throughout the game, especially early, when Clausen drove the Irish down the field for touchdowns in Notre Dame’s first two possessions.
“They kept us off balance early in the game with empty sets throwing the football,” Dantonio said. “They got us out of sorts and we were down 13-3, but we bounced back.”
The Spartans continued to use three linebacker sets throughout the game instead of putting out more defensive backs, giving Notre Dame a speed advantage.
The only mistake Clausen might have made was on a deep throw during which there was miscommunication with his receiver. In the fourth quarter, Clausen threw a deep pass down the sideline, but Tate ran a short route and stopped.
The ball floated up for junior cornerback Chris L. Rucker, who was all alone. But Rucker slowed down, timed his jump poorly and dropped the ball.
“The ball was thrown up for grabs,” Dantonio said. “It was thrown up to us, like in the backyard.”
So Notre Dame kept possession and five plays later, Clausen connected with Tate for the game-winning score.
“It happens. I think Chris is going to come back fine,” junior linebacker Greg Jones said. “He’s not going to hang his head down.”
Lack of pressure
The Spartan defensive line was unable to get a good amount of pressure on the
quarterback — this week against Clausen — without getting help from blitzing linebackers.
The Spartans recorded two sacks, both of which were on blitzes. They were the first sacks the Irish gave up this season.
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And with Notre Dame using four or five wide receivers, MSU’s linebackers often were forced to cover Notre Dame’s receivers instead of blitzing.
“You can’t let a quarterback like that sit back and have time the way he had it,” senior defensive end Trevor Anderson said. “There were a couple times we were in his face.”
More missed tackles
As was common against Central Michigan, the Spartans’ defense missed a number of tackles which turned short Irish plays into longer gains that allowed Notre Dame to pick up first downs.
“It’s early in the season, so a missed tackle may happen but I feel like against Wisconsin and Michigan we should be fine,” Jones said.
