“It always starts up with the linemen,” senior guard Blake Treadwell said.

“If the linemen don’t get the job done, then it can be a very long day. The game is won in the trenches basically all the time.”

It is no secret head coach Mark Dantonio wants to establish a hard-nosed running attack in every contest, but Notre Dame’s 3-4 defense stymied MSU’s attack in 31-13 and 20-3 losses the past two years.

Two of the biggest reasons — literally — are defensive linemen Louis Nix III and Stephon Tuitt. The former is a 6-foot-2, 357-pound nose tackle, while Tuitt checks in at 6-foot-6 and 322 pounds on the edge.

“Big, big guys — powerful,” Treadwell said when asked what sticks out about the Notre Dame defensive front. “They can knock some people around, so we know we’ve gotta be ready for that.”

Treadwell has tangled with Nix before, and said the key to playing a massive player is great technique, or else “it’ll be a long day for me.”

Who lines up face-to-face with Nix has yet to be determined as junior center Travis Jackson is listed as a co-starter with sophomore Jack Allen on this week’s depth chart. Allen filled in for an injured Jackson against Youngstown State.

As for the pleasure of blocking Tuitt, that falls on the plate of sophomore tackle Donavon Clark, who confirmed the Fighting Irish have the biggest front MSU has seen so far.

“It looks like (Tuitt) plays with his power — just straight up force,” Clark said.

Other than uncertainty at center, the rest of the crew is the same with Clark, Treadwell, senior guard Dan France and redshirt freshman tackle Jack Conklin primed to start.

Senior tackle Fou Fonoti has yet to start a game in 2013 because of a minor injury, although he’s appeared in all of them. He’s listed as Conklin’s backup at right tackle.

The Notre Dame game has been a symbol of poor luck for the big bodies the last two years. Treadwell and former tackle Skyler Burkland both sustained season-ending injuries in South Bend, Ind., in 2011, and in 2012 Fonoti suffered the same fate on the Thursday before the game.

“That’s been the nature of our offensive line situation,” Dantonio said. “(If we) keep them healthy this week, we’ll be all right.”

Senior linebacker Max Bullough acknowledged the Fighting Irish are the most talented squad the Spartans have seen to this point, and as a three-year starter in the rivalry, he knows the value of winning the battle on the lines.

“Every time you play any team in the Big Ten (or) a team like Notre Dame … it comes down to winning up front,” Bullough said.

“That’s kind of the story of the last few games that we’ve played against them: It’s whoever’s won up front or dominated, or at least controlled the line of scrimmage has come out with the win.”