And they deserve to shout the Spartan fight song, "Victory for MSU," through it on their way back home.

Leading up to the game, most of everything you read probably had something to do with the weak and depleted Irish secondary, and how the Spartans would have to sling it to win it. Heck, I wrote the same thing and called O’Connor my breakout candidate for the game.

I should’ve known better.

I should’ve known that Dantonio was never one to stray away from his roots. To abandon the hard-nosed physicality that has gotten him five 11-win seasons the last six years. And he made the right call, as he usually does.

The Spartans, following Notre Dame’s first touchdown drive early in the first quarter, proceeded to shove the ball right down the throats of the Irish. For every Tyler O’Connor pass, there were two rushes. Three guys with 10 or more carries. Two yards shy of two 100-yard rushers.

That brings us to our first set of fresh legs — the junior from Flint who didn’t even get a touch in week one. All Gerald Holmes did in his first action in the young 2016 season was carry the ball 13 times for 100 yards and two scores, including a career long 73-yard touchdown run that extended MSU’s lead to 36-7 and instigated the beginning of the Irish fans — decked in green and gold — to start lining up in a single file out the exits.

O’Connor still had a great night throwing the football, throwing for 241 yards and two scores, including one to freshman Donnie Corley to start the Spartans’ 36 unanswered point onslaught. The secondary was in shambles for the Irish, but Dantonio stuck to his ground-and-pound, rugged style of football. It certainly left the Irish confused all night.

Defensively, it was junior linebacker Jon Reschke, who missed the opening win over Furman to an injury, who sparked the fire of the Spartan defense that held Notre Dame scoreless for a 30-minute stretch between their first and second trips to the end zone. He doubled the next closest Spartan to him in total tackles, tallying eight with six solo tackles and snagged a critical interception that set up MSU in fantastic field position and led to another touchdown.

Maybe it was a good thing that neither Holmes nor Reschke played against Furman. As for Holmes, that could have been part of Dantonio’s strategy, not revealing all the wrinkles to his master plan in week one for Irish head coach Brian Kelly to thoroughly analyze.

But for Dantonio and the seniors on this MSU football team, this win was a special one. The seniors hadn’t experienced a victory over Notre Dame, and Dantonio hadn't tasted victory in South Bend since 2007. And they owe it to the coaching staff, who never shied away from the daunting task of beating Notre Dame in their house.

But when they left that house, if you listened closely, you could faintly hear the echoes of voices from the Megaphone from a bus driving away in the distance. It was the MSU fight song.