The Spartans won an emotional 31-14 victory over Notre Dame on Saturday, vindicating last year’s heartbreaking loss and sending the Fighting Irish to their first 0-4 start in school history. Almost one year ago, MSU football took a shot to the heart when Notre Dame came back from a 16-point fourth quarter deficit to win in Spartan Stadium on a cold, wet, windy night.
Notre Dame football head coach Charlie Weis broke a sacred promise to his football team and fans by losing to MSU 31-14 on Saturday. In the summer of 2006, Weis told the Notre Dame faithful that they would never have to worry about losing to the Spartans again.
Not a bad start, Spartans. Only you, Wisconsin, Purdue and Ohio State are undefeated in the Big Ten. You’re on top. But you’ve done this before. You started out 4-0 in 2005, 3-0 in 2006 — this isn’t news to you. You know the season isn’t won in four games. You know the season doesn’t really start until Big Ten play.
Junior quarterback Brian Hoyer fumbled the ball twice Saturday against Notre Dame — but one of those fumbles wasn’t by accident. The Spartans decided to try for the first down on fourth-and-one from the Fighting Irish 30-yard line with around three minutes left in the third quarter.
Playing at a school with a lot of history, the Spartans decided to make some of their own on Saturday when they defeated Notre Dame 31-14 – handing them their first ever 0-4 start. MSU also became the first team to ever win six consecutive games at Notre Dame Stadium.
Going into the fourth week of the college football season, these six candidates are the frontrunners.
How did you feel after last year’s football team lost to Notre Dame? The State News asked five students who attended the game.
The breakdown: How MSU and Notre Dame match up.
Four weeks into the 2006 season, the MSU football team imploded. With a 16-point lead at the end of the third quarter, the Spartans thought they had it in the bag, but the rain storm grew stronger, and so did the Fighting Irish. Notre Dame scored 19 unanswered points, beating MSU 40-37. The MSU players and coaches walked off the field soaked in rain and sweat.
The Spartans have been here before. They began the 2006 season 3-0. They began the 2005 season 4-0. They finished both of those seasons without a bowl game.
Prognosticators predict the outcomes of this weekend’s college football showdowns.
MSU head coach Mark Dantonio has made it known one of the keys this season for his football team is to win the fans back. After the team’s 3-0 start, the Spartans are closer to achieving that goal, and the unified, white-clad student section has loudly voiced its support at Spartan Stadium.
Senior defensive end Jonal Saint-Dic may have earned his nickname “Sackmaster” as a joke early in his MSU football career, but his play this season has been nothing to laugh at. The Big Ten Conference noticed this week when they named Saint-Dic co-defensive player of the week.
The Spartans know that if they’re going to gamble, they’d better at least try to cover their losses. MSU did exactly that Saturday in its 17-13 victory over Pittsburgh at Spartan Stadium.
MSU head coach Mark Dantonio has yet to hold a press conference without using a favorite quote from former MSU head coach George Perles: “They all count one.” Well, Saturday’s 17-13 victory over Pittsburgh should at least count one-and-a-half.
Prior to Saturday’s game, MSU was the least penalized team in the Big Ten, but its 125 penalty yards against Pittsburgh accomplished a feat the Spartans had not reached in three seasons.
During his childhood, Don Coleman learned to respect everyone that he came in contact with, but that respect wasn’t always returned by his opponents.
Football leagues such as the XFL, NFL Europe and the United States Football League, or USFL, have tried, and ultimately failed to challenge the NFL for football supremacy over the years, but now another league is trying to break onto the football scene with a different objective.
The Spartans have said their schedule only gets tougher as the year goes on – Saturday’s 17-13 victory over Pittsburgh was a testament to that statement.