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.
It was a physical day at Old College Field for the MSU men’s soccer team. The Spartans and Penn State combined for 37 fouls, 27 from the visitors, as the two teams ended the game in a 2-2 tie. “It was everything you could expect,” MSU head coach Joe Baum said. “Attacking, defending, teams flying up and down the pitch at pace. I thought it was a great soccer game.”
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.
The offense and defense have aligned for the MSU field hockey team. Coming back from a 4-3 overtime loss against No. 3 UConn Sept. 14, the No. 6 Spartans (9-1 overall, 1-0 Big Ten) came back with a vengeance in Saturday’s Big Ten opener against Northwestern (3-5, 0-1) — shutting the Wildcats out 4-0.
The MSU field hockey team dominated both offensively and defensively for a 6-0 win against New Hampshire today.
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.
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.
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.
After a successful 5-0-1 nonconference campaign, the MSU men’s soccer team is confident heading into what they expect to be an extremely tough Big Ten slate.
Despite it being a week since it dismantled Detroit Mercy, the MSU women’s soccer team showed no rust Wednesday afternoon. Once again using their depth and offensive firepower to their advantage, the Spartans (4-2-0) knocked off Eastern Michigan, 2-0, at Old College Field.
They both top out at 6 foot 1, love volleyball and share mirror images in every aspect besides hair color. But that is where the similarities end for sisters Ashley and Megan Schatzle. The sisters, who are both members of the MSU volleyball team, are admittedly as different as can be.
Today the MSU women’s soccer team begins what head coach Tom Saxton calls “a critical stretch.” The Spartans have three matches in five days beginning at 4 p.m. this afternoon at Old College Field against Eastern Michigan.
When she introduced Mark Hollis as MSU’s next athletics director on Sept. 12, MSU President Lou Anna K. Simon joked about it being the last time she wanted to stand up at an MSU sports press conference any time soon. Nobody laughed harder than men’s basketball head coach Tom Izzo.