Notre Dame vs Michigan State: Highlights, score and recap

Michigan State traveled into hostile territory on Saturday night and escaped with a close, eight-point win over Notre Dame.

The Notre Dame Fighting Irish opened the game with a kick return for a touchdown and it seemed like the Spartans of Michigan State were in for a long night. However, a block in the back penalty was called and the Spartans were given another chance. Still, that set the tone for the big rivalry game.

Notre Dame scored the first touchdown on a DeShone Kizer rush and the Spartans were being stymied by the Fighting Irish defense. The run game wasn’t doing much against the Irish and Tyler O’Connor needed to take the reigns of the passing attack.

The senior gunslinger responded by hitting freshman wide out Donnie Corley with a 38-yard touchdown pass and the Spartans converted a two-point conversion to take an 8-7 lead. Another touchdown by R.J. Shelton right before halftime gave Michigan State a 15-7 lead and they would be getting the ball back after the half.

Michigan State took an even bigger lead in the second half, racing out to a 36-7 lead before Notre Dame’s Equanimeous St. Brown scored on a tipped pass, making it 36-14 with about 18 minutes to go in the game.

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Conservative play seemed to swing the momentum back in the favor of Notre Dame as Mark Dantonio stopped the blitz packages and the defense began to melt down a little bit. The Fighting Irish struck again for a touchdown to make it 36-21 Michigan State. Add another one and the Irish made things interesting.

However, Michigan State shut the Irish down on their final drive and got the ball back to win it 36-28.

Three Stars

1. Tyler O’Connor: Can’t fault him for the conservative play-calling. After putting up 241 yards and two touchdowns on 19-of-26 passing, he earned his second road win as a starter — the first cam against Ohio State.

2. DeShone Kizer: The junior quarterback did whatever he wanted in the second half and finished 20-of-37 with 344 yards and two touchdowns.

3. Donnie Corley: The true freshman stepped up big time, putting up career numbers. He finished with four catches for 88 yards and a touchdown.

Highlights

What’s next?

Michigan State will have yet another tough contest with No. 9 Wisconsin at home Saturday while Notre Dame will host Duke.