GAME THREAD: GAME THREAD: NCAAF: MICHIGAN ST at NOTRE DAME

NCAAF: MICHIGAN ST at NOTRE DAME

<div class="pre">NCAAF MICHIGAN ST 31
NOTRE DAME 14 14:55 LEFT, 4TH QTR</div>

 

NCAAF: MICHIGAN ST at NOTRE DAME

<div class="pre">NCAAF MICHIGAN ST 31
NOTRE DAME 14 12:55 LEFT, 4TH QTR</div>

 

NCAAF: MICHIGAN ST at NOTRE DAME

<div class="pre">NCAAF MICHIGAN ST 31
NOTRE DAME 14 11:32 LEFT, 4TH QTR</div>

 

NCAAF: MICHIGAN ST at NOTRE DAME

<div class="pre">NCAAF MICHIGAN ST 31
NOTRE DAME 14 10:34 LEFT, 4TH QTR</div>

 

NCAAF: MICHIGAN ST at NOTRE DAME

<div class="pre">NCAAF MICHIGAN ST 31
NOTRE DAME 14 9:54 LEFT, 4TH QTR</div>

 

NCAAF: MICHIGAN ST at NOTRE DAME

<div class="pre">NCAAF MICHIGAN ST 31
NOTRE DAME 14 8:30 LEFT, 4TH QTR</div>

 

NCAAF: MICHIGAN ST at NOTRE DAME

<div class="pre">NCAAF MICHIGAN ST 31
NOTRE DAME 14 5:50 LEFT, 4TH QTR</div>

 

NCAAF: MICHIGAN ST at NOTRE DAME

<div class="pre">NCAAF MICHIGAN ST 31
NOTRE DAME 14 5:06 LEFT, 4TH QTR</div>

 

NCAAF: MICHIGAN ST at NOTRE DAME

<div class="pre">NCAAF MICHIGAN ST 31
NOTRE DAME 14 3:04 LEFT, 4TH QTR</div>

 

NCAAF: MICHIGAN ST at NOTRE DAME

<div class="pre">NCAAF MICHIGAN ST 31
NOTRE DAME 14 2:30 LEFT, 4TH QTR</div>

 

NCAAF: MICHIGAN ST at NOTRE DAME

<div class="pre">NCAAF MICHIGAN ST 31
NOTRE DAME 14 2:05 LEFT, 4TH QTR</div>

 

NCAAF: MICHIGAN ST at NOTRE DAME

<div class="pre">NCAAF MICHIGAN ST 31
NOTRE DAME 14 0:34 LEFT, 4TH QTR</div>

 

NCAAF: MICHIGAN ST at NOTRE DAME

<div class="pre">NCAAF MICHIGAN ST 31
NOTRE DAME 14 0:21 LEFT, 4TH QTR</div>

 

NCAAF: MICHIGAN ST at NOTRE DAME

<div class="pre">NCAAF MICHIGAN ST 31
NOTRE DAME 14 0:16 LEFT, 4TH QTR</div>

 

NCAAF: MICHIGAN ST at NOTRE DAME

<div class="pre">NCAAF FINAL 1ST 2ND 3RD 4TH TOTAL
--- --- --- --- -----
MICHIGAN ST 14 3 14 0 31
NOTRE DAME 7 7 0 0 14 FINAL

SCORING SUMMARY

1ST QUARTER: NOTRE DAME - TD, TRAVIS THOMAS 1 YD RUN
(BRANDON WALKER KICK), 4:59.
NOTRE DAME 7-0
MICHIGAN ST - TD, DEVIN THOMAS 7 YD PASS FROM
BRIAN HOYER (BRETT SWENSON
KICK), 7:55. MICHIGAN ST 7-7
MICHIGAN ST - TD, KELLEN DAVIS 3 YD PASS FROM
BRIAN HOYER (BRETT SWENSON
KICK), 14:38. MICHIGAN ST 14-7
2ND QUARTER: MICHIGAN ST - FG, BRETT SWENSON 27 YD, 2:41.
MICHIGAN ST 17-7
NOTRE DAME - TD, ROBERT HUGHES 3 YD RUN
(BRANDON WALKER KICK), 4:19.
MICHIGAN ST 17-14
3RD QUARTER: MICHIGAN ST - TD, MARK DELL 16 YD PASS FROM
BRIAN HOYER (BRETT SWENSON
KICK), 2:55. MICHIGAN ST 24-14
MICHIGAN ST - TD, KELLEN DAVIS 30 YD PASS FROM
BRIAN HOYER (BRETT SWENSON
KICK), 12:15. MICHIGAN ST
31-14
4TH QUARTER: NONE</div>

 

SOUTH BEND, Indiana (Ticker) -- Notre Dame's struggles havereached historic proportions.


Brian Hoyer threw a career-high four touchdown passes asMichigan State continued its dominance in South Bend with a31-14 victory over the winless Fighting Irish on Saturday.

Notre Dame played better than in its previous three games andscored its first two offensive touchdowns of the season. But itwas not enough to prevent the Irish from falling to 0-4 for thefirst time in the program's storied history.


Michigan State (4-0) posted its sixth straight win in SouthBend, where the Irish have not won in the series since 1995.

Notre Dame took advantage of an early interception at theMichigan State 9 to grab a 7-0 lead on Travis Thomas' one-yardTD run with 10:01 left in the first quarter.


But Hoyer threw TD passes of seven yards to Devin Thomas andthree yards to Kellen Davis for a 14-7 lead after the firstquarter.


After Brett Swenson's 27-yard field goal made it 17-7 early inthe second, the Irish answered with their best drive of theseason. They marched 80 yards in five plays to close within17-14 on Robert Hughes' three-yard TD run less than two minuteslater.


But Michigan State took control in the second half, shuttingdown Notre Dame's sputtering offense.


Hoyer, who only completed 11-of-24 passes for 135 yards, threwtwo more TDs in the third quarter to help the Spartans break itopen.


Freshman Jimmy Clausen completed only 7-of-13 passes for 53yards for the Irish before being replaced by Evan Sharpley inthe fourth quarter.

 

NCAAF: MICHIGAN ST at NOTRE DAME

<div class="pre">** CONFIRMED **
NCAAF
MICHIGAN ST 31
NOTRE DAME 14 FINAL</div>

 

NCAAF: MICHIGAN ST at NOTRE DAME

<div class="pre">NCAAF FINAL 1ST 2ND 3RD 4TH TOTAL
--- --- --- --- -----
MICHIGAN ST 14 3 14 0 31
NOTRE DAME 7 7 0 0 14 FINAL

NOTRE DAME-TD, T Thomas 1 YD RUN (B Walker KICK) 4:59 1st
Qtr
MICHIGAN ST-TD, D Thomas 7 YD PASS FROM B Hoyer (B Swenson
KICK) 7:55 1st Qtr
MICHIGAN ST-TD, K Davis 3 YD PASS FROM B Hoyer (B Swenson
KICK) 14:38 1st Qtr
MICHIGAN ST-FG, B Swenson 27 YD 2:41 2nd Qtr
NOTRE DAME-TD, R Hughes 3 YD RUN (B Walker KICK) 4:19 2nd
Qtr
MICHIGAN ST-TD, M Dell 16 YD PASS FROM B Hoyer (B Swenson
KICK) 2:55 3rd Qtr
MICHIGAN ST-TD, K Davis 30 YD PASS FROM B Hoyer (B Swenson
KICK) 12:15 3rd Qtr


MICHIGAN ST NOTRE DAME
First downs 19 9
Rushed-yards 49-219 35-117
Passing yards 135 86
Sacked-yards lost 1-8 4-32
Return yards 28 0
Passes 11-24-1 11-20-0
Punts 5-41.4 9-38.8
Fumbles-lost 1-1 1-1
Penalties-yards 3-20 4-35
Time of possession 33:29 26:31


Individual Statistics

RUSHING: MICHIGAN ST-Javon Ringer 26-144, Jehuu Caulcrick 20-83, -
Team 1-MINUS 1, Brian Hoyer 2-MINUS 7. NOTRE DAME-James Aldridge
18-104, Robert Hughes 6-33, Armando Allen Jr. 3-13, Travis Thomas 1-1,
Asaph Schwapp 1-0, Junior Jabbie 1-MINUS 2, Evan Sharpley 1-MINUS 2,
Jimmy Clausen 4-MINUS 30.

PASSING: MICHIGAN ST-Brian Hoyer 11-24-135- 1. NOTRE DAME-Jimmy
Clausen 7-13-53- 0. Evan Sharpley 4-7-33- 0.

RECEIVING: MICHIGAN ST-Devin Thomas 4-55, Kellen Davis 2-33, Mark Dell
1-16, Andrew Hawken 2-14, Javon Ringer 1-11, Jehuu Caulcrick 1-6.
NOTRE DAME-George West Jr. 3-25, David Grimes 3-24, John Carlson 1-16,
Duval Kamara 1-9, Luke Schmidt 1-5, Armando Allen Jr. 1-5, Junior
Jabbie 1-2.


Att: 80,795</div>

 

SOUTH BEND, Indiana (Ticker) -- Notre Dame's struggles havereached historic proportions.


Brian Hoyer threw a career-high four touchdown passes asMichigan State continued its dominance in South Bend with a31-14 victory over the winless Fighting Irish on Saturday.

Notre Dame played better than in its previous three games andscored its first two offensive touchdowns of the season. But itwas not enough to prevent the Irish from falling to 0-4 for thefirst time in the program's storied history.


Michigan State (4-0) posted its sixth straight win in SouthBend, where the Irish have not won in the series since 1995.

"Outstanding job by our football team today," Michigan Statecoach Mark Dantonio said. "We talked about it all week longabout how this really started for us last year at this time,when Notre Dame came to our stadium and had a great comeback andwon. I think our guys have been suffering ever since then."

Notre Dame coach Charlie Weis wasn't interested in the fact thathis team has entered the record books for the wrong reasons.

"To be honest with you, I'm just worrying about my team and I'llbe worried about critically evaluating last week's game andgetting ready for next week's game," Weis said. "That's all I'mjust doing. ... So I'll critically evaluate this game and thenget ready for Purdue. I'm not worrying about the record."

Weis said he hopes his team's hard work pays off soon.

"They have to believe there's going to be a payoff," Weis said."I mean, you keep on working until there is a payoff. And atthis point, there's been no payoff."


Notre Dame took advantage of an early interception at theMichigan State 9 to grab a 7-0 lead on Travis Thomas' one-yardTD run with 10:01 left in the first quarter.


But Hoyer threw TD passes of seven yards to Devin Thomas andthree yards to Kellen Davis for a 14-7 lead after the firstquarter.


After Brett Swenson's 27-yard field goal made it 17-7 early inthe second, the Irish answered with their best drive of theseason. They marched 80 yards in five plays to close within17-14 on Robert Hughes' three-yard TD run less than two minuteslater.


After rushing for minus-14 yards in the first three games, NotreDame got a semblance of a running game going against theSpartans, as James Aldridge rushed for 111 yards on 18 carries.

But Notre Dame continued to struggle through the air as theSpartans kept the Irish out of the end zone in the second half.

Freshman Jimmy Clausen completed just 7-of-13 passes for 53yards for the Irish before being replaced in the fourth quarterby Evan Sharpley.


Michigan State grabbed control after Devin Thomas returned thesecond-half kickoff 52 yards to the Irish 45. Eight playslater, the Spartans took a 24-14 lead on Hoyer's 16-yard TD passto Mark Dell.


Hoyer, who only completed 11-of-24 passes for 135 yards, cappedthe scoring with a 30-yard TD strike to Davis with 2:45 left inthe third quarter.


"I thought that we were able to run the ball, and that when wedid throw it, we had some success. We played great defense,"Dantonio said.


Javon Ringer paced the Spartans on the ground with 144 yards on26 carries.