None of that shocked anyone who'd looked at the number all week — Notre Dame was never going to be an underdog here, and a rebuilding, portal-churned roster on the road was always going to need a near-perfect script to make it interesting. Michigan State didn't get one.
Michigan State's only touchdown came on a 15-yard Cam Fancher run in the second quarter, and that was the last thing that went right for the Spartans — the Irish defense, still without safety Brauntae Johnson and lineman Jason Onye for a third straight week, answered by holding Michigan State to 40 total yards over the final two quarters, piling up 4 sacks and 6 tackles for loss along the way.
Notre Dame didn't need style points on offense either. CJ Carr threw for 234 yards and ran one in himself — a 3-yard score in the fourth — even without a passing touchdown for the first time in 12 games. Micah Gilbert did the real damage through the air, going for 8 catches and 170 yards, the best day by a Notre Dame receiver since 2019, while Nolan James Jr. and Aneyas Williams each punched in short touchdown runs to show the run game options the Irish were supposedly rebuilding.
Marcus Freeman called it "a good victory and a hard-fought victory" afterward, and the number that matters more than the final score might be 13 — Notre Dame's winning streak, every one of them by double digits, breaking a program record Knute Rockne set in 1921-22. Pat Fitzgerald's read on his own team was blunter: Michigan State had talked about avoiding a first-round knockout and didn't manage it. Saturday made clear how much the Spartans still don't know about themselves against real competition.