Notre Dame came out hot and dominated the Michigan State Spartans. Here are my three takeaways from the 38-18 decisive victory for the Irish.
The Notre Dame Fighting Irish beat the Michigan State Spartans 38-18 on Saturday night in East Lansing, Mich. The Irish officially have the Megaphone Trophy and Brian Kelly’s seat has simmered a bit from scalding hot. Mark Dantonio‘s seat has warmed up a bit but I really don’t think this will force him out, but it may force him to reconsider his offensive coordinator choice in Jim Bollman.
While the Irish didn’t put together great offensive numbers, they didn’t need to. An early interception returned for a touchdown and scoring off of short fields helped the Irish come out to a hot start. That’s a good thing for Kelly’s team after struggling to throw against Boston College and losing in a horrible offensive effort to the Georgia Bulldogs.
The Irish entered the game ranked 18th in the S&P+ while Michigan State was ranked 39th. The Irish jumped out to get the lead and didn’t come close to letting it go during the entire game. Sparty poured on some late game passing yards but they were held to around 300 total yards until the final drive where they added a few big passes including Lewerke’s second touchdown throw of the night. Let’s see the three takeaways from the Irish victory.
3. The Spartans Have No Hope On Offense
Heading into the week, the Spartans had the S&P+ 73rd ranked offense and it shows. Michigan State put up pedestrian numbers against Bowling Green and Western Michigan in tune-up games before the conference slate began. Brian Lewerke won’t be mistaken for Josh Rosen any time soon. He puts up good numbers against Group of Five teams but has struggled against Power Fives in his young career.
Lewerke has struggled against the Irish tonight and struggled with Maryland a year ago. Although he did have a nice game against Michigan in 2016 as a freshman. The 6-foot-3, 212-pound quarterback has room to grow but with LJ Scott struggling as well, the offense needs a new play caller to get a fresh start for Sparty.
Scott fumbled on the 1-yard-line heading into the end zone against Notre Dame that really stopped any hope for Michigan State’s offense to gain momentum. Lewerke threw for 340 yards against Notre Dame but his yards per attempt was a mere 6.6 which is over two yards under the average you’re looking for as a coach, which is nine yards per attempt.
Offensive coordinator Jim Bollman had success in 2013 with Connor Cook leading the Spartans to a 13-1 record with their lone loss coming to Notre Dame, of all teams. It could be the time for Dantonio to go away from Bollman and with a new offensive mindset in order to get Sparty back on track.
2. Irish running back Josh Adams is a dude
Even with Brian Kelly only giving Josh Adams nine carries, he ran for 6+ yards per rush against the MSU defense which was ranked 22nd overall per the S&P+. Adams is an explosive runner that teamed with Brandon Wimbush and Dexter Williams can make up a great three-pronged rushing attack at Notre Dame. We know Wimbush has struggled to throw the ball — although he averaged 8.6 yards per attempt against the Spartans Saturday.
Adams has run for 443 yards this season with two touchdowns while splitting carries with Wimbush and Williams and through Kelly’s penchant for throwing the ball in a tropical storm. Adams’ seasonal yards per carry is 7.9, which is astronomical especially considering he only ran for 5.5 yards per carry in 2016. He’s a new man and the 6-foot-2, 225-pound running back is ready to carry the load.
Kelly needs to commit to the running game and use play-action passing to get Wimbush comfortable rather than force the square peg in the round hole like he attempted with Kizer at times and like Urban Meyer did with Cardale Jones at Ohio State. A good coach will figure out what their quarterback can do and mold the offense around it.
1. Mark Dantonio’s seat shouldn’t be warm
Mark Dantonio has ripped off five double-digit winning seasons in East Lansing, putting together by far the best winning percentage at Michigan State post-Vietnam War. As a matter of fact, it’s almost 100 points higher than Nick Saban’s and we know how his career has worked out.
Dantonio is a Saban guy from the original days back at MSU in the mid-90s and he likes a pro-style offense, a focus on the kicking game and an aggressive defense that focuses on speed.
My issue is that with the offense looking dead on arrival for two years, maybe it’s time for Sparty to go a different direction regarding their offensive coordinator. Dantonio’s seat won’t be warm because of his past success, relationship to Tom Izzo and the athletic director as well. But you have to wonder how long Bollman will last when MSU faces defenses like Penn State, Iowa, Ohio State and Michigan in 2017.
If the offense and quarterback still sputter, will Dantonio stay with the system or branch out and bring in new ideas?
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If he does stick with Bollman that could cause his seat to warm up if the Spartans can’t right the ship in 2018. Who could come to East Lansing and light a spark under the offense? How about Jedd Fisch if that staff doesn’t survive at UCLA in 2017? Fisch is a pro-style play caller with a quarterback coaching background which is what Michigan State could need.