Notre Dame Football: 5 overreactions from win over Michigan State

Notre Dame football recorded a huge win over Michigan State on Saturday and now it’s time to completely overreact.

After picking up a big road win over Michigan State on Saturday, Notre Dame football looks poised to put together a strong week. However, that road victory hasn’t stopped fans and members of the media from overreacting both positively and negatively to the Irish’s performance.

Brian Kelly marched his team into East Lansing and avenged last year’s loss to the green and white in South Bend. The Irish won convincingly, 38-18, taking advantage of three big Michigan State turnovers — two of which happened while the Spartans were driving and the third deep in their own territory.

We learned a lot about both teams from the Notre Dame victory, but there are still some questions that need to be answered. Notre Dame still has a tough schedule moving forward, so it will need to build on this 3-1 lead and gain more momentum.

Here are the five biggest overreactions from Notre Dame’s win over Michigan State.

5. Defense will be this team’s downfall

After allowing 496 total yards to Michigan State’s offense on Saturday night, some Notre Dame fans came away with a bittersweet feeling. Sure, the Fighting Irish won big on the road, but giving up nearly 500 yards to a young offense like Michigan State’s was eye-opening.

Notre Dame did come up with a crucial pick-six in the first quarter and two forced fumbles — one in the end zone that changed the game — so the defense can’t be that bad, right? Forcing three big turnovers was essentially the difference in this one.

Michigan State didn’t allow many big plays so it was the defense that kept the Irish in the game. It also set the offense up with good field position a few times. On top of that, much of Michigan State’s yardage was late in the game — or garbage time.

Don’t stress about the defense just yet.