There is a tendency to want to exalt or assault Notre Dame, to praise the Irish or bury them. Like history has eroded any middle ground in the conversation. Ordinary is not an option.
Yet a 23-7 loss Saturday to Michigan State suggests exactly that — that the version of the Irish on display for 76,366 at Spartan Stadium is merely and passably just OK. Unremarkably ordinary. Good, bad and indifferent rolled together, nothing better or worse than a team wandering about, searching for itself.
So it might make sense that the Irish (2-1) seemed a bit bipolar Saturday.
“We had a chance to win the game, but we didn’t deserve to win,” Irish coach Charlie Weis said.
Fanning out into five-wideout sets and having quarterback Jimmy Clausen throw 41 times injected some life into the offense, but three tailbacks managed an abominable 30 yards rushing, and 17 of Michigan State’s points followed turnovers or missed field goals.
The Irish defense, meanwhile, kept matters interesting. But it registered no sacks, forced only one turnover, couldn’t produce a key fourth-quarter stop and allowed 5 yards per play for the second straight week.
Then there was MSU’s Javon Ringer rushing for 201 yards on 39 carries.
“For the first half we did pretty well, I believe,” Irish linebacker Brian Smith said. “We were wrapping [Ringer] up, getting him to the ground. But we knew they were going to give him the ball 50 million times. He was able to break a couple on us.”
The Irish’s primary concern is an offensive line that regressed substantially. Trying to establish a presence in the trenches, the Irish ran the ball six straight times on the first two possessions. Net gain: 7 yards. The trend continued, and Notre Dame called designed run plays only twice after halftime.
Worse, Weis said it wasn’t a matter of getting outnumbered. Michigan State (3-1) simply dominated.
“They were able to physically match us and shut us down,” Irish tackle Sam Young said after his unit also surrendered its first three sacks of the year. “It was a lot of things.”
Said Ringer: “We were very, very dominant up front. We were able to win because of (the line). We didn’t win because of me, because of (quarterback Brian) Hoyer, or our receivers. It was the guys up front.”
Still, after two interceptions thrown by Clausen, a missed field goal from Brandon Walker and a fumble by Michael Floyd in the red zone right after the halftime break, the Irish were down only 13-0. They even closed within a score when Clausen found Floyd for a 26-yard touchdown on the first play of the fourth quarter.
But Michigan State drove to a field goal to answer that. Then Walker missed another field goal on the ensuing Irish possession, and Ringer hit on a 63-yard run to set up his own game-sealing score.
It’s the maddeningly uneven but completely reasonable behavior of a team that is simply plain regular. It’s seemingly an improvement on the doldrums of 2007 and a minor indictment of 2008 all at once.
“This year we know we could have won this game, but we left a lot of plays on the field,” Smith said. “We have to learn from our mistakes, and if there’s a play there to be made, you have to make it if you want to win.”
Nothing extraordinary about that at all.
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bchamilton@tribune.com
