THEY’LL TAKE THAT ONE
Opportunistic Irish capitalize on Sparty’s mistakes in blowout
Associated Press
EAST LANSING, Mich. — Brandon Wimbush threw for a touchdown and ran for another, Dexter Williams had a touchdown rushing and another receiving and Notre Dame routed turnover- prone Michigan State 38- 18 on Saturday.
The Spartans ( 2- 1) outgained the Irish ( 3- 1) but fell well behind, thanks in large part to three costly turnovers in the first half. Julian Love returned an interception 59 yards for a touchdown in the first quarter to give Notre Dame a 14- 0 lead, and LJ Scott fumbled near the goal line to take a likely touchdown away from Michigan State.
The Spartans hadn’t allowed an offensive touchdown in their first two games, but the Irish put an end to that by driving 78 yards in less than two minutes on the first possession of the game. Wimbush opened the scoring with a 16- yard run before Love picked off a pass by Brian Lewerke and took it all the way back to give Notre Dame an early 14- point lead.
‘‘ We got the pick- six and got up 14- 0, then we were able to control the football a little bit,’’ Irish coach Brian Kelly said. ‘‘ Then when you get a lead on the road, I thought that Brandon Wimbush did a really good job of controlling the offense. And then again . . . if you take care of the football, which we did today, good things happen.’’
Lewerke broke free for a 52- yard run on what looked like a simple quarterback sneak on third- andone, setting up his four- yard touchdown pass to Darrell Stewart that got Michigan State on the board.
In the second quarter, though, Lewerke fumbled while trying to scramble out of trouble, giving Notre Dame the ball at the Spartans’ 24. Wimbush threw an eightyard touchdown pass to Williams to give the Irish a 21- 7 lead.
Michigan State was still very much in the game at that point, but it couldn’t overcome what happened on the next drive. Scott was about to score when Notre Dame defensive back Shaun Crawford forced a fumble and recovered the ball in the end zone for a touchback.
Williams then scored on a 14- yard run to put the Irish ahead 28- 7 at halftime.