Spartans Fall at No. 3 Notre Dame, 27-10

Saturday, September 19

South Bend, Ind.

7:30 PM

Michigan State University

2-1 , 0-0

#3 Notre Dame

3-0 , 0-0

Team	1st	2nd	3rd	4th	Final F
Michigan St.	0	10	0	0	10
Notre Dame	10	7	3	7	27

Photo by: Rey Del Rio/MSU Athletic Communications

9/19/2026 11:43:00 PM | Football

Box Score Final Stats (PDF)Post-Game Notes

NOTRE DAME, Ind. – Michigan State trailed by just seven points at halftime, but ultimately fell at No. 3 Notre Dame, 27-10, Saturday night in primetime at Notre Dame Stadium.

The Spartans (2-1) were outscored in the second half, 10-0, after heading into the locker room down 17-10. MSU fell behind 10-0 early, but responded with 10 points in the second quarter to make it a one-score game heading into the second half.

Senior captain linebacker Jordan Hall led the Spartans with 13 tackles, while Tre Bell, Devin Vaught, Dion Crawford and Eli Coenen posted five tackles apiece.

Redshirt sophomore Alessio Milivojevic was 9-of-17 passing for 123 yards with two interceptions. Redshirt freshman tight end Jayden Savoury led the Spartan receivers with three catches for 30 yards and fifth-year wide receiver Rodney Bullard Jr. had two catches for 66 yards.

"We battled against a really good football team," said MSU head coach Pat Fitzgerald. "We made too many critical errors to give ourselves a chance to win. You have to give Notre Dame credit. They have outstanding schemes in all three phases and they have incredibly talented guys.

"A lot of work to do, a lot of work ahead of us. I liked our chances if we could get it to a one-score game in the fourth quarter, but obviously we just didn't get it done. Credit to Notre Dame, and we'll be back to work next week."

SCORING SUMMARY
On the first play from scrimmage, CJ Carr connected on a 61-yard pass to Micah Gilbert to the MSU 14, but Bell made a touchdown-saving tackle, and the Spartans didn't allow another first down on the drive and held the Irish to a 25-yard field goal.

Notre Dame (3-0) took advantage of a short field after a partially blocked punt, going 41 yards on 11 plays – including two fourth-down conversions – to go up 10-0 on a 2-yard TD run by Nolan James Jr. with 4:31 left in the first quarter.

The Irish attempted a fake punt on fourth-and-13 near the end of the first quarter, but only gained 12 yards, giving MSU good field position at midfield. The Spartans capitalized by going on a 12-play, 36-yard drive that resulted in a 32-yard Liam Boyd field goal, trimming the UND lead to 10-3 at the 10:05 mark in the second quarter.

Notre Dame extended its lead to 17-3 on a 1-yard touchdown run by Aneyas Williams with 4:46 remaining in the half that capped a 10-play, 75-yard drive.

On MSU's next series, Milivojevic connected on a 53-yard reception to Bullard, who made a diving catch to set up MSU in the red zone at the UND 15-yard line. After the call was upheld following a video review, Cam Fancher ran for a 15-yard touchdown to make it 17-10 with 3:21 left in the half.

The Irish forced a punt on MSU's first series of the third quarter, then took 9:43 off the clock on a 17-play, 77-yard drive that ended with a 35-yard field goal by Spencer Porath to give UND a 20-10 advantage.

Notre Dame increased its lead to 27-10 with 10:57 left in the fourth quarter on a 3-yard rushing TD by Carr. The scoring run was set up by two long pass receptions to Gilbert for 28 yards and 39 yards on the four-play scoring drive.

UP NEXT
Michigan State opens Big Ten play against Nebraska on Saturday, Sept. 26 at 5 p.m. in Spartan Stadium. The game will be televised on the Big Ten Network.