Today at 3:30 p.m. ET, Michigan State (3-0) visits No. 22 Notre Dame (2-1) at Notre Dame Stadium in Indiana. The game can be live streamed here. Michigan fans can listen to the action on 760 WJR while Notre Dame fans can do the same at WSBT Radio 960-AM .
Notre Dame's defensive shortcomings have come back to haunt them, and heading into a battle with unbeaten Michigan State, it could be fresh on their minds as the Spartans currently own the nation's top defense.
The Fighting Irish beat Temple to open up the season but didn't look good in their loss to Michigan on Sept. 7, where the team allowed its most regular-season points in four years in a 41-30 loss. Last week, Notre Dame barely hung on to defeat Purdue 31-24, after Purdue had totaled just 27 points in its first two games.
Notre Dame head coach Brian Kelly's defense has suffered a fall from grace thus far in 2013. After allowing just 12.8 points per game in 2012, the team has averaged 23.5 so far this season, despite retaining eight starters on defense from last year.
"We're still evolving. It takes time," Kelly said per ESPN. "Even if you've got guys that are veterans, we have some key positions that have some new players in it. They're coming together."
While Michigan State boasts the best defense, its offense has struggled at times and will look to take advantage of the poor defensive play that Notre Dame has shown in recent weeks.
Spartans have settled on Connor Cook as its quarterback, and the redshirt sophomore went 15-for-22 for 202 yards and four touchdowns in last week's 55-17 victory over Youngstown State as the team totaled 547 yards of offense.
"This will be a great experience for [Cook] because he's going to have an environment to play in that's going to simulate really what a lot of Big Ten environments are going to be from this point on," Michigan State head coach Mark Dantonio told ESPN. "That's going to be a period of growth for him."
Notre Dame quarterback Tommy Rees has thrown for more than 300 touchdowns and for more than 300 yards in all three games so far during this season, but his defense has let him down quite often throughout. One of Rees' favorite targets is receiver DaVarias Daniels, who has caught four of Rees' seven touchdown passes in 2013 and had eight catches for 167 yards last week.
The Spartans are hoping their top-notch defense can shut the pair down.
"Very excited about our defense. I know they'll come to play," Dantonio said, according to ESPN. "I think they're a confident football team. They like to play, they like playing on a big stage, which is positive."
Michigan State defensive end Shilique Calhoun has scored three touchdowns off of turnovers this year, and will look to continue the trend.
In their last meeting, Notre Dame held the Spartans to 50 rushing yards in a 20-3 victory last September to notch a two-game winning streak in head-to-head matchups between the squads.
After dropping the previous six home meetings against Michigan State, the Irish have won two-straight.
It will be a classic battle between a surging offense and a fantastic defense when Notre Dame and Michigan State battle it out this afternoon.
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