September 18, 1993
Notre Dame Michigan State Final Stats
By Jason Conte, The Scholastic 1993 Football Review
Tony Brooks. Anthony Johnson. Rodney Culver. Ricky Watters. Jerome Bettis. Reggie Brooks.
For the past six years, under the direction of Lou Holtz, Notre Dame has been known for its great rushing attack, averaging no less than 250 yards per game and never ranking below 14th in the country.
But coming into this season there were numerous questions about the Irish ground game. For the first time in several years Holtz did not have a proven running back to replace his departing stars. Instead he had to work with unproven backups from last year and a highly touted freshman class.
In the first two games of the season, Lee Becton was the only back who distinguished himself and the remaining running game remained questionable. But for the third game of the year, Michigan State was a guest at the coming out party for the new breed of Irish running backs.
But at first it looked like the offense would have to play catch up. On their first drive of the game the Spartans marched down the field and scored. Starting at their own 26, Michigan State put together what would turn out to be its best drive of the day, but to Irish fans it was a wake up call to a new and improved Spartan team. In a series of Craig Thomas runs and short Jim Miller passes, the Spartans went 74 yards on 14 plays in six and a half minutes, putting the first seven points on the scoreboard.
This game scares me because Michigan State moved the ball so well on us last year and we’re not consistent enough on offense right now to get into a high scoring game with them,” said Holtz before the game. “They had almost 500 yards against us last year and it seemed like 700. We ended up having to fight for our lives before it was over. Michigan State has a couple of losing seasons, but I think George (Perles) has them back. I think this is on of their better teams.”
It looked like Holtz’s fears were well-founded. But the Irish countered the attack in the beginning of the second quarter. Kevin McDougal led his unit across the goal line for a Notre Dame touchdown, scored by Farmer on a one-yard run. But the Irish still trailed the Spartans 7-6 after Kevin Pendergast missed the point after attempt.
After this scoring drive the Irish took command of the game. On the next Notre Dame possession, Pendergast redeemed himself by scoring on a 26-yard field goal, bringing the Irish to a 9-7 lead. And on the next drive, the Notre Dame defense kept Michigan State from reaching a first down. The Spartans punted the ball back to a hungry Irish offense that converted the opportunity into a score.
“It was clutch performance by the offense,” said Holtz. “We were much better offensively this week, and I thought Kevin McDougal performed well.”
With 10 seconds left in the first half, on the Spartan four-yard line, McDougal saw an open Ray Zellars, tossing him the ball over the middle for an Irish touchdown. With the extra point Notre Dame led the game 16-7.
The offensive line aided the rushing attack. “The line did a tremendous job blocking today,” said Kinder. “Some of the blocks they made were unbelievable and the holes they opened up were huge.”
Aaron Taylor agreed with Kinder’s assessment. “Our offensive line worked well, and our cohesiveness is finally starting to get there. We are really starting to gel as a unit.”
And with four seconds left on the clock, the Michigan State offense took the field. Miller attempted to throw a deep pass to a group of three MSU receivers, but John Covington red the play and intercepted the ball to end the first half.
While the offense was racking up high numbers, the defense also performed well. The Irish forced two turnovers, had one sack and made four tackles for loss against the Spartans. Notre Dame forced Michigan State to punt six times and limited the Spartan rushing attack to only 58 yards in the entire game and negative 10 yards in the second half.
“I though after the first drive and before the last drive, we played good on defense,” Holtz said. “We couldn’t have communicated better.”
On the first Irish possession of the third quarter, Pendergast was able to hit a 23-yard field goal to increase the Irish lead to 19-7. On the next drive the Irish defense stopped the Spartan offense from gaining a first down.
Once again the Irish were unable to drag the ball over the goal line, and Notre Dame settled for a 31 yard field goal by Pendergast.
But with a little over two minutes left in the third quarter Notre Dame scored its first touchdown since the first half when McDougal handed the ball to freshman Marc Edwards on the one-yard line, dodging the left tackle for a touchdown and bringing the score to 29-7.
Again in the fourth quarter the Irish offense came together for another touchdown. On the Spartan 12-yard line McDougal, under heavy pressure, rolled left and let a pass fly to Becton who was wide open and scored an Irish touchdown. With the extra point the Irish lead increased to 36- 7.
“We just have a way to get it down there [to the end zone],” said Holtz. ”Usually we just wallow and slop around and somehow get it down there.”
With less than five minutes left in the fourth quarter, the Irish gained possession and for the first time since the first quarter, Notre Dame was unable to convert the drive into any points. And also for the first time since the first quarter the Irish defense let the Spartan offense into the end zone. While the Irish defense had a slow start, it eventually shut down the Spartan offensive attack.
“It just took us a drive or two to realize what they were doing,” said Pete Bercich. “But after that we were able to adjust”
It was not until their final drive that the Spartans were able to muster up enough strength to crack the Irish defense and add on to their seven points. With 18 seconds left on the clock, Miller stayed in the pocket and threw to Coleman in the end zone, hitting him for a touchdown, bringing the final score to 36-14.
The Notre Dame rushing attack proved itself by breaking free for 269 yards, led by freshman Randy Kinder who tallied 12 carries for 94 yards.
“I had a lot of fun out there today,” said Kinder. “I just wanted to contribute and show that I can get in there and be productive.”
Kinder was not the only back to come through for the Irish. Lee Becton rushed 10 times for 76 yards, including an impressive 40-yard run. And freshmen Marc Edwards and Robert Farmer both scored their first touchdowns in their collegiate careers.
“Our backs gave us a big boost. We knew about Becton and Zellars, but it was nice to see Kinder and some others jump in there,” said Holtz. “We wanted to establish our rushing game today. We wanted to establish a Notre Dame style offense.”
While the Irish running backs were in the spotlight, Kevin McDougal and the receivers quietly put together a very good game of their own. McDougal completed 17 of 23 passes for 185 yards on the day. While completing 74 percent of his passes, he also tallied his first two touchdowns of the season.
“We made a lot of progress from last week and that’s what our goal is. We don’t have to be the best team in the country, we just have to be the best team in the stadium and get better each week. If we do that, we’ll be all right,” said Aaron Taylor. “We are playing more confident as a unit. We have more confidence in ourselves and each other. People were writing us off a little earlier in the season, but now we are starting to prove that we are a good team.”