Not at all pretty as ND edges MSU in a battle of the trenches. With State loading the box, only alternative was to pass – oh, let’s skip those down the line passes, someone is going to get a pick 6 one of these Saturdays. Tommy Rees was 14/34 for 142 yards and generally put up a catch-able ball and if not completed at least it drew 4 interference calls which ultimately decided the game.

This was a ho-hum hard to watch game won on Brindza’s kicking. Nothing really newsworthy to write about except perhaps the emerging freshman receivers Robinson – 3 catches and Fuller’s 1 catch, his first of the season. It was interesting to note how State jammed the receivers and forced them to the sideline leaving little room for error but were caught out of bounds. Cam McDaniel had a 7 yd TD run and TJ Jones had another TD catch. ND had 224 yds to MSU’s 250.

ND fans cannot expect Tommy Rees to be Tom Brady–he’s not and while he missed a lot, he threw no picks. Workman like job.

Calabrese had a good game and he and Grace worked well together as the ILB set.

Let’s see what some other games looked like:

• Wisconsin ran all over Purdue winning 41-10
• Michigan barely beat UConn 24-21
• Stanford walloped Arizona State 42-28 uh oh
• Pitt beat Duke 58-55 real defensive game.
• USC edged Utah State 17-14

Next 3 weeks will decide the season but unless ND can find a consistent offense and put up a lot of points the future looks mighty bleak.