SOUTH BEND, IN – They'll take it. Or should take it. Those outside the locker room who love the Green and White will absolutely take it.
A 29.5-point underdog hanging around for a bit like Michigan State football did against a College Football Playoff title contender, before falling, 27-10, to No. 3 Notre Dame?
That's something. And something the Spartans should be able to work with as the Big Ten season begins next week. No, MSU isn't suddenly the Big Ten title favorite. But the Spartans are interesting – intriguing, even – and, if nothing else, not boring.
That's something, too.
More than anything, they showed fight, that they were invested, and are playing as if inhabited
spiritually by their coach.
Pat Fitzgerald had MSU believing Saturday, Sept. 19, even if no one else did. They played like it, too, despite the size and talent difference.
The Spartans didn't get pushed around as much as they got slowly walked to the back of the room, where they'll stay when they line up against the big boys until Fitzgerald can find a way to improve the talent level.
But then no one should be surprised by this. Or the final score.
This was a temperature game, a measurement game, a line-up-against-a-top-five-opponent-and-see-what-it-feels-like game.
Yeah, MSU won't feel good about losing. But that's in the moment.
Because after it takes a few moments, and powers up the film, it'll see that it belonged on the same field with one of the best rosters in college football, with a program that almost certainly bound for the CFP.
Yes, the Spartans lost, but they didn't get pushed around, not completely. At times, they even did some of the pushing themselves. Jordan Hall did. The linebacker, returning from missing last week with an elbow injury, had six of MSU's first seven tackles, almost all of them at the line of scrimmage or behind it.
He's a difference-maker. And while he and the defense couldn't consistently stop the Fighting Irish, they slowed them, forcing them to convert a few fourth downs, to punt once, to go for a fake punt.
Well, maybe they didn't need to go for that. Not on fourth-and-13, but go for it Marcus Freeman did, calling forit from Notre Dame's 39. It was a curious call, considering the Fighting Irish were leading, 10-0.
Actually, it was a bizarre call, and when Keshawn Williams got off his block on the left edge and tackled Brayden Robinson short of the first down, it became a terrible call.
It would have been even worse if Spartans receiver Kenneth Williams hadn't dropped a pass in the end zone 10 plays later. But Williams did and dropped his head as soon as the ball hit the turf.
QB Cam Fancher – in for Alessio Milivojevic – hit him in the hands after a rollout. No defender was near Williams.
His teammates and coaches consoled him on the sideline and kept talking him up even after MSU had to settle for a field goal. The four points weren't the difference, obviously, but in a measurement game, finding the inches means clarifying the picture.
It's a little clearer than it was a week ago and should give hope that a bowl game is out there if the Spartans keep up this kind of effort and intensity, which was all most MSU fans wanted to see anyway.
They saw it.
And now they'll need to see it some more in Big Ten play.
[ BLUE WALL? Graham Couch joined the "Freep Sports Show," your go-to Detroit/Michigan sports podcast, available anywhere you listen/watch (Apple, Spotify, YouTube). ]
Contact Shawn Windsor: swindsor@freepress.com. Follow him @shawnwindsor.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Michigan State football comes up short but didn't get pushed around
