The Big Picture
Notre Dame football locked in its third consecutive win of the 2026-27 season against Michigan State. The Week 3 game’s final score was 27-10, a +17-point differential in favor of the Irish.
Notre Dame put on a 10-0 shutout of Michigan State in the first quarter, and the Spartans responded 10-7 in the second quarter. Those were Michigan’s State’s last points of the game, though, and ND outscored them 10-0 in the second half.
Yardage Summary
The Irish were +228 in the overall yardage category. They tallied up 395 yards
of total offense, compared with Michigan State’s 167 offensive yards.
The home team finished +111 in passing, logging 234 passing yards to their opponent’s 123 yards earned through the air. Michigan State only completed 50% of their pass attempts while the Irish walked away with an impressive 75% completion rate on 24 attempts.
Notre Dame was +117 in overall rushing during Week 3. They logged 161 on the grounds, compared with the Spartans’ 44 yards. It was an improvement in overall production for Irish rushers but unfortunately efficiency still landed around 3.7 yards earned on 43 carries.
Despite the differences in yardage production and efficiency, though, rushers were the only Irish players to find the end zone this week.
The Quarterback Status
CJ Carr is averaging 242 passing yards per game and he posted his lowest overall production during Week 3. He completed the same amount of passes, 18, that Michigan State threw overall and for 234 yards. This was Carr’s first game of the season without a touchdown pass.
The Rushers
Sophomore running back Nolan James Jr. came out of the Michigan State looking like the team’s RB1.
- James logged 26 carries for 121 yards. He averaged 4.7 yards per carry and was responsible for one of the three touchdowns claimed on the ground.
- Aneyas Williams finished week 3 with nine rushing attempts for 28 yards and one touchdown.
- CJ Carr closed out things with nine rushing yards and one rushing touchdown.
The Receivers
Junior Micah Gilbert had a big game against the Spartans.
- Gilbert pulled in eight catches for 170 yards. He logged 37 yards on three catches against Wisconsin and 47 yards on two catches last week against Rice.
The Irish didn’t have any receiving touchdowns but the remaining 64 non-Gilbert yards were spread across four players.
- Wide receivers Jordan Faison and Mylan Graham had 38 and eight yards, respectively.
- Running Backs Aneyas Williams and Nolan James Jr. had 11 and seven receiving yards, respectively.
The Defensive Stats
Notre Dame’s defense posted four sacks, six tackles for loss and six pass deflections against Michigan State.
Safety Luke Talich grabbed Notre Dame’s first interception of the game, late in the first quarter. Safety Adon Shuler pulled down the second interception in the fourth quarter.
The Flow Stats
The Irish had ten offensive drives in the Michigan State game and pulled points out of half of those drives.
Closing Thoughts
Three game, three victories. There is the innate Notre Dame fan urge to be be hyper critical and particularly anxious during the early parts of the season. And that’s because the program has struggled to find consistency in the early games.
There are definitely some parts of the Irish’s performances to be critical of through Week 3, but the overall consistency and reliability within the depth chart are making me feel pretty good. It was another week of strong passing stats and although the rushing efficiency still leaves a lot to be desired we got to see that our rushers can be counted on to put up points when they’re called to.
And if you still feel the need to smash the emergency button, take a look around at the rest of college football’s heavyweights. Many are in full on dumpster fire mode or doing their best to edge that way. The stats show no signs of that in South Bend.
