Michigan State football suffered their first loss of the Pat Fitzgerald on Saturday evening, dropping a 27-10 game to No. 3 Notre Dame. Now, the Spartans are looking to move back on and get back in the winners circle this weekend.
When the Spartans go to bounce back, Michigan State will be beginning Big Ten play with a home matchup with Nebraska inside of Spartan Stadium. While the attention should shift to the Cornhuskers, one last look at the Fighting Irish is necessary.
While the offense had struggles, and much of them, the defense is a unit that looked very strong and held their own against a very good Notre Dame team.
The Fighting Irish had over 37 minutes of possession, and ran over 65 plays, but were held to just 395 yards. Given the circumstances,
it was a performance to take note of from Joe Rossi's unit.
After looking at the film, and evaluating the game, Pro Football Focus (Subscription Required) gave out their grades for the Spartans in the game.
Check out the top five offensive players for the Spartans, according to PFF:
LB Caleb Wheatland - 79.1
Thrusted into a larger role on the defense after the departure of Brady Pretzlaff, Wheatland did a great job in both coverage and stopping the run at the will linebacker spot. He finished with three tackles.
DT Ben Roberts - 78.8
Michigan State defensive tackle Ben Roberts has been known for being able to play with better competition, and he showed it against Notre Dame on Saturday. He graded best as a pass rusher up the middle in the defense, producing a couple of QB hurries.
LB Brady Pretzlaff - 76.6
Unfortunately, the day ended early for Pretzlaff, who was injured in the matchup. Prior to that injury, he was showing why he is a starting linebacker on this roster, excelling alongside Jordan Hall. He had four tackles early in the game.
LB Cam Stodghill - 75.4
His first real action of the season, the Albany transfer made some big plays in his snaps in the MSU front seven. More of a hybrid between safety and linebacker, Stodghill gives the MSU defense a different dynamic when he is out there.
S Devin Vaught - 75.1
Vaught continues to show why he is an asset, and someone that was a massive addition to the Spartans defense. The transfer from Maine did it both in coverage and getting down into the box for running downs. He had a 72.7 coverage game to go with four tackles.
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This article originally appeared on Spartans Wire: PFF ranks the top five defenders from Michigan State's game with ND
