TJ Jones

No. 22/21 Irish to Play Host to No. RV/24 Michigan State

Sept. 17, 2013

Complete Game Notes | Gameweek Central

DATE

  • Saturday, September 21, 2013

TIME

  • 3:41 p.m. ET

SITE (CAPACITY)

TELEVISION

  • NBC national telecast with Dan Hicks (play-by-play), Mike Mayock (analysis), Alex Flanagan (sideline), Rob Hyland (producer) and Pierre Moossa (director).

RADIO

  • IMG College Sports is the exclusive national rights-holder for Irish football radio broadcasts. IMG College manages, produces and syndicates the Irish national football radio network. Notre Dame games will be broadcast by Don Criqui (play-by-play), former Irish great Allen Pinkett (analysis) and Jeff Jeffers (sideline). This broadcast can be heard live on both SIRIUS and XM Satellite Radio (channel 129).
  • All games can be heard in South Bend on News & Sports Radio 96.1 FM & 960 AM WSBT.

TICKETS

  • Saturday is the 233rd straight sellout at Notre Dame Stadium. Since 1966, every home game for the Irish has been a sellout except one – a 1973 Thanksgiving Day game vs. Air Force. Notre Dame has played in front of sellouts in 281 of its last 282 home games.
  • Notre Dame has played in front of sellout crowds in 258 of its previous 300 games (.860) overall. Notre Dame has played before 629 sellouts in 901 total games (.698) since 1930.

WEB SITES

POLLS

  • Notre Dame is ranked No. 22 in the Associated Press poll and No. 21 in the USA Today Coaches’ poll. Michigan State is receiving votes in the AP poll and ranked No. 24 by the coaches.

REAL-TIME STATS

  • Live in-game stats will be provided through CBS College Sports via UND.com.

SERIES INFO

  • Notre Dame leads the series with Michigan State, 47-28-1, including a 28-13 record in South Bend.
  • Michigan State and Notre Dame have split its last 10 meetings with one another, but the Irish have captured three of the last four meetings. The Spartans had captured nine of the previous 12, including six straight at Notre Dame Stadium (1997-2007).
  • Over the last 13 meetings, the Notre Dame-Michigan State game has been decided by a touchdown or less on nine different occasions, with the game-winning score coming late in the fourth quarter or overtime in eight of the 13 meetings.
  • More on the series is available on pages 2-6 in the full pdf.

WHAT TO WATCH FOR

  • Notre Dame looks to extend its winning streak to 10 games at Notre Dame Stadium. The Irish have not registered 10 straight wins at home since Oct. 25, 1997-Aug. 28, 1999.

COUNTDOWN TO KICKOFF

  1. Eleven freshmen have played in 2013 including Jaylon Smith, Steve Elmer, Max Redfield, William Fuller, James Onwualu, Cole Luke, Corey Robinson, Issac Rochell, Greg Bryant, Tarean Folston and Devin Butler.
  2. Notre Dame has played 18 games decided by a TD or less since the arrival of Brian Kelly in 2010. The Irish went 2-5 in the first seven games, but have since gone 10-1.
  3. The Irish have won nine consecutive games at Notre Dame Stadium. Notre Dame has not registered 10 straight wins at home since Oct. 25, 1997-Aug. 28, 1999.
  4. The Notre Dame-Michigan State game has been decided with the game-winning score coming late in the fourth quarter or overtime in eight of the last 13 meetings.
  5. Senior QB Tommy Rees ranks seventh in the FBS in passing yards (969), but no one has thrown for more yards against FBS opponents in 2013. Rees has registered seven completions of at least 32 yards. Irish signal callers recorded 11 such passes all of last year.
  6. Notre Dame has won six consecutive games under head coach Brian Kelly when the game was decided by a TD or less. He is tied with Lou Holtz for fourth on the all-time Notre Dame list.
  7. Notre Dame has allowed an average of 18.31 points/game over the last four seasons combined, which ranks as the fifth-best average of any team in the FBS.
  8. Notre Dame has limited Michigan State to four rushing first downs combined in the last two meetings in the series.
  9. Brian Kelly is one of seven FBS coaches that have guided their respective schools to an undefeated regular season since 2009. Three of those head coaches, including Kelly, have done it on multiple occasions.
  10. Two Notre Dame quarterbacks have passed for more than 300 yards in each of the first three games of a season. Senior Tommy Rees joined Jimmy Clausen (2009) for that distinction with 346 (Temple), 314 (Michigan) and 309 (Purdue). He could become the first to do it in the first four contests.
  11. Among college coaches with at least five years of service or 50 victories at a school that was classified as a major college, only one head coach ever reached 200 career victories at a younger age than Brian Kelly.
  12. No FBS defense has allowed fewer rushing touchdowns than the 15 by Notre Dame over the last 33 games. Alabama has limited its opponents to 16.