Sports

ND Volleyball: Notre Dame travels west for Kansas Invitational

With just three matches remaining before Notre Dame begins its inaugural season in the ACC, the Irish (5-3, 0-0 ACC) will travel to Lawrence, Kan., for the Kansas Invitational this weekend. 

ND Women's Golf: Irish to tee off in Tennessee

It may not be a conference or regional championship, but the Mercedes-Benz Collegiate Championship in Knoxville, Tenn. will still be one of Notre Dame's toughest tests of the year.

ND Women's Tennis: Irish split squad to start fall play

The Irish end their long summer layoff today at the Wolverine Invitational in Ann Arbor, Mich., and the Ball State Fall Invitational in Muncie, Ind.

Men's Soccer: Irish prepare for first match as top team

After earning the top spot in the Soccer America poll and toppling Michigan, 3-0, on Tuesday, the No. 1 Irish get back to work in the ACC on Saturday when they square off with conference rival Boston College in Newton, Mass.

ND Cross Country: Notre Dame competes in Catholic Champs

ND Women's Soccer: Irish beat Orange on late goal

After 89 minutes of scoreless soccer on Thursday, No. 4 Notre Dame seemed fated for overtime and a possible crushing defeat against Syracuse. Then, with just three seconds left in the game, junior defense Sammy Scofield's header in the box sneaked past the Orange (4-5, 0-3 ACC) defense and gave the Irish (7-1, 3-0 ACC) a thrilling 1-0 victory.

Women's Interhall: Chaos and Purple Weasels to face off Sunday

Men's Interhall: Carroll-Fisher rivalry kicks off interhall season

Men's Soccer: Irish rebuff Michigan

Staff Predictions: Michigan State vs. Notre Dame

By ANDREW GASTELUM Editor-in-Chief

ND Women's Soccer: Irish take on Orange

No. 4 Notre Dame will look to secure its first home win in the ACC when Syracuse visits Alumni Stadium this Thursday.

Head-to-Head: Michigan State vs. Notre Dame

SPARTANS PASSING Michigan State sophomore Connor Cook has thrown for 276 yards this year, 202 of which came last week against Youngstown State. He also threw four touchdowns against the Penguins in a blowout victory.  As a whole, the Spartans have accumulated only 480 yards passing through the air in three games, when three different players have seen time under center.  Senior Andrew Maxwell is 15-for-30 for 114 yards in two appearances and one start, while redshirt freshman Tyler O'Connor has entered two games, as well. The Irish have looked anything but impenetrable on the backline thus far, but Michigan State hasn't proven it is anything to fear through the air, either. Spartans sophomore Aaron Burbridge earned recognition on the Biletnikoff Award Preseason Watch List and has 80 yards on eight catches this season. Sophomore Macgarrett Kings, Jr., leads Michigan State with 99 yards and one touchdown on eight grabs in 2013. Notre Dame has the edge in talent, and if the Irish secondary can tighten things up, it could be very difficult for Michigan State. Irish senior tri-captain cornerback Bennett Jackson's pick-six in the Purdue game could serve as a wake-up-call for the rest of his unit. While far from a sure thing, the talent and experience on the Irish back end give Notre Dame a ceiling well above anything Michigan State could reasonably expect to reach in week four.      EDGE: NOTRE DAME SPARTANS RUSHING   Junior running backs Jeremy Langford and Nick Hill lead the more accomplished dimension of Michigan State's offense. The Spartans have rushed for 209.7 yards-per-game this year. On 44 attempts, the 6-foot-2, 206-pound Langford has 200 yards on the season and has scored four touchdowns, while the smaller Hill has added 179 yards and one score on 7.2 yards-per-attempt. Redshirt freshman running back Riley Bullough adds a power dimension to the Spartan running game. The 230-pounder has 82 yards on 21 carries in 2013.      Although Notre Dame's defense has struggled mightily in comparison with last year's unit, the Irish still rank 26th in the nation in rush defense. Notre Dame has only surrendered 112.7 yards-per-game, although last week's dominant effort against the Boilermakers, in which the Irish held Purdue to only 38 rushing yards, stands in stark contrast to the games against Temple and Michigan, who accumulated 134 and 166 yards rushing, respectively. If Notre Dame can approximate its performance from last week, it should be more than enough.      EDGE: EVEN SPARTANS OFFENSIVE COACHING   Recently-hired co-offensive coordinator Jim Bollman brings 36 years of experience, including 11 seasons as the offensive coordinator at Ohio State (2001-2011). Bollman will split the offensive coordinator duties with Dave Warner, who has served as the quarterbacks coach for the Spartans during the past six seasons. Bollman, Warner and the rest of the decision-makers at Michigan State have presided over a quarterback situation in flux, although Cook presumably secured the job for the time being by throwing four touchdowns last week. Field-goal formations might make Irish fans flinch as long as Dantonio still roams the sideline, and Notre Dame is still figuring things out on defense, but Diaco gets the edge here.      EDGE: NOTRE DAME SPARTANS SPECIAL TEAMS   Senior kicker Kevin Muma handles both the kickoff and placekicking duties for Michigan State, and he has handled them well this season. Spartans Junior punter Mike Sadler has sent his punts 41.2 yards on average. The Spartans' punt returners have averaged 9.6 yards-per-return, most of which has come from sophomore receiver Andre Sims, Jr.                   EDGE: MICHIGAN STATE   SPARTANS SCHEDULE (3-0) Aug. 30    Western Michigan     W     26-13 Sept. 7       South Florida                    W     21-6 Sept. 14    Youngstown State    W 55-17                 Sept 21    @ Notre Dame               Oct. 5     @ Iowa                  Oct. 12    Indiana             Oct. 19    Purdue         Oct. 26    @ Illinois         Nov. 2    Michigan     Nov. 16    @ Nebraska Nov. 23    @ Northwestern Nov. 30    Minnesota  

SMC Soccer: Rosenbaum notches shutout in draw

Might as well call Saint Mary's junior goalkeeper ChanlerRosenbaum"Stonewall."

Football: Five's a crowd

Irish secondary aims to rebound vs. MSU

Last year, Notre Dame relied on three first-time starters in the secondary to anchor a defense that allowed less than 13 points per game. This year, the No. 22 Irish returned all of those first-time starters in the secondary. The back end of the defense was supposed to be the rock of the unit that allowed defensive coordinator Bob Diaco to throw exotic blitzes at offenses. But three games into the season, the Notre Dame secondary has allowed quarterbacks Connor Reilly (Temple), Devin Gardner (Michigan) and Rob Henry (Purdue) to average 260 yards per game in the air. "I think the first three games, we haven't executed to the best of our ability," sophomore cornerback KeiVarae Russell said. "That's the biggest thing this week, is to focus on executing. When a play comes your way, just make a play." This season, the Irish (2-1) have allowed seven passing touchdowns after surrendering just 11 scores in all of 2012. All three Purdue touchdowns against the Irish were catch-and-runs, with Notre Dame missing tackles and allowing the Boilermakers to hit pay dirt. "We'll be in great position and something just wouldn't happen," Russell said. "At the end of the day, it's a 50-50 chance. You either do or you don't. Lately, we haven't been making plays we should be making." The Irish also allowed Michigan receiver Jeremy Gallon to spin away from would-be tacklers and sprint in for a 61-yard touchdown. "You're going to have plays where you blow a coverage or miss a tackle or something like that," Russell said. "That's what's going to happen, it's football. Secondary is probably the hardest position to play, other than quarterback, on the field ... You just have to learn to get better from your mistakes." Diaco and Irish coach Brian Kelly have been dialing up more and more blitzes this season, but in doing so have put the secondary in a perilous situation. "Obviously if you bring more pressure, you're giving up some zones," Kelly said. "So you either have to play some three under, three deep, which vacates some zones and you'd better get there or you have to play simply some more man coverage; and within that man coverage there's a lot more technique that goes in, because it's not simply you line up wide. It's bunched formations; it's picks; it's fighting through all those complexities of playing man-to-man coverage. "I guess what I was saying is that I still think we are not where we want to be defensively in terms of what that structure is going to be yet." Last week, for the second straight game, Notre Dame cashed in on an interception to score a touchdown. After junior defensive end Stephon Tuitt scored against Michigan, senior Bennett Jackson took one to the house against the Boilermakers. Jackson said he hasn't used the pick-six to give himself a confidence boost. "It didn't really play too much of an effect on me," Jackson said. "I was just happy I could contribute to the team and put points up on the board. It definitely made me feel better about myself that I was able to go out there and perform and do something for the team." Michigan State (3-0) comes into Notre Dame Stadium with sophomore quarterback Connor Cook at the helm. On the year, he's passed for 276 yards and four touchdowns while only attempting 49 passes. Contact Matthew DeFranks at mdefrank@nd.edu

Former Irish soccer player Brittany Bock playing at highest level

Like many young girls with aspirations of playing college soccer, Brittany Bock's dream was to attend North Carolina and suit up for the powerhouse Tar Heels program.

Physical rivalry to be won by 'last man standing'

After a miniature two-game road trip, the No. 22 Irish will return to Notre Dame Stadium this weekend to face an elite defense, a quarterback coming into his own and one of their peskiest rivals when they host Michigan State on Saturday. The Spartans (3-0) will be the third consecutive Big Ten opponent Notre Dame (2-1) has faced, with the Irish splitting contests at Michigan and Purdue over the past two weeks. Michigan State and Notre Dame have played historically tight games over the last 15 or so years, and Irish coach Brian Kelly's introduction to the rivalry three years ago was certainly one of them. Down three points in overtime, Spartans coach Mark Dantonio lined his players up for a game-tying field goal, only to fake it and claim a 34-31 victory. The Irish took back the Megaphone Trophy the next year with a dominant 31-13 win and held on to it last season by going into Spartan Stadium and shutting down the home team in a 20-3 slugfest. Kelly said he and his players know to expect a battle from the Spartans this weekend, especially with the history between the teams. "Dantonio's teams ... are physical and certainly well-prepared in all phases of the game," Kelly said. "It's the Michigan State teams that we've come to know and respect, and again, it's going to be one of those typical Big Ten games where [the] last man standing through four quarters comes out victorious." This Michigan State squad is especially daunting, as it enters this week boasting the nation's best defense. Through three games, that unit has given up 12 points per game and limited opponents to 177 yards per game - the best mark of any team in the country. Though those records come from games against Western Michigan, South Florida, and Youngstown State, Kelly sees a formidable challenge in the Spartan defense. "Number of returning players on defense ... outstanding defensive schemes. They make it very difficult to run the football," Kelly said. "You have to find ways to manufacture runs. You've got to be able to protect your quarterback. Again, you've got to play tough, physical football for four quarters. You've got to take care of the football. All of the little things matter in matchups like this." And while the Irish are aware of the Spartans' ability on that side of the ball, Irish senior quarterback Tommy Rees said Notre Dame is ensuring it stays more focused on its gameplan than on its opponent's gaudy statistics. "Obviously you're cognizant of the success they've had, but for us it's all about what we're doing on offense," he said Wednesday. "It's about our execution, and our understanding of our gameplan. We can't focus too much on what they're ranked, we've just got to get their schemes down and understand what they're trying to do." While Michigan State brings depth and experience on defense, a relatively new face runs the offense. The Spartans were unable to settle on a quarterback through their first two games but had a leader surface when sophomore Connor Cook emerged with a four-touchdown game last week. Cook saw limited time off the bench last season but is still largely an unknown entity. One thing the Irish do know is that Cook is averaging nearly five yards per carry this year and should be another dual-threat presence they'll need to contain. "We've faced a lot of mobility back there so that's something we'll be prepared for. I think we'll be ready for [Cook]," senior safety Austin Collinsworth said. "But it definitely changes the game. You've got to stay on your guy in scrambling situations, because if you relax for a second, it's a big play waiting to happen." The Spartans have impressed in three wins so far, but Saturday's trip to Notre Dame will be their first big test of the season. Dantonio - an Ohio native - appreciates the regional rivalry every time these teams square off. "I think it's one of those games you take stock of," Dantonio said. "It is a game for a guy who grew up in the Midwest. Notre Dame. You grew up with a lot of traditions that were involved before you got here. So just very humbled to be part of the process and part of the tradition. "I want our guys to have fun down there. I want us to compete." Contact Jack Hefferon at wheffero@nd.edu

Terrail Lambert reflects on Michigan State game, discusses life after football

"I sprint swiftly, with outstretched hands and closed eyes, making a wish as it falls in my hands' cradle."

SMC Tennis: Juniors lead Belles to victory over St. Francis

Recruiting: Tranquill lone visitor as Irish enter 'dead' period

There may be only one 2014 prospect taking an official visit to Notre Dame this weekend, but the Irish still have a strong chance of garnering their 17th commitment from the senior class.