After a week leading up to Michigan where there are a slew of Wolverine blogs to peruse for information, Michigan State week is always a downer.  I'm not going to call out any particular sites, but when you start cruising the Spartan blogosphere, the results are rather thin, and usually filled with typos and sub par grammar to boot.  Still, there is plenty of information to glean about a Michigan State team that won last year's match-up in South Bend 31-14.

The biggest problem is obviously going to be stopping Javon Ringer, the same gentleman who has racked up over four hundred yards and seven touchdowns in the last two weeks.  He is thankfully without the thunder to his lightning, Jehuu Caulcrick, but the senior tailback is more than capable of giving an undersized, under-experienced and relatively youthful Irish defensive line fits.  The one thing that should give Irish fans hope in regards to stopping him is that California held him to 81 yards on 27 carries in the season opener, and while that made the Golden Bears look good at the time, new evidence (getting shellacked by Maryland) has arisen that makes it appear Jeff Tedford's team might not be that good.

Hopefully we don't see this too much.

Joining Ringer in the backfield is senior quarterback Brian Hoyer, who I think it would benefit the Irish to push the pressure on.  While Hoyer tossed four touchdown passes against in South Bend last year, those were set up by the running game on a day where he went 11 of 24.  Dating back to the Spartan bowl loss to Boston College last December, Hoyer has thrown six interceptions to only three touchdown passes, a ratio inverse to what you'd normally like to see from a quarterback, especially one who's had over a season of experience under his belt.  While I called for the Tenuta to lash himself to the mast and avoid the temptation of blitzing last week, I'd welcome him to cram everyone into the box and send the house - via blitzes, stunts or the usage of sledge hammers - in cutting Ringer down behind the line and forcing Mark Dantonio's offense into third and longs.  After San Diego State's dink and dunk attack and Michigan's spread, this will be the first normalish offense the Irish defense goes against this season, and I'm interested in seeing how that change coupled with two games of experience in Tenuta's schemes affect the sack total at the end of the game.

If the Irish are to load up the box, Hoyer will need someone to throw to.  While top targets Devin Thomas and Kellen Davis moved on after last season, sophomore Mark Dell has stepped up in a huge way, hauling in 13 catches for 320 yards (nearly twenty-five yards a grab!) and effectively balancing out the Spartan offense at this point in the season.  Those numbers are particularly shiny when you consider monsoon-like conditions relegated the Michigan State attack to only fifteen passing attempts last weekend against Florida Atlantic, leaving Dell with only one grab for forty-seven yards.  Hoyer was only 5-of-15 for 88 yards and a pick, but again, weather was a huge factor, as Owls quarterback Rusty Smith - he of the 58.7% completion percentage in 2007 - completed just 8 of his 34 tosses.

On defense, the Spartans faced one quality attack in normal weather and gave up gobs of points at Berkeley to start the season.  Some of their problems stem from the losses of Ervin Baldwin and Jonal Saint-Dic on the defensive line, who combined for 18.5 sacks and well over a hundred tackles last year.  After Tedford pulled a typically horrendous Nate Longshore from the game, Kevin Riley cruised to a 17-of-24, 202 yard, two touchdown evening, his attack balanced by not one but two hundred yard rushers.  The unit has been solid under Dantonio, but there's nothing in the secondary that makes me think the Irish couldn't have some success going back to the max-protect, chucking it deep strategy.

via www.bluegraysky.com

While some critics will point to Clausen's modest passing numbers to demean the overall effectiveness of the Irish aerial attack, I think it's important to note that the Irish really only aired it out on five drives so far this season, scoring touchdowns on all of them.  The last two touchdown drives against San Diego State and the first three scores against Michigan.  They were considerably more conservative in the early goings of the season opener and the second half of Saturday's torrential downpour, meaning that if Weis unleashes Clausen from the get-go, this could be Jimmy's first big game where the focus of the offense was consistently around him.  The other benefit to trying for some deep scores early is that if the Irish can somehow build an early lead, they might be able to cause some panic in the Spartans that would lead to the abandoning of the running game, which would be a huge benefit to the Irish.  Dantonio is a considerably better coach than John L. Smith - who abandoned the running game even when up by several touchdowns  - but I'd rather try and play from ahead against a great rushing attack than behind.

After two solid performances at home against middling competition, this is a big step for a relatively young Irish team: a road game against an opponent that appears on paper to be well ahead of Notre Dame's first two conquests.  I think the visiting Irish catch a break with this game not being at night, and when you consider the fluky propensity in this series of the road team winning, it makes you ponder if that line, which has ballooned towards double digits, may be getting a little high.  Any sort of victory will revolve around stopping Ringer and a Spartan rushing attack that has gouged the Irish over the last few years, and I'm not sure the Irish have the beef up front to slow him.  I would advocate just cramming the box and putting the pressure on the Notre Dame secondary, a unit whose depth and talent impress me more and more every time I think about them.  Michigan State has a clear advantage when its their rushing attack against the Notre Dame front four, but when it becomes Hoyer against David Bruton and Kyle McCarthy and their merry bunch of corners, I would say the pendulum swings completely to the other side. 

The biggest match up in this game will be Clausen, Tate, Floyd, Grimes and everyone else against the Michigan State secondary, because if the Irish can explode like it appears to have the ability to do, the pressure being firmly put on Hoyer is a great benefit.  If Otis Wiley and the gang can pick Clausen off a few times and throw Weis' offense out of whack, things could get ugly, especially if the offensive line can't continue their level of play in regards to pass protection.  

I was mildly optimistic going into the Michigan game, and despite my general attitude towards Irish football of "Don't get your hopes up," I'm not feeling very gloomy about the trip to East Lansing, either.  Expectations are rather low, because as long as the Irish don't embarrass themselves, not many people are giving them a chance at victory here.  I wouldn't be surprised if they stumbled their way to 3-0, but the final score isn't as important as the team continuing to make strides in the right direction. 

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New SBN Big Ten blog The Rivalry, Esq., alerted me to a really interesting piece they have up going into the Michigan State game defending Charlie Weis.  Their whole site is really well written and I recommend swinging by there if you need a Big Integer fix.