I went back and forth on how I wanted to write about Saturday's game. We were at our lovely friends Renee and Derek's wedding in South Bend, so I got to see the entirety of the first half and only a few brief seconds of the second half, including the final minute. The rest of the second half was followed via ESPN mobile on our Blackberries and constant text updates from a few great friends to others at our table. I've briefly read about the game, saw theSportsCenter highlight package later that night in the hotel bar (which spun me into a mini-depression, as the full weight of what happened hit me) and read bits and pieces. I considered re-watching the second half, but then went with the more pleasant alternative and subjected myself to some waterboarding.

That preview is a nice way of saying that I sort of know what I'm talking about in regards to the game, but not really. From what I say, Clausen started the game off quite poorly and helped the Irish into a deficit, then caught fire and led the offense to a halftime lead. Two bad breaks - Darrin Walls falling down on a third down pass to Junior Hemingway and the kickoff return - led to Michigan's first half touchdowns, and for a team that dominated statistically, Notre Dame didn't have nearly enough of a lead.

It appears in the third quarter the offense stalled out again while Tate Forcier showed he's father along than most of us thought, then the final frame was dominated by gutty plays from so many Irish before the heart-breaking final results. Armando Allen was a beast, Michael Floyd might be entering into Calvin/Larry territory and Kyle McCarthy did what senior safeties are supposed to do late in games. Along the way there were at least two horrific calls that I saw (overturning Armando's first touchdown, which had been called a touchdown on the field, and the holding call on Sam Young on Rudolph's long reception when our polar bear was pancaking someone, not holding them), and I've heard that there were a few more along the way.

One of the main points of contentions was Weis not running the clock out late in the fourth, but I'm okay with his decision to pass. With your top running back out and college rules (two minutes is an eternity to drive for a field goal, even with no timeouts), I understand going to the air in an attempt to win the game. My roommate pointed out to me that passing was not the problem, but the types of passes. This is understandable, and its unfortunate Weis didn't just look for a quick hitter to Rudolph or something. But again, I didn't see this, and on top of Allen being out, the best player on the Irish team - Floyd - was also not in the game due to an injury. When you follow all of that up with a shanked punt, it seems like a series of unfortunate events slowly unraveling to torture the Irish faithful.

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Perhaps the only team that suffered a worse loss on Saturday was Michigan State. After struggling to move the ball on Central Michigan all day, the Spartans took a 27-20 lead (yay!), then gave up a touchdown to LEFERVOUR (boo), then forced a poor pass on an attempted go-ahead two-point conversion (yay!), then saw a perfect onsides kick fall into Chippewa hands (boo), then saw the Central Michigan kicker miss the game-winning field goal (yay!), only to make it on the second try awarded by a Michigan State offsides (boo).

So we have two old foes fighting for the right to avoid falling to 1-2. The Irish haven't defeated the Spartans at home in this decade/century/millenium, so this is a giant demon to exorcise.  The Michigan State offense will be the first non-spread version the Irish face this season after Nevada and Michigan, so I'll be interested to see if the Tenuta blitzes   have more effect on a less mobile target.  On the other side of the ball, of course, are questions about Charlie Weis.  As injuries continue to nick up the backfield and there's some heat on him after some intriguing play calls in the Big House, it'll be interesting to see how the team comes out against a Michigan State defense led by all-world linebacker Greg Jones.

Desperation is an understatement for the overall theme of this weekend for both sides.  Neither team can afford the fall to 1-2, but since the Irish are at home and with a coach tumbling back towards the hot seat, it would behoove them to pick up this W and keep the home crowd happy.