SOUTH BEND, Ind. _ The first play of the first quarter, much like the second play of the second quarter, looked promising for Notre Dame.
The third quarter, well, that was mostly a disaster for Notre Dame which, despite a late surge, begrudgingly absorbed a 36-28 defeat courtesy of No. 12 Michigan State on Saturday night at Notre Dame Stadium.
C.J. Sanders' 100-yard touchdown scramble on the opening kickoff was erased from history when Jalen Elliott's hold prompted whistles to scream, flags to fly and many in the sellout crowd to groan.
The second play of the second quarter? That was Devin Studstill's interception at Michigan State's 3-yard line, which occurred courtesy of Daelin Hayes' fingertips. Alas, it also led to no score for the No. 12 Irish.
Proving again that touchdowns aren't always for keeps, Tarean Folston's 3-yard scoring run had to be redone � on a 14-yard run by DeShone Kizer eight seconds later, with 3 minutes, 7 seconds left in the first quarter _ after Durham Smythe was found guilty of an illegal block in the back that cost the Irish 10 yards instead.
But the breakthrough on the 10-play, 91-yard drive, much like Notre Dame's luck and its 7-0 lead, had a short shelf life until Kizer, who threw for a career-best 344 yards, helped the Irish (1-2) scored 21 unanswered spanning the third and fourth.
Fumbles on two consecutive touches in the second quarter _ the first fluky but costly _ spelled more trouble for the Irish, who trailed 15-7 at halftime before the Spartans' 21-point third quarter drew the boos from Notre Dame fans.
With momentum seemingly on the Irish's side, Michigan State began to turn the game on its head after a funny hop on a punt found Miles Boykin's right leg in the second quarter. That snowballed into Michigan State's first score thanks to Donnie Corley's sure hands the very next play.
Corley proved to be no fluke against Cole Luke when he wrestled the ball from the Irish cornerback's hands and energy from the Irish's hearts to complete a 38-yard pass-and-catch with Tyler O'Connor with 9 minutes, 30 seconds left in the first half.
After his legs looked to put Notre Dame ahead on that opening kickoff return that was negated, Sanders' hands failed him when Jon Reschke knocked the ball loose on Sanders' 19-yard catch on the first play of the ensuing drive.
Fumble No. 2 didn't cost Notre Dame a score. The Spartans (2-1) didn't need it to, though, while winning for the 10th time in their last 12 tries against a ranked opponent and holding the Irish to 57 yards rushing.
Michigan State finished the first half and started the second half the way the Irish had appeared to start the game and really did finish the game _ with points.
R.J. Shelton caught a 10-yard touchdown pass from O'Connor with 23 seconds left for an eight-point lead.
The Spartans squeezed their three third-quarter touchdowns into a 3:03 window. Two were scored by Gerald Holmes, including one on a 73-yard run with 3:45 left in the third that inflated the score to 36-7.
Reschke proved to be pesky again on Michigan's State's previous touchdown, which came after Reschke intercepted Kizer at Notre Dame's 39.
But the Irish even had to sweat out a touchdown that counted only after a late third-quarter replay reversed the call on the field and confirmed that Equanimeous St. Brown had cleared the out-of-bounds line by inches with his right foot on a 15-yard pass from Kizer.
