3 Things To Take Away From Notre Dame’s 36-28 Loss To Michigan State

The Notre Dame Fighting Irish seem perpetually snake-bitten. Untimely penalties, untimely no calls, injuries, bad bounces- you name it and they have it. In fact, they probably deal with more of it than most schools in the country.

It also has to deal with itself and the many, many times that they shoot their own feet. The Irish are now 1-2, and the truth is that it could get much worse before the season ends.

Here are three things we know after losing to the Michigan State Spartans...

There is no pass rush this season, and we may never see one.

Seriously. How can we be in the third week of the season and Notre Dame still has a big fat ZERO in the sack column. The Fighting Irish are one of the only teams in the country to achieve this dubious feat thus far in 2016. NOTRE DAME HAS NO PASS RUSH.

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Despite super-villian Brian VanGorder’s “pressure defense,” not only has Notre Dame not recorded a sack, they have lacked putting any pressure on the opposing quarterback at all. Oh, I’m sure there are a few QB hurries- but it’s minimal at best, and looks pathetic.

WE EVEN HAD A GAME AGAINST NEVADA.

Remember Mike Valenti’s chokes on applesauce rant (now , took down by YouTube after a sweet decade long run)? His thoughts on the Michigan State defensive coordinator, are pretty much my thoughts on BVG.

There will be no playoffs and Santa Claus isn’t real either Virginia.

Three games in- and we already know that Notre Dame (preseason ranked #11) will not be in the playoffs come season’s end. By my estimation, Notre Dame could win out, and would get no higher than #7. I used a very specific scientific method for figuring this out, so don’t ask- you won’t understand.

The thing is... what do we as fans do now? There are 9 games left in the season, and unless you are one of those insufferable assholes that said you “are done” or that you “won’t watch another game this season,” we have another 9 games to live through. That’s 9 more BVG gameplans and a whole lot of missed tackles with ZERO quarterback pressure.

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If Notre Dame can somehow beat both USC and Stanford and finish 9-3 for the season- are you, in some way, somewhat pleased? What if Notre Dame SOMEHOW goes 10-2 or 9-3 and ends up in a New Year’s Six bowl AND ACTUALLY WINS? Does that do anything for you? Am I grasping at straws? WHY IS GOD SO CRUEL?

The offensive line was completely overrated before the season started.

When Pro Football Focus named the Notre Dame offensive line as the best in the country, it surprised many of us- but only slightly, and that’s why we are as guilty as they are. Notre Dame had to replace 3 starters from last years line and 2 of those guys are starting in the NFL this season, while the third would have been starting for Notre Dame this season if he wasn’t so damn smart.

HOW DOES THIS MAKE THE LINE BETTER?

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We loved McGlinchey, and honestly, we thought it would all just work. It’s not that they are a bad line- far from it. But, this is not the best line in college football and it’s not even close. They fail to get that push you see from powerful lines, and there seems to be a lot more pressure on Kizer than last year.

We’re so dumb. We deserve to eat mud cakes and bowls of rocks.