Notre Dame Rushes Past Michigan State : Irish: Runners pound out 433 yards and Mirer throws three touchdown passes in a 49-10 victory.

When Notre Dame wasn’t running over Michigan State, Rick Mirer was passing over the Spartans.

The Fighting Irish rushed for 433 yards, and Mirer passed for three touchdowns in Notre Dame’s 49-10 victory Saturday.

“I don’t think there’s any doubt we just wore them down,” Notre Dame Coach Lou Holtz said.

Notre Dame (2-1) couldn’t cope with Michigan’s running game last week, but the Irish limited Tico Duckett to 72 yard in 17 carries and didn’t allow the Spartans (0-2) to convert any of their 10 third-down plays.

The only breakdown in the Irish defense came when Courtney Hawkins got open behind the secondary and Bret Johnson connected with him on a 48-yard touchdown pass play, pulling Michigan State to within 21-10 late in the second quarter.

However, the Irish broke the game open with 21 points in the third quarter.

Irv Smith caught a two-yard scoring pass from Mirer, and the Irish recovered an onside kick at the Spartan 23. Three plays later, Tony Brooks scored on a nine-yard run to make it 35-10.

Mirer scored on a 12-yard run with 3:50 left in the third quarter, and the Irish again recovered the kickoff and scored on Willie Clark’s one-yard run.

“We came out in the second half and everything happened pretty fast,” said Johnson, the former UCLA quarterback, who completed five of 11 passes for 104 yards and threw two interceptions that killed scoring threats.

Mirer completed 11 of 17 passes for 208 yards. He ran six times for 27 yards.

“I didn’t make mistakes today,” said Mirer, whose only interception proved harmless. “I was finally able to do the little things.”

Reggie Brooks ran two yards for Notre Dame’s first touchdown before Michigan State got a 35-yard field goal from Jim DelVerne.

The Irish took a 21-3 lead on Mirer’s touchdown pass plays of 29 yards to Tony Smith and 55 yards to Derek Brown.

“There was no turning point in the game,” Michigan State Coach George Perles said after the Spartans dropped their fifth game in a row to Notre Dame.