A Flawed Finish for Notre Dame

Notre Dame didn’t lose this one in the last minute. The Irish never got the chance.

Bill Burke connected with Gari Scott on an 80-yard, fourth-quarter touchdown pass as Michigan State beat No. 24 Notre Dame, 23-13, on Saturday, dropping the Irish to their second 1-3 start in the last three seasons.

“It just took the wind out of you right there because you felt like you have some momentum,” Notre Dame Coach Bob Davie said. “You felt like it was going to come down to the last play of the game.”

The Irish lost to Purdue the previous Saturday after being stopped from inside the one-yard line on two straight plays in the final seconds. Two weeks ago, they lost to Michigan when a last-minute drive ended on the 10-yard line as time ran out. And they seemed poised for yet another last-minute finish after beginning the fourth quarter with the score tied, 7-7.

But Burke ended any hope of last-minute heroics.

After Jim Sanson’s field goal tied the score at 13-13 with 5:44 left, Burke took over at the Michigan State 20. He almost handed the game to Notre Dame when his first pass was batted into the air, but Irish linebacker Anthony Denman couldn’t hold onto the ball. Burke passed to Scott two plays later for the winning score.

Scott pulled in the pass near the first-down marker on the left sideline, broke away from free safety Deke Cooper and raced down the sideline as the crowd fell silent.

“They brought a blitz off the slot and Gary ran a corner route,” Burke said. “They kind of forgot about him back there. He got behind the defense, and I saw him right away, put some air under the ball and Gary took care of the rest.”

Burke finished 21 of 37 for 292 yards with two touchdowns and one interception as the Spartans beat the Irish for the third year in a row, their longest winning streak in the series since winning eight straight from 1955-63.