Notre Dame football heads into week 3 of action with a home matchup against the Michigan State Spartans.

The Fighting Irish sit at 2-0 under head coach Marcus Freeman, with all the upside and expectations still attached to this 2026 version. Quarterback CJ Carr and a staunch Notre Dame defense will hope to continue their strong early start against a Michigan State team in its first year under new head coach Pat Fitzgerald.

After doing a deep dive into the Michigan State team over the first couple of days, one thing has become certain when predicting this game: the recipe remains the same for the Spartans to try to win this contest. The score prediction here is Notre Dame 41, Michigan State 17.

Michigan State’s path to staying competitive

The Michigan State offense is led by UConn transfer running back Cam Edwards, who is off to a fast start in 2026 since transferring.

Just like Notre Dame’s first two opponents, Michigan State understands the Fighting Irish are a more talented and deeper team on paper. For the Spartans to stay in this game as early as possible, Edwards and the Michigan State run game, led by a solid offensive line and senior offensive guard Conner Moore, will try to establish physicality and a presence early in this contest.

The hope for Michigan State is that the ground attack keeps the Notre Dame offense off the field and the defense a little bit off schedule. I do anticipate a slightly slower start for the Irish this week compared to a week ago, and I wouldn’t be shocked if Edwards has some early success.

Notre Dame’s defense eventually takes over

Eventually, Notre Dame’s talent gap is going to take over. I expect the defensive tackle position to make a couple key plays, including Francis Brewu with a tackle for loss or a big sack in the first half. Kyngstonn Viliamu-Asa was strong in his return last week against Rice, and I expect another tremendous performance from the star linebacker.

The rushing numbers in the end will not mirror the solid early start for the Spartans. Notre Dame’s front seven has too much depth and too much talent to let Michigan State sustain drives on the ground for four quarters.

Jumpstarting the Notre Dame rushing attack

On the Notre Dame offensive side, you can expect quarterback CJ Carr to create a couple of explosives in the passing game, which happens pretty much every week. The initiative and the goal this week should be to jumpstart this rushing attack for the Notre Dame offense.

There have been a lot of questions about junior running back Aneyas Williams this week after a less than stellar outing against the Rice Owls. When Notre Dame gets on offense, I expect offensive coordinator Mike Denbrock to try to establish Williams, Nolan James Jr., and Jonaz Walton early.

While this will not be the 2025 version of the run game, I do think Notre Dame puts together its best overall day on the ground, rushing for over 200 yards in the contest against Michigan State.

Second half separation and final prediction

That should lead to Notre Dame getting out to a substantial second half lead, letting players like Boubacar Traore, Bryce Young, and Keon Keeley pin their ears back before the backups get some more experience in the fourth quarter.

This won’t be as decisive of a victory as we saw a week ago.

Against a better opponent, I believe Notre Dame comes out with this 41-17 victory feeling good about itself. The run defense has a strong ending to the game, and Notre Dame’s rushing attack provides the jumpstart that becomes the talk of the day.

Final score prediction: Notre Dame 41, Michigan State 17