At Spartan Stadium on Saturday at 8:00 PM on ABC, MSU will host Notre Dame. Last year, the Fighting Irish handily defeated the Spartans in South Bend 31-13. This time, however, it may be a diffferent story.

Little Giants, anyone?

When it comes to things going MSU’s way, it looks like MSU’s defense is incredible, and Notre Dame could only notch 20 points against a Purdue defense. Also, if the QB controversy and Notre Dame’s love affair with running in the past two weeks say anything, it’s that MSU will dominate on defense.

On offense, the key to winning will be the pass game. Le’Veon Bell is going to have defensive linemen and linebackers (cough Manti T’eo cough) stacked up in the box on him, preventing a good ground game. This, however, means an already weak Notre Dame secondary will just be weaker. Andrew Maxwell needs to continue to improve his game and hit all the wide receivers. If he can do that, the Spartans will be set.

Key Players:

Andrew Maxwell: If Maxwell can continue to ameliorate his passing game, the Spartans will kill the Irish through the air.

Bennie Fowler: Fowler needs to continue to be Maxwell’s go-to-guy, because he should be getting open A LOT.

MSU Defensive Line and Linebackers: So far in the 2012 campaign, this aspect of the Spartans have been flawless. (see: 37 rush yards given up against Boise State). They will need to continue to do this, given that the Notre Dame offense and half back Theo Riddick are very run happy, and that will play out well for the Spartan defense.

MSU Offensive Line: Probably the single most important part of tonight’s game. If the guys in the trenches can’t hold back Notre Dame’s big guys, Le’Veon Bell won’t do anything and Andrew Maxwell will make A LOT of mistakes.

Go Green!