Pat Fitzgerald Has a Blunt Message After Michigan State’s First Loss

Michigan State is getting ready to turn the page after its first loss of the season.

The Spartans fell 27-10 to No. 3 Notre Dame Saturday night in South Bend, dropping MSU to 2-1 under new head coach Pat Fitzgerald.

Michigan State Hangs Around Before Halftime

Michigan State actually kept things pretty close for most of the first half.

Notre Dame jumped out to a 10-0 lead before the Spartans finally got on the board with a 32-yard field goal from Liam Boyd. Later in the second quarter, quarterback Alessio Milivojevic connected with Rodney Bullard Jr. for a 53-yard gain, helping set up a 15-yard touchdown run from Cam Fancher.

That cut Notre Dame's lead to 17-10 heading into halftime.

Notre Dame Pulls Away in the Second Half

Unfortunately for Michigan State, that would be the last time the Spartans scored.

Notre Dame controlled much of the second half, adding a field goal in the third quarter before quarterback CJ Carr scored on a three-yard touchdown run in the fourth to put the game away.

Milivojevic finished the night 9-of-17 passing for 123 yards and two interceptions. Senior linebacker Jordan Hall led Michigan State defensively with 13 tackles.

Pat Fitzgerald Rejects a Moral Victory

While Michigan State kept the game competitive into the second half, Fitzgerald noted Monday that he is not interested in treating that as some kind of moral victory.

He called the "good job, you played hard" mentality "rat poison," saying the Spartans went to South Bend expecting to win.

Michigan State Turns Its Focus to the Next Game

Fitzgerald said the film showed too many individual breakdowns in blocking, tackling, coverage and special teams. He also pointed to consistency as one of the biggest things Michigan State still needs to improve.

"We're a work in progress, but we're gaining on where we want to be from a consistency standpoint," Fitzgerald said.

The team has to move on pretty quickly from the loss and focus on the next game.