Michigan State sophomore quarterback Kirk Cousins played as fine a game as a coach could ask for on Saturday. He completed 23 of 35 passes for 302 yards and thanks to his 17-yard touchdown pass to Blair White with nine and a half minutes remaining in the game, he gave the Spartans an opportunity to once again beat Notre Dame in South Bend for the seventh consecutive time.

But in the span of two plays, Cousins went from potential hero to unfortunate goat. With his team trailing 33-30 with less than two minutes remaining, Cousins and the MSU offense faced a 1st and 10 at Notre Dame’s 18-yard line. On first down, freshman running back Larry Caper got free in the Irish secondary and was alone (seriously, there wasn’t an Irish defender within seven area codes of him) in the end zone, but Cousins lofted the ball too far and it fell incomplete.

On second down, Cousins was flushed from the pocket and he threw a desperation pass over the middle that was intercepted by Kyle McCarthy at the ND 4-yard line. All Sparty needed was a field goal to tie the game but the Irish snatched victory out of the jaws of defeat, hanging on to a 33-30 win.

Not to take anything away from Notre Dame, because Charlie Weis’s offense was great again on Saturday. But if Cousins doesn’t airmail the pass to Caper and the Irish wound up losing, I don’t see how Weis retains his job at the end of the year. I know that MSU has given ND fits at South Bend for over a decade, but this was the same Spartans team that was defeated last week on their home turf by Central Michigan. It would have been hard for Weis to justify losing to Michigan and Michigan State in back to back weeks.

But nevertheless, Weis and the Irish live to see another day. Notre Dame has to do something about its defense though, because Jimmy Clausen (22 of 31, 300 yards, 2 TDs), Golden Tate (7 rec., 127 yards, 1 TD, 1 airborne dive into the MSU band) and the rest of the Irish offense is too good to waste on poor defensive efforts.

Like every other college football game on this weekend’s schedule, the Notre Dame-Michigan contest will take a back seat to the USC-Ohio State battle on Saturday night. But after convincing wins over Nevada and Western Michigan, respectively, some fans want to know whether or not the Irish and Wolverines are getting back to their winning ways.

Scout.com’s Richard Cirminiello answers the very question:

Hey, I was as impressed as anyone with the Wolverines’ opening day performance, but back? Not quite. As long as the two quarterbacks, Tate Forcier and Denard Robinson, are true freshmen, the program is going to be vulnerable to some un-Michigan-like performances, especially when the schedule toughens and the team ventures outside the campus. That said, it’s clear that Rich Rodriguez has his kids in a far better position to compete for a postseason game than he did in his debut season. And that’s still a reason to celebrate around Ann Arbor after last year’s implosion.

Notre Dame is closer to being back than Michigan, largely because the coaching staff has been in place for longer and the quarterback is on the brink of a Brady Quinn-like ascent. I’m not interested that Jimmy Clausen’s last two monster games were against WAC defenses. The strikes he’s thrown would beat Big Ten defenses as well. Just go back and check the film. He’s always had the talent, but his confidence took a beating in 2007 and 2008. That’s no longer a problem. A third year with Charlie Weis and a dynamite ensemble of receivers could be just what the junior needs to get on the tarmac. Plus, if the effort from the young Irish defense in Saturday’s shutout of Nevada is a harbinger of things to come, the program has the potential to win double-digit games and bowl in January.

I couldn’t agree more. While it was encouraging that they didn’t allow another MAC opponent to beat them on their home turf last Saturday, Michigan is still going to experience plenty of rocky moments this year. It’s just something a team deals with when its starting two freshmen under center. The Wolverines will be better, but as Cirminiello points out, they’re still going to have their bad moments this season.

The key for Notre Dame this year is whether or not they can employ a consistent running game. With Clausen and Golden Tate, the passing game is going to be pretty good. But the offensive line has to make room for ND’s backs to have success or else Charlie Weis’ offense is going to be one-dimensional and even though the Irish defense is solid, it can win games on its own.