Pat Fitzgerald Wants Notre Dame Rivalry Back Every Year

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Michigan State head coach Pat Fitzgerald said Monday that he wants the Megaphone Trophy rivalry with Notre Dame back on the schedule every season, not once every nine years.

“Obviously this is a storied rivalry and one that in the future I wish we could do yearly,” Fitzgerald said. “Scheduling is a pain in the neck for everybody, but it’s always great to have your rivalry games on the schedule.”

Nine Years Without The Megaphone

Saturday is the 80th meeting in a series that dates to 1897, and the first since 2017. The teams played nearly every year from 1948 to 2013 before the matchup got pushed to the back burner. This week is the first half of a two-game series, with the return trip to Spartan Stadium next season. Kickoff at Notre Dame Stadium is 7:30 p.m. Saturday on NBC, and the Irish are favored by 29.5 points.

“Not to play this game every year, it just stinks, I think for both fanbases and both teams because it’s one of the great storied traditions and rivalries in college football,” Fitzgerald said.

Spartans Not Content Despite A Win

Fitzgerald said quarterback Alessio Milivojevic was still hard on himself even after a solid game in Saturday’s 35-7 win over Eastern Michigan. Milivojevic went 12 of 20 for 170 yards with two touchdowns and no interceptions, and still wasn’t content with his afternoon.

“He’s (Milivojevic) a young quarterback, and I think if he were to be up here, he’d tell you he thought he could have played better, you know, and to me that’s really encouraging,” Fitzgerald said.

The kicking game got no such credit. Fitzgerald said the unit is nowhere near where it needs to be, and that he and special teams coordinator LeVar Woods are still merging two established mindsets they each built at previous stops.

“I don’t think we’re anywhere close to where we can be in the kick game,” Fitzgerald said. “I think we’ve got a ton of work to do there.”

Last week, Fitzgerald was also hard on the kicking team as he thought they didn’t play hard enough against Toledo. He still wants more from them physically, even if their stats and performance against their two MAC opponents have seemed fine.

Pat Fitzgerald Focused On His Own Team

Fitzgerald was high on the energy he saw at Monday’s practice, which the offense closed out by scoring on fourth down.

“The energy level was off; it was incredible. I think back to our first practice of spring ball, our first winter workout compared to like today, our first week, our first day in a big week of prep. To see the energy level of the guys, you know, we just gotta keep climbing a mountain,” Fitzgerald said.

Notre Dame is the first ranked opponent the Spartans will face in the Fitzgerald era. The Irish sit No. 3 in the AP Top 25 and carry one of the shortest national championship prices at FanDuel, so even making the game close will be an uphill battle for MSU.

Instead of focusing on what Notre Dame does, Fitzgerald is focusing on his own team. He can’t change how Notre Dame functions, but he can make sure MSU is as ready as he can make them. He has drilled fundamentals and minimized mental mistakes with his team since week one.

“It doesn’t matter who we play. If it’s Eastern Michigan last week or Notre Dame, we expect they’re going to be well prepared, we expect they’re going to play well, we’re going to expect they’re going to be very talented,” Fitzgerald said. “All that matters is how we go about what we do and how we do it. It’s always going to be about us, and that will always be our focus.”

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