One play away

SOUTH BEND, Ind. - Kirk Cousins was in control, spraying the ball around the field to his receivers, blocking out the first hostile screams of his playing career, driving Michigan State right at Touchdown Jesus and a seventh straight win over Notre Dame.

Cousins was asserting himself as MSU's quarterback. He was showing the calm and accuracy of a great quarterback.

And then everyone was reminded that he's a sophomore quarterback.

Facing pressure on a second-and-10 from Notre Dame's 18-yard line with 1:10 to play, Cousins let an ill-advised pass wobble from his right hand and into the arms of Notre Dame safety Kyle McCarthy.

"A major mistake by me," he said.

Notre Dame Stadium erupted in noise, a mix of relief and jubilation from the students and the players and the luminaries, including hoarse-voiced actor Vince Vaughn on Notre Dame's sideline. Cousins hung his head and trudged to the other sideline.

The Spartans lost here Saturday, 33-30, for the first time since 1993. And emotional recovery is the challenge once again for a 1-2 team that showed a lot of backbone but came away with a second straight back-breaking loss.

"The energy level was there," MSU coach Mark Dantonio said. "The intensity was there. The toughness was there. You've got to make a play."

And avoid a bad one. The Spartans were well within range of a tying Brett Swenson field goal, on a drive that traveled 62 yards in less than two minutes - with Cousins completing his first eight passes.

On first down from the 18, Notre Dame (2-1) blitzed and Cousins had freshman running back Larry Caper all alone in the end zone. But the throw and it sailed beyond the end line.

Then came a timeout, another blitz and the interception as Cousins tried to get the ball to B.J. Cunningham. It was a devastating finish to an otherwise terrific day that saw Cousins complete 23 of 35 passes for 302 yards and a touchdown.

The sophomore captain, whose only other road action came in mop-up duty in last season's blowout loss at Penn State, then stood and took all the questions that come with that kind of play in this kind of game.

"It was a good day, but a quarterback is judged by wins and losses and how he plays at crunch time," Cousins said. "And right now I'm 1-2 as a starter and I made a critical error at crunch time. So I've got some things to work on."

Said Dantonio: "We're not getting down the field without Kirk Cousins. ... He'll rise again. He'll rise up."

And Cousins, despite the error, has no place on a lengthy list of MSU concerns at this point. The defense tops it after yielding 437 yards, 304 of them through the air to Jimmy Clausen and a lethal passing attack.

Notre Dame raced to easy touchdowns on its first two possessions before MSU got its footing. A sack of Clausen left his right ankle in pain, and star receiver Michael Floyd injured his clavicle in the second quarter on a diving catch in the end zone that was ruled incomplete.

Still, the Irish (2-1) moved the ball and scored what turned out to be the game-winning touchdown with 5:18 left on a 33-yard Clausen pass to Golden Tate.

"The offense was great. The defense, we've got to step it up," MSU senior defensive end Trevor Anderson said. "(Giving up) 33 points, 29 last week, that's unacceptable."

A secondary that was victimized by Central Michigan quarterback Dan LeFevour in last week's upset loss had more trouble.

And the Cousins play wasn't the only one MSU will regret. Junior cornerback Chris L. Rucker couldn't grasp an interception midway through the fourth quarter with MSU up 30-26.

Clausen and receiver Golden Tate got mixed up on a route and Clausen aired it to Rucker, all alone downfield. He couldn't snare it. The Irish scored five plays later.

"I was screaming in my head when that happened," said Clausen, who finished 22 of 31 for 300 yards and two touchdowns. "Thank goodness he dropped it."

Dantonio said the "play of the game" was when Notre Dame blocked Swenson's extra point with 1:24 left in the third quarter, after a Caper 7-yard touchdown run.

With that point, MSU could have set up for a winning Swenson field goal at the end.

"We had plays. We left plays on the field," Dantonio said. "You can't do that against a good football team."

So the Irish break the MSU streak, get the critics temporarily off coach Charlie Weis' back and avoid a second straight last-second loss.

That's the Spartans' fate instead, and they will try to bounce back - again - next week at Wisconsin.

"Michigan State is Michigan State," Weis said. "They never give up."