Everything Pat Fitzgerald said after Michigan State lost to Notre Dame
- Fitzgerald said Michigan State had not practiced the look Notre Dame used on the first of two early-fourth-quarter sacks. He also cited lost one-on-one pass-protection matchups and said coaches would review protections, calls, fundamentals and whether they had put players in unsuitable matchups. He did not announce an offensive-line change.
- Fitzgerald said Michigan State sometimes gave receivers free releases while playing press because defenders failed to use their hands, contrary to Hank Poteat's technique. He also wanted downfield holding and pass-interference penalties eliminated after a flag wiped out a takeaway. This was an execution critique, not an announced new coverage scheme.
- Fitzgerald said Alessio Milivojevic and Nick Sheridan worked through missed opportunities together on the sideline. With Notre Dame expecting passes late, quicker releases could have relieved some pressure. He framed those decisions as quarterback development and thought Milivojevic handled the road test well, not as a quarterback change.
- After Notre Dame, Fitzgerald said Brady Pretzlaff was out and could not finish. Cam Edwards was not on the injury report Fitzgerald had received, so the coach thought he should be fine; that was not a confirmed next-game clearance. Fitzgerald praised Jordan Hall's return. He supplied no diagnosis or recovery timetable for Pretzlaff.
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