NOTRE DAME, Ind. — Hard work and perseverance paid off for the Notre Dame football team Saturday afternoon against No. 15-ranked Michigan State.

Despite an 0-2 start and a heartbreaking last-second loss to rival Michigan the previous Saturday, the Fighting Irish never wavered in their belief in themselves and that all the hard work would eventually reap some rewards.

It was a rewarding day for Notre Dame as it defeated the Spartans 31-13 to the joy and relief of the players, coaches and fans.

For Michigan State, it left the Spartans searching for answers. Michigan State came into the game 2-0 and looking to show a national television audience that it is one of the top teams in the country.

But the Spartans, who normally like to run the football down their opponents’ throats, were unable to do so against a stout Notre Dame defense that forced Michigan State into an uncharacteristic 54 passes.

The Irish defense limited the Spartans to a mere 29 yards rushing, its lowest total against Notre Dame in 24 years and the lowest in a regular season contest since 2008 against Wisconsin when they ran for 25 yards against Wisconsin.

“I think all the basic tenets of good football starts with stopping the run,” Notre Dame coach Brian Kelly said. “And we’ve done a really good job of that. The question was: when we force you to throw, how are we going to play on the back end? And I thought we played very well, mixed the coverages up well, played some new nickel coverages and got really good pressure.”

A week allowing 28 fourth quarter points to the Wolverines and giving up a 17-point lead, Notre Dame led by 18 points heading into the final 15 minutes Saturday.

An apprehensive crowd seemed to be holding its breath as Michigan State tried to rally back into the contest.

With the game still in doubt, the Fighting Irish defense stepped up and delivered.

Robert Blanton’s interception late in the game that he returned 82 yards to set up a David Ruffer field goal with 3:11 to go, sealed the deal for Notre Dame.

“He’s got great instincts,” Kelly said of Blanton. “The ball is in the air, he’s going to get it. I feel confident no matter who goes against him that when the ball is in the air he’s going to make a great play on the ball. And sometimes you try to coach that as much as you can.

“But some guys are just good at it. And he’s really good. And he’s a spirited guy. He’s really, you talk about guys that lead by example, he also leads, he’s probably one of our more emotional leaders back there. So when you need a big play, he seems to be around the ball quite a bit.”

Notre Dame (1-2) got on the scoreboard first and led 14-3 after the first quarter.

Cierre Wood scored on a 22-yard run and George Atkinson III returned a kickoff 89-yards for the other score.

Sandwiched in between was a 40-yard Dan Conroy field goal.

Atkinson’s touchdown return was the first for an Irish freshman since 1988 when Rocket Ismail did it twice against Rice and the first by any Notre Dame player since 2008 when Armando Allen did it in the Hawaii Bowl.

The two defenses seemed to settle in for the remainder of the contest, giving up yards begrudgingly.

Michigan State cut the lead to 14-10 when Kirk Cousins hooked up with Dion Sims for a 6-yard touchdown early in the second quarter.

Notre Dame pushed its lead back up to 11 points when Wood bulled his way into the end zone with 3:36 to play in the half to make it a 21-10 contest.

The Fighting Irish increased their lead to 28-10 when Tommy Rees found T.J. Jones for a 26-yard touchdown.

With just under 11 minutes to play in the contest, Conroy hit a 35-yard field goal to make it 31-13.

From there it was up to the Irish defense, which not only picked off Cousins, but constantly badgered the Spartan quarterback and forced him into bad throws and completely stuffed the MSU rushing attack.

Notre Dame had two sacks, five tackles for loss and 10 quarterback hurries, including six by highly touted freshman Aaron Lynch.

While the effort wasn’t flawless, it was good enough to earn the victory.

Notre Dame allowed the Spartans to roll up 358 yards in total offense, including 329 passes. The Fighting Irish were held to just 275 yards in total offense, well below its season average. Notre Dame also added three turnovers to its already nation-leading total of 10.

“We obviously felt like coming into this ball game we hadn’t lacked any confidence in our ability to win football games,” Kelly said. “‘We just had to find a way to win. And that was the theme this week. By any means, just find a way to win the football game. You’re a good enough football team to beat any team you play. We needed big plays at times of the game. Obviously last week, you know, a lot of the talk was the secondary.

“I think they played outstanding down the stretch. Came up with the big interception. And it’s nice when you’re coaching a team and they’re able to bounce back from adversity as a team, as a unit.”

Rees finished the day 18-of-26 for 161 yards with a touchdown and an interception. Jonas Gray ran for 65 yards on 12 carries and Wood 61 yards on 14 carries. Michael Floyd had six receptions for 84 yards.

Cousins finished the afternoon 34-of-53 for 329 yards with a touchdown and an interception. B.J. Cunningham had 12 of those catches for 158 yards.

Notre Dame is off to Pittsburgh Saturday for the first of two road games. Michigan State returns home to face Central Michigan.

Michigan State 3 7 0 3 – 13

Notre Dame 14 7 7 3 – 31

ND – Cierre Wood 2 run (David Ruffer kick)

MSU – Dan Conroy 40 field goal

ND – George Atkinson III 89 kickoff return

MSU – Dion Sims 6 pass from Kirk Cousins (Conroy kick)

ND – T.J. Jones 26 pass Tommy Rees (Ruffer kick)

MSU – Conroy 35 field goal

ND – Ruffer 33 field goal