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Brian Kelly knows his team needed a little Irish luck to beat Michigan State earlier this season.

(AP Photo)

EAST LANSING - Since Auburn's miracle play this past Saturday tacked a loss onto the previously undefeated record of Alabama, the nation has been debating the merits of one-loss teams.

Michigan State (11-1, 8-0) may not be at the center of those conversations, but its resume fits the bill. In fact, if you ask the only coach in the country to have beaten the Spartans this season, he'll tell you exactly how the Spartans compare to the best.

"We played everybody in the country from the eighth ranked team to 11, 12, 22, 23. We played a lot of good football teams," Notre Dame head coach Brian Kelly said in an interview with Dan Patrick Tuesday morning. "There's not a better defense in the country that we've played and I think Stanford's pretty good too."

Kelly's Irish - whose schedule has included Oklahoma, Arizona State, USC, BYU and Stanford - beat Michigan State 17-13 early in the season in a game full of controversy.

The controversy lies in the fact that the Spartans were flagged five times for pass interference and half of Notre Dame's first downs came via penalties. Michigan State coaches have taken the no-comment approach on the matter since.

But controversy or not, Kelly is still the only coach to beat Michigan State, so his blueprint has street cred. And Tuesday he was asked point-blank: If Urban Meyer called, and he says, 'Hey, what can we exploit?' What would you tell him?

"There's apparently no weaknesses in our estimation as you attack them," Kelly replied. "You try to get big-chunk plays. You try to push the ball down the field because you cannot win a battle at the line of scrimmage. They're just not going to give up enough for you to win playing that kind of game. They're just too good up front. They commit so much to the front in terms of safety support. You got to try and get the ball outside and do the best you can and try to get big chunk plays."

Michigan State kicks off against No. 2 Ohio State in the Big Ten championship game at 8 p.m. on Saturday in Indianapolis.

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