No. 20 Notre Dame beats No. 10 Michigan State 20-3

The Fighting Irish are off to their best start in 10 years, with the type of marquee victory that's eluded them for almost as long.

Golson threw a touchdown pass and ran for a score in the first half to help the 20th-ranked Fighting Irish dominate the 10th-ranked Spartans 20-3 Saturday night.

The Fighting Irish (3-0) snapped a six-game losing streak against ranked teams and beat a top-10 opponent for the first time in seven years.

"It's a signature win," third-year Notre Dame coach Brian Kelly said.

And Te'o was the signature player.

The senior linebacker had 12 tackles, one for a loss, and broke up two passes, playing just a few days after the deaths of his girlfriend, who had a long battle with leukemia, and his grandmother.

"It was hard," Te'o said of his week. "But I had my family around me. At the end of the day, families are forever."

The last time a top-10 team scored fewer than Michigan State did at home against the Irish was in 1966 when they shut out USC 51-0. Notre Dame had its best showing on defense anywhere against a top-10 opponent since beating Texas A&M 28-3 in 1993.

"It's definitely going to build confidence in the locker room," Kelly said.

The Spartans (2-1) had won 15 straight at home. The streak included a win over the Irish in 2010 on a fake field goal in overtime that preceded coach Mark Dantonio having a heart attack.

Dantonio blamed himself for not having his team ready for a tough test.

"It's everything from everybody and it starts here," he said.

Notre Dame is off to its best start since 2002 when Tyrone Willingham won his first eight games as its coach. The Irish opened 0-2 last year and 1-3 the season before in Kelly's debut before bouncing back to finish with eight wins.

Kelly, though, is not ready to celebrate just yet with No. 17 Michigan (2-1) up next at home.

"We want to rejoice in this, but we also know that we have to come back and we have Michigan next week," Golson said. "That's a big rivalry game also."

Kelly said: "There are a lot of things to work on."

Michigan State had its worst showing on offense at home since losing 20-3 to Central Michigan in 1991.

"Tough day at the office, I guess you'd say," Dantonio said.

Golson was 14 of 32 for 178 yards and a TD, a 36-yard pass to John Goodman. He ran for a 6-yard TD early in the second quarter to give Notre Dame a 14-0 lead.

"He made some big plays for us early which put us in a good position," Kelly said.

Andrew Maxwell was 23 of 45 for 187 yards and Le'Veon Bell had 77 yards rushing on 19 carries for the Spartans.