​SOUTH BEND — We interrupt this regularly-scheduled regular season for No. 3 Notre Dame football (2-0) to bring you a special presentation of what it might be like one day — hopefully far down the college football road — of what it would be like for the Irish to play in the Big Ten. Welcome Back: Dallas Golden shakes off injuries to make 2026 debut for Notre DameMSU-ND 411: Notre Dame football vs. Michigan State | Time, how to watch, oddsFor the second time in the first three weeks, before another chance arrives in Week Four, Notre Dame faces a Big Ten opponent. First, Wisconsin. Now, Michigan State (2-0). Next, Purdue. Another Big Ten opponent also brings the season’s first night game at Notre Dame Stadium. Here are four players who may be worth watching — and staying up late to watch if the weather has any say — as the independent Irish become the Big Ten’s de facto 19th team. But not for long.MICHIGAN STATE SPARTANS (2-0)RB Cam Edwards (0)It’s not nothing that the former Connecticut tailback is the leading rusher in the Big Ten two weeks into the 2026 season. It’s also not nothing that the 5-foot-11, 206-pounder from Norwalk, Connecticut was on the preseason watch lists for the Maxwell and Walker awards. He knows how to carry the football. He knows what to do when he carries the football. Two games into his first season with the Spartans, the graduate transfer Edwards has rushed for a team-high 250 yards and three touchdowns on 48 carries. His 27 attempts in the opener against Toledo were a career high. Edwards ran the ball and ran it a ton at UConn — 2,690 yards and 27 touchdowns in 36 career games that included 23 starts. He’s tied for first in Huskies history for yards per carry (5.6) and had nine 100-yard games. He added a 10th last time out against Eastern Michigan (152). All of it is good for a former defensive back turned running back who carried one time for two yards in his first game/season in 2022. S Devin Vaught (2)Vaught has made the jump up to the Big Ten look relatively smooth two games into his first season. A member of Maine’s second team all-century squad after three seasons in Orono, where he tallied 106 tackles, nine pass breakups, six interceptions and two and a half tackles for loss, the 6-foot, 212-pounder from Charlotte has settled nicely into his starting role on the back end of the MSU defense. Vaught already is tied for the team lead with 13 tackles through two games. He made five stops in the opener against Toledo, then followed with eight in the win over Eastern Michigan. He knows how to stop the run. He knows how to prevent the pass. He knows how to play football and can play it at a high level no matter the level. Big Ten? No big deal for Vaught. Notre Dame has its share of high-volume safeties on its side. The one back there in green and white is worth watching as well. Two games in, he already looks the part of a Big Ten safety. No. 3 NOTRE DAME FIGHTING IRISH (2-0)DE Rodney Dunham