Last week, Notre Dame looked more like the team fans expected to be undefeated at this point in the season in a rousing 38-18 win over Michigan State.

ND started out passing on its first three plays, then used its bruising ground game to dominate the Spartans. The Irish defense also forced some key turnovers in the contest as that unit continues to improve.

Irish fans should be happy with the win, but not satisfied. There is a lot of room for improvement but if the Irish show the type of improvement they did last week, every week, by season’s end they could be 9-3 or better. But let’s not get ahead of ourselves.

Brandon Wimbush, who had the reputation of being a good passer, but hadn’t shown it in the first three games, improved last week. His balanced play of passing and running the football helped with the win.

He rushed for another score and is now three touchdowns away from tying DeShone Kizer for the single-season record for rushing TDs by a Notre Dame quarterback. He also had just 52 yards rushing on eight carries ­— a season low for him.

Brian Kelly apparently is trying to have Wimbush throw the ball more in an attempt to better balance the offensive attack. A better passing game will result in more chances for the run game to dominate an opponent.

Notre Dame’s top receiver, Equanimeous St. Brown, finally got some more action with four catches for 61 yards with his longest 40. That is something ND needs in is passing game — longer completions to help shake up the opponent’s defense.

This win was needed to give the team a shot in the arm as its heads into the meat of its schedule next week.

More on the game later.

Today the Irish face a Miami of Ohio team that enters at 2-2 and is a favorite to win the MAC title. The Redhawks have wins over Austin Peay, 31-10, and Central Michigan, 31-14. The two losses are to Marshall, 31-26, and Cincinnati, 21-17.

The Redhawks can’t be taken lightly. They have a fine throwing and running QB in Gus Rayland, who has completed 61 of 116 passes for 881 yards and eight touchdowns. He has run for two TDs. Top running backs are Kenny Young with 220 yards on 52 carries and Alonzo Smith with 204 yards on 50. The top receivers are James Gardner with 294 yards on 16 catches and two scores and Ryan Smith, with 144 yards on 10 catches and two scores.

This is only the second meeting between the two schools. They last played in 1909 with ND winning 46-0. The Redhawks are coached by former Irish assistant Chuck Martin.

The game will be televised nationally by the NBC Sports Network with an unusual 5:12 p.m. kickoff.

IRISH NOTES ... Some more game stats against Michigan State: Wimbush finished with 14 completions on 20 attempts for 173 yards and a TD. Josh Adams rushed for 56 yards on nine carries; Dexter Williams had 40 yards on eight carries and a score; and Deon McIntosh 35 yards on 12 carries and a score. Other receiving totals had Chase Claypool with 56 yards on four catches and Alize Mack had 15 yards on two catches. Defensively, Nyles Morgan had nine tackles with Te’von Coney and Greer Martini each getting seven each … MSU outgained the Irish 496-355 and had the ball for almost nine minutes more than ND ... Kicker Justin Yoon made one field goal for 46 yards ... Cornerback Shaun Crawford had one of the game’s biggest plays when he stripped MSU running back LJ Scott just before he crossed the goal line and then recovered the loose ball in the end zone for a touchback. Linebacker Greer Martini forced a fumble by QB Brian Lewerke with Dustin Hayes recovering for ND. Julian Love had a 59 yard interception return for a score to start the Irish off ... Dexter Williams got more touches last week due to a injury suffered by Tony Jones Jr. Jones suffered a ankle injury against BC. He should be available today. But Williams was banged up against the Spartans and is questionable to play today ... Ten true freshmen made the travel roster for the game ... Sophomore CB Love’s interception return for a score in the first quarter was the first pick-six by an Irish player since Andrew Trumbetti’s against Wake Forest in 2015 ... Wimbush’s 15-yard TD run on ND’s first drive of the game was the first offensive TD the Spartans had given up this season ... ND is back in the Top 25 AP poll at number 22. It failed to make the coaches poll but Florida State (0-2) is number 25, figure that out ... Notre Dame remains tied atop the FBS rankings in red-zone offense at 100 percent (19-of-19) after a 4-for-4 effort against the Spartans ... Remember ND receiver Kevin Stepherson? He had an outstanding spring game in 2016 and played well last season. He hasn’t played a down yet, working his way back up the depth chart due to attitude and other problems. As of right now, he appears to be very close to getting back on the field for the Irish ... Wimbush had a career-high 159.2 pass-efficiency rating, more than double what it was against Boston College the previous week ... As the defense continues to get some high marks for weekly improvement one glaring shortcoming was seen last week — MSU had 340 passing yards, which is way too much considering it was a young quarterback for the Spartans. Much improvement is need there, especially since today’s opponent throws the ball a lot and in three weeks it’s pass-happy USC ... ND is a 23-point favorite for today’s game. I think that is too many. In my preseason picks I have the Irish winning today, and they should. Irish have a chance to enter the USC game with a 5-1, if they can win today and get by tough North Carolina away next week ... Column is short this week since I left for South Bend on Wednesday.