SOUTH BEND, Ind. -- Notre Dame quarterback Carlyle Holiday will be evaluated on a week-to-week basis after injuring his left shoulder against Michigan State, Irish coach Tyrone Willingham said Sunday.

Willingham declined to say exactly what the injury was and said he didn't know for sure how long Holiday would be out.

"We're hopeful by the time our next ballgame arises that he will be in position to play,'' Willingham said.

Following Saturday's 21-17 victory, the quarterback said he would be back in time for Notre Dame's next game, Oct. 5 against Stanford.

"I know for a fact, in two weeks, I'll be ready to play,'' he said.

Holiday left late in the third quarter when he was tackled and landed awkwardly. He watched the rest of the game with his arm in a sling.

Holiday was replaced by Pat Dillingham, a former walk-on who helped the Irish come back to win in the final minutes. He threw a short pass to Arnaz Battle, who ran 60 yards for a touchdown with 1:15 left. Dillingham was 3-for-6 passing for 84 yards with one interception.

"Pat did a fine job,'' Willingham said. "When you're first thrust into the lineup, it's always a difficult thing to get a handle on everything. But he did an excellent job of that.''

Dillingham thought he might play in the Michigan State game because Holiday was taking so many hard hits. He said he wasn't nervous when the Irish fell behind 17-14 with 1:45 left.

''We do the two-minute drill every day in practice. We just ran our stuff,'' Dillingham said.

Willingham knows how Dillingham feels. The coach, who was a walk-on freshman at Michigan State in 1972, briefly became a starter two years later when Charlie Beggett got hurt. Life will suddenly become more difficult if Dillingham has to play against Stanford, his coach said.

''Now what happens is, he gets all the phone calls from the relatives,'' Willingham said. ''Old girlfriends that hadn't paid attention to him will pay attention now. Media will find him. So he's got to be able to put that all aside and be able to focus on what he does.''

Willingham tried to recruit Dillingham, who is from Portola Valley, Calif., to Stanford while he coached the Cardinal, but Dillingham decided to walk onto the squad at Notre Dame.

''I think there was something about it that he felt was drawing him, and the opportunities would allow him to gain a scholarship,'' Willingham said. ''He was right.''

Dillingham was given a scholarship when Matt LoVecchio, the starting quarterback two seasons ago, transferred to Indiana in the spring.

The Irish, who are 4-0 for the first time since 1993, moved up two spots to No. 10 in both the ESPN/USA Today and Associated Press polls. Willingham said he was aware of the ranking, but said it didn't mean much to him.

''It is better for them to say good things about you than bad things,'' he said.