:: Notre Dame Football Game Day ::
Notre Dame flies past Nevada 35-0
Clausen takes reins in Heisman race, 15-18, 315 yards, 4 touchdowns
Showing mid-season form, the Notre Dame Fighting Irish topped the Nevada Wolf Pack 35-0, including a 21-point second quarter. We now have some glimmers of why Notre Dame Head Coach Charlie Weis has had a "cat-that-swallowed-the-canary" swagger at times in the weeks leading up the to opener.
Notre Dame junior quarterback Jimmy Clausen picked up where he left off after his stunning bowl performance, seizing the reins in this year's Heisman race with a 15-18, 315-yard, 4-touchdown performance with no interceptions, including 88-, 70- and 24-yard touchdown passes to sophomore wide-receiver Michael Floyd.
Clausen's play arguably makes him the Heisman's current front-runner.
Floyd himself seems to be launching an All-American campaign, with 189 yards receiving, including the above-mentioned spectacular touch-downs including great runs-after-catches.
The Irish rolled up 510 yards of offense, complementing 330 passing yards with a seemingly revitalized, tough-blocking, hard-running ground game that racked up 178 yards against a Wolf Pack rushing defense that had been in the top-10 nationally in 2008.
Bigger, stronger, still lightning-quick junior halfback Armando Allen paced Irish rushers with 15 carries for 78 yards, including a one-yard touchdown run.
The Irish defense secured Notre Dame's first shutout since 2002.
Notre Dame gave up 307 total yards to a Nevada team that itself had tallied more than 500 yards offense per game in 2008 and was returning several of its leading offensive weapons.
Most importantly, as indicated by the shut-out, while Nevada managed to make some good individual plays on offense, Notre Dame snagged two interceptions and seldom allowed the Wolf Pack to sustain good drives.
When a second-half Nevada drive did go to the Notre Dame seven-yard-line, Nevada's leading rusher from 2008, who indeed had been top-10 nationally, fumbled a pitch and Notre Dame recovered.
Including special teams, nineteen Notre Dame players had at least one tackle, with fifteen securing at least two. The Irish were paced by fifth-year senior strong safety Kyle McCarthy with 9, junior linebacker-turned-free safety Harrison Smith with 8, and senior linebacker Toryan Smith with 5.
Toryan Smith had two tackles for loss, one a sack, the same as junior linebacker Brian Smith.
Notre Dame's two interceptions were grabbed by sophomore left cornerback Robert Blanton and McCarthy, who also had a 23-yard runback.
Weis called the game "a good start" and mentioned that Notre Dame has managed to continue momentum and build from its bowl game because the players have been "hungry."
Weis was pleased that Notre Dame did not demonstrate the usual opening-game mistakes seen in football, with the Irish having no turnovers, minimal penalties, and few apparent mistakes.
Key Words: Notre Dame Football, Fighting Irish, Jimmy Clausen, Michael Floyd, Clausen Heisman, Kyle Rudolph, Kyle McCarthy, Charlie Weis, Nevada Football, Nevada Wolf Pack
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