Quarterback: Jimmy Clausen is still only a sophomore, and one whose development was stunted last year by injury and lack of protection. Early in the game, Clausen looked more like a backyard quarterback than a college quarterback, locking in on one receiver and directing him into space while himself scrambling farther and farther back.
But when it counted, Clausen stepped up and figured things out. The quarterback had completed only 50 percent of his passes at halftime. But due to a solid second half performance, Clausen finished with a completion rate just under 62 percent (21 of 34).
Clausen did have two interceptions. But the first bounced off of Duval Kamara's shoulder pads and the second off of his fingertips. Clausen deserves most of the blame for the latter, but not the former.
Running Back: Armando Allen and Robert Hughes each had over 50 yards rushing and about a 3.5 yards per carry average. That's nice against a tough defense, but not against a poor rushing defense with three linemen out. Maybe the Aztecs were just flooding the box and forcing Clausen to beat them.
Hughes and Allen each had three catches, Hughes for 32 yards and Allen for 18. James Aldridge did not see the field in this one.
According to Coach Weis, the offense wasn't on the field enough in the first half for Aldridge to get his reps, and in the second half, the Irish went into their hurry-up offense, which does not include Aldridge. That could be an indicator of things to come for the running back rotation.
Receiver: Golden Tate has added at least three new patterns to his repertoire: the comeback, the slant, and the "scramble around while Jimmy Clausen does the same." While Tate didn't have much success with that last route, he did do well with the first two.
Filling in for a cramped and struggling Duval Kamara, Tate became the offensive star for the Irish, picking up 93 yards and a touchdown on six catches. Tate caught the ball in space, in traffic, you name it.
Kamara didn't fare nearly as well, dropping more passes than he caught (one). David Grimes added five catches for 35 yards and a touchdown. Interestingly enough, it was the 5-foot-10 Grimes, not the 6-foot-5 Kamara, 6-foot-3 Michael Floyd, or even the 6-foot-2 Robby Parris,
4 comments Last one added 10 months ago — Leave a Comment
Anthony D'Angio 10 months ago
Unfortunately I watched some of this atrociously dull and boring game between an awful SDSU team and a once again over-hyped Fighting Irish squad. No offense, but Notre Dame looks bad-really bad. I'm sure as a die hard fan you will disagree (understandably) and probably take this comment to heart (that's ok) but I merely speak the truth about Notre Dame. They probably won't win 5 games again for the second year in a row, which really surprises me because of the recruits they bring in every year. Charlie Weiss must go. He can't coach at the collegiate level and the firing of our good friend Tyrone almost seems to be a moot point. Notre Dame should be a 10 win team every year and they can't even get about .500 nowadays.
You know what is really pitiful though? In the polls (associated press I believe) they actually received 3 votes to be in the top 25. Even as a Notre Dame fan, don't you find this to be shell shocking and ridiculous? A poor win over SDSU at home opening after a 3 win season last year and three idiiots actually submitted vote support for the Irish. Don't get me wrong, I don't ha anything against Notre Dame. They need to garnish respectability bed on performance and not on their reputation, which any college football fan will agree with me on. They have their own television contract...no other team does.
Your article was well informative, but I hate to be the bearer of bad news that it's going to be a long and painful experience as an Irish fan again this year.
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Shannon Doran 10 months ago
Anthony,
As a lifelong Notre Dame fan (I'm 37 years old with a husband I converted from an FSU fan and two kids that bleed ND already at 3 and 4 years old), I am at the same time a realistic fan. I was at this past weekend's game along with my brother and dad (who are not impressed but make excuses). This team is bad. Although there seems to be a tiny bit of improvement (all I keep hearing is that Clausen wasn't sacked), with the talent this team has, there hasn't been markedly enough improvement. I have severe doubts about Weiss's ability to develop these players and it makes me extremely sad and disheartened that we may be looking at another crop of very talented kids wasting valuable college years under the supposed tutelege of a very inept coaching staff. The jury isn't completely out but I am not optomistic about their chances going into next week's game vs. Michigan. Lucky for us, Michigan isn't looking impressive either. It will be a matter of who makes more errors on Saturday.
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Sebastian 10 months ago
Why the Notre Dame - NBC deal is a big deal to some people in 2008 floors me.
No, ND does not have to share the money it makes with other schools, but that is part of being an independent. More importantly, ND is not the only team televised on Saturdays anymore-- there are many schools from many conferences broadcast on a regular basis. Exposure is higher in 2008 than 1998.
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Kanka 10 months ago
Thanks for the comment.
I am an optimist, probably more so than most Notre Dame fans. (I saw "FIRE WEIS" graffitied on a few trash cans on campus Saturday night.) That optimist in me sees two positives to take from this game:
-ND (hopefully) isn't going to turn the ball over four times every week.
-ND played about as poorly as Ohio State did this week, and this was OSU's second game but ND's first.
I agree with you completely on the poll - I was very surprised that someone (or several someones) still voted for ND this week. They may or may not have a chance to be a top-25 team at the end of the year, but they haven't proven that they are at this point.
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