Notre Dame-San Diego State: The Irish by Position

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,

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