Notre Dame Tames the Wolfpack: Likes and Dislikes

After many months filled with anxiousness and nervousness, Notre Dame took the field against Colin Kaepernick and the Nevada Wolf Pack.

And shut them out.

Some analysts and TV "personalities" had the Irish on upset alert this week, and Weis and his team took this as an insult. In return, Notre Dame held 2008's No. 3 ranked rushing defense to 153 yards on the ground and 307 yards of total offense. Not to mention, zero points.

Likes

The shutout. Not only did Notre Dame achieve it's first shutout since 2002 against Rutgers (42-0), they shutout one of the top rushing offenses in the nation. Although putting 35 points on the board against Nevada is a good sign, it isn't nearly as impressive as holding them to zero points. Realistically, Nevada only had two or three drives that put them within field goal range.


Clausen. In his last two games, both against WAC teams, he has totaled 716 yards passing (37-45), with nine touchdowns and zero interceptions. He looks like he has finally taken his game to the next level, only making one or two mistakes today. His worst throw came on 70-yard underthrown touchdown pass to Floyd.


Offensive line play. Luckily for the Irish, you didn't hear much about the line during the game. Besides a few missed blocks, the line was producing consistent holes for the running backs all day. On one of the first plays from scrimmage, Sam Young was seen without his helmet and screaming after gaining a yard for a first down. That defines the terms "physical" and "passionate."


Floyd/Tate duo. Michael Floyd is going to get all of the credit on ESPN tomorrow for his 189 yards and three touchdowns. He had a career day averaging 47.3 ypc. However, the unspoken hero in this one was Golden Tate. On two of Floyd's touchdowns, Tate was the difference maker by throwing blocks for the sophomore left and right.

Even though he wasn't the leading receiver on the day, he was still the first player to lead the charge to the student section. A great sign showing Tate cares more about the team success than his own.


Reserve/Freshman impact. The Irish could not of played a more valuable game today for many reasons. One of them, however, is the experience given to the backups and second-stringers. Theo Riddick showed that he deserves to see the field this year with his athleticism. Manti Te'o is a man amongst men. On his first play of his career, he hustled back from being knocked down to prevent a first down. Expect him to nail down a starting spot before the USC game.


Alex Flanagan. Enough said. I would take her over Erin Andrews anyday of the week.

Dislikes

Rush Defense up the middle. If you told me we would give up 153 yards against the No. 3 rush offense before this game, I would have taken it without question. The only reason I list this as a dislike is the run-stopping up the middle.

The tackles seemed to get pushed around a lot today, which led to some big gains up the middles. If it weren't for the stellar linebacker production, this could have been a different game. The tackles need to be more physical and be less soft against the run.


Tackling. Especially in the first quarter, linebackers and backs seemed to be whiffing on a number or tackles. Even Kyle McCarthy, Mr. Consistent, didn't wrap up on a few. Tenuta should pull out the tackling dummy this week in practice because the defense cannot afford to miss tackles, leading to big gains.


Soft pass coverage. For reasons uncertain, the Irish defensive backs consistently gave the Wolf Pack receiver's plenty of cushion. I would have liked to see tighter coverage, especially with the number of bodies the secondary has. The reason for the cushion might have been in order to limit the big plays.


Cierre Wood and Robert Hughes. With five possible threats in the offensive backfield, it will be a difficult task to get all of them consistent carries. However, I was disappointed not to see Wood on the field today due to his freakish athleticism. Hughes played rather average after not seeing a carry until the fourth quarter. My prediction is Weis names Hughes as the eventual predecessor to Aldridge at fullback.