Notre Dame Post Game Impressions

Penn State 31 Notre Dame 10

Overall a really good game by the Nittany Lions. I'll have the offensive and defensive grades up later. Right now I just wanted to give you some of my thoughts on the game.

The defense looked fantastic. I don't think we could expect anything more from them. They have yet to give up a touchdown this year, and if not for the Morelli INT and the Zbikowski punt return they would have shut out their second straight opponent.

Nice move by Travis Thomas, their supposed senior leader. After blocking Jerome Hayes on a punt block attempt he sat on him. When Hayes tried to get up Thomas ripped his helmet off and threw a punch or two. Classy guy.

Jimmy Clausen is the best screen passer I've ever seen. It was rare to see the Irish take a shot down field, and when they did it usually ended with Jimmy eating grass. But give credit where it's due. That was a good game plan by Weis to keep the pressure off his young quarterback. It worked on the first drive when Clausen completed five passes for 56 yards. Then Bradley caught on and they were pretty much shut down after that.

I along with everyone else on the open thread watching the game on television was getting tired of the Jimmy Clausen love fest the announcers rammed down our throats. I was expecting Mike Patrick to run down on the field and slip his room key in Clausen's pants or something. And as soon as the camera man found Jimmy's parents in the stands I knew we were going to be seeing them the entire game. Aaron Maybin sacks Clausen. Let's not watch the PSU players celebrate or see a replay. Let's get a shot of the parents. Though I must admit it was fun seeing the look on Mrs. Clausen's face when her pretty boy got his face smashed in by Dan Connor.

I thought the whiteout looked awesome on television. All of the students who whine and moan about wanting the whiteout to be student only need to shut up. Penn State football isn't all about you. And for the record, I didn't see one single hunting orange jacket.

I was really disappointed in the offensive play calling. I watched the game last week between Notre Dame and Georgia Tech and the Yellow Jackets ran up 250 yards running outside. Yet for the entire first half we insisted on pounding behind the guards with very little effect. The coup de grace was right after the huge A.J. Wallace kick return. We ran Austin Scott up the middle three plays in a row, got stuffed, and had to settle for a field goal. After that the coaches started running to the outside and lo-and-behold Scott racked up nearly 50 yards in the fourth quarter.

The play of the game was unquestionably Derrick Williams' 78 punt return. Trailing 7-0 the offense was sputtering. We had turned the ball over twice. Clausen was handling the pressure pretty well. The return sparked the stadium and the team to life. From there the route was on as Penn State went on to outscore the Irish 31-3.

Some of you may feel like subjecting yourself to checking out some of the Notre Dame blogs to get their impressions of the game. I'll save you the trip. Here's what you'll read over there.