Notre Dame Falls to Penn State

Penn State got the better of Notre Dame this past Saturday, so the Irish are 0-2 to start off the year. The Nittany Lions proved that they were superior to the Fighting Irish in almost every respect, beating them 31-10 at Beaver Stadium in Happy Valley. Notre Dame whipped Penn State last year, but the favor was returned over the weekend. There were a lot of poor performances and mistakes made, but overall, it looked like the better team won on Saturday, and the blame can be more justly put on the fact that Penn State has put together a very solid program this year (ranked No. 12 in the nation), and they proved it. There was no quarterbacking dilemma to distract, and the first game jitters were gone, so all that was left were two teams playing the best they could. The Irish lost this one, but there are some positive things to look at nonetheless.

Sure, you could point out that Notre Dame failed to score an offensive touchdown for the second straight week, but then again, they did make some gains in the passing game. Jimmy Clausen had a very tough task, trying to throw against one of the best defenses in the country, with little to no help from the offensive line and a rushing total of zero. However, one can be fairly pleased with the defensive effort, which led to an interception return for a touchdown, and did a fine job despite being on the field for about 35 minutes.

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Permalink - Posted in General on September 10, 2007 - Post a comment