Irish Win at Home, First Time This Season

18th Nov 2007

Notre Dame 28
Duke 7

Notre Dame defeated Duke yesterday on Senior Day to get their first home victory of the season. Robert Hughes had a tremendous day, rushing for 110 yards and a touchdown on only 17 carries. Armando Allen managed to break free and get a couple first downs for 42 yards on 9 carries. James Aldridge was hurt early in the game and returned later on, but didn’t do too much for the Irish running game. All three backs played well and showed promising signs for the future.

Jimmy Clausen had another outstanding game, although his completion percentage doesn’t show it. He completed 16 of 32 passes for 194 yards and three touchdowns. There reason for the low completion percentage is multiple dropped passes. The rain caused receivers to drop many passes that should have been caught, including Robby Parris’ drop on 4th and 17 earlier in the game. Clausen was able to make a lot of things happen when he got out of the pocket including two rushes for first downs. He has looked incredible and completely healthy these past two games and is now showing why he was rated the number one recruit of last years class.

John Carlson had his best game based on yardage, with 58 receiving yards and a touchdown, including a 41 yard reception. Duval Kamara and David Grimes grabbed the two other passes from Clausen. I still want to see more of Golden Tate, he had a great game against Purdue and has played very little since.

It was also nice to see all of the seniors who don’t play much get in, such as quarterback Darrin Bragg and other players on the defense. It was also very fun to see Tom Zbikowski take a few snaps at quarterback. It’s a shame Travis Thomas fumbled the ball on that drive, I was looking forward to seeing Zibi throw the ball. Trevor Laws reached 100 tackles this season with another game left and looks like a strong contender for an All American team. It’s sad to see all of these seniors leave, but the future is looking strong and it is time to move on. With another great recruiting class building up, the Irish are in good position to contend for National Championships in a year or two. Go Irish!