Notre Dame Held Under 100 Yards in Loss to USC
Saturday night’s loss to USC had very few highlights for the Irish. Instead the game was highlighted by offensive ineptitude like we haven’t seen for a while. Even though the Irish got on the scoreboard Saturday night, unlike they did in Boston three weeks ago, the Irish offense could barely move the ball.
Notre Dame gained just 91 total yards and collected just 4 first downs. In fact, the first 1st down of the game came on the last play of the 3rd quarter. Let that sink in for a bit. It took almost 45 minutes of game time for the Irish offense to gain a single first down.
In the last two meetings with USC, Notre Dame now has just 14 first downs and 3 points. Who ever thought that would be the case after the 2005 thriller in South Bend?
Here are a few more sobering offensive stats from tonight.
- Clausen completed a respectable 50% of his passes (11 of 22) for a mere 41 yards. That’s 1.87 yards per attempt.
- Thanks to sack yardage, Notre Dame ran 27 times for 50 yards – a 1.9 yards/carry average. Even without the sack yardage, Notre Dame gained just 79 yards on 23 attempts – a 3.4 yards/carry average.
- Notre Dame had almost as many turnovers (3) as first downs (4).
- The Irish were just 2 of 14 on 3rd down.
- Notre Dame never reached the red zone.
Frank Vitovitch has been Co-Owner and Editor in Chief of UHND.com since joining forces with Kyle Flavin in 1999. Since that time, he has written over 2,000 articles covering Notre Dame football, recruiting, and basketball. He also works with all staff and external writers on all articles published on UHND.com. Frank's love for Notre Dame football started at a young age watching Rocket Ismail give opposing coaches ulcers in the late 1980's. By day Frank works in marketing and holds a degree in Digital Media from Drexel University. Frank's work has been cited by online/print editions of NBC Sports, ESPN, and Sports Illustrated and has been quoted on air by ESPN's Collin Cowherd. He's conducted interviews with Notre Dame legends Rocket Ismail, Randy Kinder, Lee Becton, Reggie Brooks, Michael Stonebreaker, and Ned Bolcar among others over his 20+ years of covering Notre Dame football. He's also been published in the print edition of USA Today Sports Weekly and the USA Today College Football Preview multiple times. Other Published Works/Citations for Frank Three Reasons Notre Dame Will Beat Alabama - USA Today Notre Dame Suspends WR Kevin Stepherson, RB C.J. Holmes Indefinitely - Bleacher Report Notre Dame / Ohio State Fiesta Bowl Preview - Eleven Warriors Brace Yourself: The Fighting Irish are Relevant Again - Sports on Earth Interviews with the Enemy: A Q&A with Frank Vitovitch of UHND - Yahoo! Sports Five Good Minutes: Notre Dame Football Preview With UHND.com - BC Interruption Vicious Electronic Questioning with UHND - MGO Blog
id be happy with skip or lou holtz
what a schematic advantage
doesn’t lou have a son,not to shabby a coach either
bring back lou
after watching nd only on tv, the sparse occasional game in south bend and for the past many decades in los angeles, all the games against sc, i was very disheartened about the depths of yesterday’s performance.
the best part of yesterdays game finally was the appearance of the nd band. that was the only performance i saw that made me proud.
the team under weis showed no fire, no creativity and was befuddled. clausen “slung” the ball and each was a hail mary in its own way.
after the game, pete carrol said. for defense he really didn’t have to make any real adjustments since the only eapon nd had was the occasional long ball with floyd or tate.
sad… is this going to be a 3 – 5 year ritual… fire davie, fire ty, fire charlie…. none of them got the spirit of nd football… aggressive team football….
No rocket science here, the offensive line and relevant coaching needs overhauled.