Notre Dame Notebook: Irish Play Sly With Clausen's Status

There are 26 bones in each foot and there's a decent chance that Jimmy Clausen may have broken one of them on Saturday. Clausen, who turns 22 on Monday, was injured while ducking a Michigan State pass rusher in the second quarter. It was the first sack that the Irish have allowed this season.

However, the NCAA is not the NFL. No one is going to fine you for not reporting an injury and as long as your player suits up, why do so? "There's no way I would do that," head coach Charlie Weis said on Sunday when I asked him if there would be any reason for him to level with the media the extent of Clausen's injury if he is playing. "I'm hoping that Jimmy's out there (at practice) on Tuesday, throwing passes, so I won't have to worry about it."

Notre Dame safety Kyle McCarthy's statistics for the Nevada game: nine tackles, one interception.
Notre Dame safety Kyle McCarthy's statistics for the Michigan game: nine tackles, one interception.
Notre Dame safety Kyle McCarthy's statistics for the Michigan State game: nine tackles, one interception.

Have I made my point? I asked Weis on Sunday whether the consistently reliable and reliably consistent fifth-year senior, who rarely saw the field in his first three years/two seasons at Notre Dame, has been drawing interest from NFL scouts? "They all ask about him," the CW replied. "Scouts don't miss too much. 'I kind of like that 28,' they say. He is not as unknown as everybody thinks."

McCarthy's streak of at least one interception per game for at least three games to open the season was last accomplished -- well, we don't know. Intrepid sports info man Michael Bertsch has so far checked back to the 1984 season without finding anyone who accomplished the feat.


The Irish lost 38-34 at Michigan, followed by a 33-30 victory against Michigan State. So? So, it's the first time in the history of Notre Dame football that consecutive games have ended with both teams' scores in the 30s. Some of the most memorable home games in the past quarter-century have had that same element: Notre Dame 31, Miami 30 in '88 and USC 34, Notre Dame 31 in '05. And in '93 there was almost a 38-37 win versus Boston College, that is until David Gordon's field goal.


Clausen passed for exactly 300 yards yesterday. It was Clausen's fourth consecutive 300-yard passing game, making him the first quarterback in Irish history to string together that many 300-yard days. For what it's worth, Clausen has yet to have a 300-yard passing day without Michael Floyd in the lineup.

More on Clausen: The junior from Westlake Village, Calif., is No. 2 nationally in passing efficiency (behind Ryan Mallett of Arkansas), No. 8 in passing yards per game (317) and has yet to throw an interception in 91 attempts this season (nor, it should be noted, has he chucked one out of bounds to avoid pressure). In the 2007 Army All-American Bowl, by the way, Clausen and Mallett were the starting QBs for the respective sides.


Including Saturday's win, the Irish are now 17-0 when they outrush their opponents. Odd stat for an offense that is so wedded to the pass. Then again, this is a "tail wagging the dog" stat. The Irish don't win simply because they rush for more yards. They are able to rush for more yards because they are in a position to win.


The Irish defense has allowed 889 yards the past two games. The last time Notre Dame allowed more yardage in back-to-back games was in October of 2007 when Boston College (with Matt Ryan under center) rolled up 459 yards against the Irish followed by USC (with Mark Sanchez at QB) amassed 462 for a total of 921 yards.


Starting defensive end Kerry Neal still has yet to make a tackle through three games.


Tailback Armando Allen has eclipsed the 100-yard rushing mark in consecutive games: 139 at Michigan and 115 versus Michigan State. The last Irish tailback to do so was Darius Walker in November of 2006. Walker had 153 yards rushing at Air Force followed by 162 versus Army.


Notre Dame is now 1-0 in games attended by actors who appeared in Wedding Crashers. Vince Vaughn was on the Notre Dame sideline on Saturday. Still no sign of Rachel McAdams, although you never know, since her breakout role was in The Notebook, a novel written by Notre Dame alum (and former varsity track man) Nicholas Sparks ('88).