This is the first look at the San Diego State game, which comes after reading limited commentary from elsewhere on the internet and not getting to watch the Tivoed version yet.  I watched this game at the ND DC game watch and missed some things due to being in a bar and drinking myself into oblivion when it became apparent we might lose to San Diego State, but I assure you, that mistake (attending the game watch) will never be made again and future commentary will be far more informed on the first draft.

I think the most important thing to take from yesterday’s game is that while Notre Dame, for the most part, played really, really poorly, made a ton of stupid mistakes and looked generally anemic on offense, they won.  Yes, San Diego State is not a good football team, the line was set north of three touchdowns and no Irish fan should go into work bragging Monday, but this is an improvement.  Last season, the Irish would play really, really poorly, make a ton of stupid mistakes, look generally anemic on offense and lose, so progress has been made.

We’ll start with the defense, which I think played pretty well yesterday, although it’s become glaringly apparent there will not be any pressure on the quarterback this season without the aid of a blitz.  As far as linebackers go, the veterans who we assumed wouldn't contribute didn't and the young guys who have been impressive impressed.  Despite a couple slip-ups, I think the addition of Sergio Brown to the Bruton/McCarthy defensive back tandem will produce some needed turnovers for the Irish.    

Kudos to Chuck Long, Ryan Lindley and a patched together offensive line for not being flustered by the Tenuta blitzes, calmly finding hot routes and utilizing the shovel pass to escape (save for Neal’s fantastic interception).  The Irish will probably be blitzing a lot and freeing up these quick hitters this season, so the tacklers on the second and third levels will have to be wrapping up and denying the slot receivers and tailbacks’ bids to turn those quick dump offs into big plays.  Lindley is a red-shirt freshman, playing in his second game, on the road, in a big-time environment I can’t imagine he’s seen before, and he handled himself quite adequately.

His Irish counterpart, Jimmy Clausen, also played a solid game for the opener, and if he’d only cut his hair, I think most Irish fans could embrace him.  I guess the first interception was his fault, as it is sort of a dick move to throw a pass that hits a guy squarely in the numbers, but I suppose we could place the blame for the second one on Kamara, the play call and Clausen, as it was a perfect storm of horrendous offense in the Aztec end zone.  Regardless of the talent differential between the two teams or expectations of the final score before it started, the Irish were down going into the fourth with their running backs banged up and had to start throwing.  At that point, Clausen stepped up his game the way you want and need your quarterback to in crunch time.  It would probably be a benefit to Clausen if the best receivers on the team were permitted to play all the time, but hey, he’s got to earn that right.

The offensive line play left quite a bit to be desired, especially when you project this effort looking at the Michigan game.  The difference between the Aztecs and Wolverines, especially after the wave of injuries that smote a lot of San Diego States defensive linemen, is drastic, and Coach Rodriguez is probably excited to unleash the unit, which already has ten sacks this season against respectable competition.  A lot of Irish fans were wondering if something happened to the right side of the line, because despite it having two rather large, highly-touted players – and their success in springing Armando Allen for his largest run of the game – Notre Dame upped the level of difficulty by never utilizing them (there seems to be a theme developing).

A lot of us found it odd that despite being the only offensive player to produce last season (things like yardage, touchdowns, broken tackles, which I think contribute to scoring points, which then helps to win football games) and doing himself no harm in camp, Robert Hughes got a grand total of one carry in the first quarter.  Odder still was after being inserted as the primary back in the initial drive of the second quarter, Hughes immediately helped roll the Irish 73 yards down the field.  And if you want to turn this into an episode of The X-Files, the eeriness increases when you consider that Golden Tate also got two balls thrown to him on that highly productive, near-touchdown scoring drive. 

We could actually make a feature film out of this mystery when you toss in the fact that the one catch Michael Floyd has was for a touchdown, and those at the game testified that he was getting separation the few times he was in the game.  Common sense and a rudimentary understanding of how collegiate football works might make you think that running Hughes right and throwing to Tate and Floyd might be the best way for the Irish to score points, but Coach Weis chooses not to do that.  You could potentially counter that statement by saying “Well, Weis was saving stuff for Michigan,” at which point my jaw would drop slightly and I’d stare at you for a beat to make sure you weren’t joking before screaming “3-9 TEAMS DON’T SAVE THINGS!”. 

As a wise philosopher once said, you play to win the game, and I’m so tired of Weis defenders citing this mystical season-long game plan as an excuse for mind-boggling personnel decisions.  Saying that “Well, he’s the coach for a reason,” isn’t a defense either, because he might not be the coach for much longer unless things start improving.  “You don’t understand everything going on in the program, at practice, in meetings, etc.” is a more legitimate argument, but unless there’s some huge attitude problem or something of that ilk nobody in the press or the stands picks up on, it’s probably a good idea for the players who perform best in the games to then play more in the games.

This was supposed to be a guaranteed win, and a lot of the other “guarantees” people were tacking onto their 10-2 record predictions after last week are not really sure things.  We play at Washington, and as much as we love to make fun of Ty (and trust me, the way their game ended yesterday was hilarious), the Huskies have now come just shy of knocking off Ohio State, Southern Cal and BYU at home in the past two seasons, and those teams are probably a thousand times better than Notre Dame has looked since Our Fair Brady departed.  Navy’s offense still has some weapons to go along with their poor defense, and anyone can win a shootout.  Stanford, despite falling at Arizona State (and not covering the spread, either), was close with the Irish last season and seems to be turning into a solid team under Jim Harbaugh.  I can’t really make a good case for the Orange, but I couldn’t for the Aztecs either, and that didn’t stop them from coming very close to winning yesterday.

From watching a decent amount of Michigan’s two games this season, they’re incapable of sustained offense but are more than capable of capitalizing on turnovers and penalties.  The Irish are going to be in a dog fight next weekend, and if it’s as close as I imagine it will be, then they’re already at a huge disadvantage due to having a field goal unit that resembles a Monty Python skit at this point.  The Irish played their best in the fourth, which is a testament to all sorts of good things, but unless a lot of areas are cleaned up during this week, the deficit is going to be too wide to overcome no matter how many touchdown passes Clausen throws.