There is obviously gigantic room for debate on almost all of these positions, but this is what I'm starting with.  I went back and forth on a lot of them, but since they are just completely arbitrary grades, be gentle.  In general, I think I was very demanding with the offense and a little more lenient with the defense, with games later in the season being weighed as more important, especially with young players.

Quarterbacks: A

I think this is the only legitimate grade here, right?  James Clausen currently has the highest passer efficiency rating in the country.  He leads the country in yards per attempt, has twelve touchdowns to two interceptions (one of which was a Hail Mary-type throw at the end of a first half, the other a perfect toss to Armando Allen that was volleyball set right to the defender).  He is moving around in the backfield a thousand times better than last year, feeling the rush, avoiding it and stepping into the pocket to deliver smart bombs.  With all of the natural biases and hatred harbored against him (some of his own doing, like the entire College Football Hall of Fame thing, some not), he has forced himself into the Heisman conversation and onto Kiper's big board.  He's led four consecutive fourth quarter comebacks (the first of them forgotten after a failure to run out the clock and Forcier's counterpunch), he appears to be an awesome tutor and supporter for his understudy, his teammates seem to absolutely love him and he has great celebrations, from understated fist pumps, to jumping into a lineman's arms, to simply flashing the guns, like he did after the touchdown pass to Rudolph.

The only bad things I can say about Clausen at this point are that he was erratic in the first quarter against Michigan before settling into cold-blooded killer mode (which he did by halftime when he gave his team the lead) and that awful lateral/pass that got returned for a touchdown against Washington.  Really, that's about it.  He hasn't missed a beat with the loss of Michael Floyd, and as long as he's in the game, Irish fans can feel very good about their chances.

As far as his back-up goes, Crist has done a great job in relief, even though all of the bubble wrap hasn't even been removed yet.  He led a bunch of great drives in the Purdue game and showed off his arm in mop-up time versus Nevada.   Evan Sharpley continues to look astute on the sideline and I'm very confident in his ability to come into a game and handle business if need be.

Running Backs: B+

I originally had this as a "B," but then I started thinking about how Armando Allen was a top fifteen rusher before Purdue and how he simply destroyed Michigan.  Or how successful the Wildcat was against Michigan State in the red zone, including that touchdown pass from AA.  Then how even though Allen couldn't go late against the Huskies, Robert Hughes put the team on his shoulders and just cranked out tough yard after tough yard, including the critical two-point conversion (probably) and game-winning touchdown.  Hughes was attempting to shed his "Thunder" label earlier in the season, but has embraced his role as a power guy - a quick one, but not a dancing back - and made a statement to fans and the coaching staff that he's back.

Save for a few young mistakes, the help in pass blocking has also been very good, assisting the offensive line in their efforts to protect QB1.  You'd like to see Jonas Gray a little farther along (his fumble versus Michigan was a killer), but Theo Riddick has shown some pop as a freshman (admittedly, on a scant seven carries).   When you consider that the starting fullback has been out since the opener and both Allen and Hughes are averaging over five yards a carry on the season, I think the "+" is acceptable here.

Wide Receivers: A-

This should probably be a straight "A" for the absurd efforts of Golden Tate and the late St. Michael Floyd (COLLARBOOOOONE), but I'm knocking it down a little bit because A) No one has clearly stepped up to replace Floyd opposite Tate and B) Every time they show St. Michael on the sideline in civilian attire, a little more of my heart breaks.  (Plus I'm trying to be overly pessimistic here to get street cred with the dregs of the messageboards.)

Michael Floyd was on his way to an all-world season when his fragile clavicle betrayed him.  He would get an A for his efforts so far this season, because from his absolute domination of Nevada to the gravity-defying touchdown against Michigan, he was perfection.  Following a few dropsies in the Michigan game, Golden Tate took it upon himself to double his efforts in his wingmate's absence, catching the winning touchdown against Michigan State, switching to a running back/Wildcat to help out Crist against Purdue and setting up the touchdown in overtime against Washington.  Versus the Huskies, Tate had ten touches for 275 yards of offense, which is patently absurd.  His sweat glands also seemingly secrete some sort of grease that makes him impossible to wrap up and tackle, which is a handy talent for a receiver to have.

After the very top of the depth chart, things get a little hazy.  Almost as if the stats were trying to prove my point for me, Duval Kamara, Robby Parris and Shaq Evans each have seven catches on the season.  Parris has a touchdown, Evans has been steadily trending upward (4 for 34 in the last game) and sadly, Deion Walker hasn't gotten much burn at all.  Tate and Kyle Rudolph force the defense to pay a lot of attention to two players, so it would be nice if this second tier could really take a step forward against Southern Cal, either collectively or with one lone wolf taking the leap and wrestling control of a starting spot.

Tight ends: B+

Kyle Rudolph has two go-ahead fourth quarter touchdowns in the last two weeks and is simply an impossible match-up against most teams.  (Sadly, Southern Cal can just throw Taylor Mays on him, which could be the most interesting showdown of them all on the 17^th.)  Rudolph's run blocking could be a little more dominant, but he's such a force in the passing game, I can honestly say "Who cares?".  Bobby Burger has done a great job in his role as back-up tight end/H-back/fullback, although he's not really a threat in the passing game at this point.  (He also had a bad false start at the goal line versus Washington which was very much not good.)  The lack of fun, sexy Mike Ragone times - or really any depth at the position - is troubling, and why this group also takes slight nick.

Offensive line: B+

I'm not going to even pretend like I can explain to you the particulars of how an offensive line works, why this one is working well or what the great individual plays have been, but I can say this: after the debacle of the last couple years, this line is significantly better in every capacity.  How much of that to credit to Coach Verducci and how much goes to the natural maturing process of young linemen, I have no idea, but I'll take it.  Clausen has been kept clean most of the season - there have been some issues at the tackles with speedy defensive ends on obvious passing downs -  and the running game has oscillated between "perfectly effective" and "absolutely dominant," so I couldn't be prouder.   The tackles have struggled a little, but you can't say enough about the interior of the line just consistently dominating up the point of attack.  Some unnecessary false starts and certain plays just falling apart from the word "go" knock the grade down a little, if only because they are very much avoidable and unacceptable for a veteran corps.

Defensive line: B-

This was going to be a lot lower before the Washington game, but after the trio of goal line stands, I have to heap some credit onto the guys up front.  There is a definite trend upwards in the last two games, as the unit helped to suffocate a good Purdue running attack before repeatedly stone-walling Jake Locker.  After having only two tackles the entire season prior to last Saturday's game, Kerry Neal had seven against the Huskies.  KLM had another seven, while Ethan Johnson had five.  Everyone up front has a handful of tackles for loss, and again, I think every Irish fan is pretty happy with how things are moving over the last couple games.

This unit is extremely young, but you can see lights starting to click, as Ian Williams is shedding blockers at the point of attack and the Johnson/KLM combo becomes more and more active.  John Ryan has even gotten into the act, with a sack, a tackle for loss and a deflected pass.  Bonus points tacked on for Johnson's extra point block versus Michigan State, which cancelled out one of the few Nick Tausch miscues of the season.   There is a long way to go, but there are positive signs that the opponent's offensive line is going to have more and more difficulty as the season progresses.  (Hopefully.)

Linebackers: C-

Again, trending upward, but there have just been too many missed tackles and not enough big plays to justify a high grade here.  Some of it could be the youth attempting to adjust to Tenuta's scheme, but the blitzes aren't getting there, and when they do, there seems to be a strong aversion to wrapping up.  (Brian Smith's shoulder block on Polk late in the Washington game is a perfect example of these troubles.)  Barely anyone finishes runners off, and pass coverage is not what you would expect with a bunch of very athletic guys out there.  In Tenuta's scheme linebackers are supposed to shine, but that is not happening through five games.

 Before an injury hampered him against the Huskies, Darius Fleming was slowly starting to emerge, with seven tackles for loss and two sacks.  Brian Smith has been solid, although he hasn't approached the ceiling some Irish fans thought he had in the preseason.  The shining, sparkling gem of the group is Manti Teo, who had his reins loosened considerably against Washington and responded with ten tackles.  As Tate, Floyd and Rudolph took the receiving corps to the next level, hopefully Teo can lead the advancement of the linebackers to an elite unit.  The talent is there, but until tackling becomes more certain and coverage tighter, this group will have a lot of room for improvement.

Kyle McCarthy: A

Remainder of the Secondary: D

First off, let us bask in the glow of McCarthy's season thus far.  Forty-nine tackles, three picks (one of which saved the Michigan State game, another turning the Michigan game in Notre Dame's favor), two passes broken up and a huge (CLEAN) hit on fourth down to end the Washington game.  McCarthy's season has been so good that when he didn't dive to catch Locker's fluttering pass near the end of regulation, everyone was surprised and/or disappointed.  He almost never misses a tackle, wrapping up perfectly every time - and there are a lot of times.  He's almost always in the right place at the right time and without him, this Irish team would almost assuredly be well below .500.

The rest of the secondary?  Not so good.  Whether they're having the same troubles as the linebacking corps in adjusting to Tenuta's scheme, or simply being instructed to play soft coverage, there just have barely been any plays made by the defensive backfield.  Outside of McCarthy, the unit has two picks on the year and many, many more misplayed balls that turned potential interceptions into big plays for the opponent.  Tate Forcier and Kirk Cousins both looked like Heisman candidates against the Irish, and Joey Elliott wasn't far behind.   Notre Dame is 105^th in the nation in pass defense, (linebackers struggling with coverage have assisted with this number)  and with McCarthy's sterling play, that's simply unacceptable.  Going into the season this is the unit many Irish fans had the most faith in, and so far in 2009, that trust has not been justified.

Special Teams: B

On one hand, Nick Tausch has been nearly perfect in his role as placekicker, basically winning the Washington game with his foot.  On the other hand, there are still no touchbacks on kickoffs, kickoff coverage has not been stellar and punting has been so bad that Weis had to make a switch before the last game.  Theo Riddick has shown a nice burst in the kick return game, but really the only good thing consistently happening on special teams is the marked improvement of the place-kicking.  This was originally lower, but after so many seasons of the field goal kicking being an adventure, there's a nice bump for consistency in that realm.

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There is a lot to talk about here, and this is just an attempt at being a conversation starter.  So please, play nice, use YouTube/stats whenever possible, and most importantly, enjoy your weekend.