Some Irish fans - we'll call them the lunatic fringe - have been complaining that Notre Dame hasn't been blowing the doors off of teams because of their vast talent advantage, or whatever.  Granted, every team they had played against Nevada had been a BCS team that either has a great win or very competitive game against a top team.  We were not going to get a poor effort from them, and due to the abilities of Jimmy Clausen and friends, the Irish were 5-2. 

This game - this weird Halloween night clash with a Pacific Northwest foe near the Mexico border - is what it looks like when you play a team where you have a dominant talent advantage.  You control the lines on both sides of the ball, you get your back-ups plenty of reps and everyone gets to focus on enjoying the band and going home happy.  There were obviously some very bad things to come out of last night: the injuries of still-unknown consequence to Trevor Robinson and Dayne Crist, plus Jimmy re-aggravating the turf toe.  But the Irish did what they needed to do as they get ready for a tricky November slate, and now to the bullet points.

• Golden Tate is a top two or three Heisman candidate at this point, and anyone who has him lower than that is simply voting for the big name quarterback who was supposed to be at the top of the ticket before the season started.  All he does is score touchdowns - out of the backfield, on catch and runs, tearing the ball away from three defenders on a jumpball in the endzone - and jump into bands and refuse to get tackled at any point.  He's amazing, he's got two go-ahead fourth quarter touchdowns (Michigan State, Boston College) and a huge game against Southern Cal.  He played better as more of the defense focused on him after Michael Floyd's injury.  Golden Tate is a Heisman front runner, and anyone who doesn't have him there doesn't deserve a vote.
• Great work by the defensive line all night, as KLM led the team in tackles with five.  Ian Williams had a pick, Ethan Johnson was a constant presence in the backfield and Wazzu running back Dwight Tardy didn't really get going into the second string was in.  Hopefully they enjoyed rushing the passer this week, as the next game against Navy won't warrant too many of those opportunities.
• Excellent game by Robert Hughes and Theo Riddick as Armando Allen sat a spell.  Hughes had 182 yards of offense on 28 touches - just beautiful, gaudy numbers as he consistently provided a nice check down for Jimmy - while Riddick flashed some speed with 12 for 75. 
  
• Dayne really flashed the gun on that pass to John Goodman.  Let's hope his leg(s) is okay, although it's not a good sign when the pain from an injury is so intense a player just drops the ball.  Jimmy, please stay?  Thanks.
• Tony Dungy compared Clausen to Drew Brees at halftime.  I like it.
• Duval Kamara went from being written off by Irish fans to becoming a very nice part of this receiving corps.  It was also nice to see Kyle Rudolph back in the mix at receiver, as well as Mike Ragone getting his first catch of the season (which seems impossible, yet is true).
• As far as Irish bowl chances go, they are two very tough road games and two tricky home games away from winning out, so let's not get too involved with that.  However, it is worth glancing at:  If the Irish go 10-2 they will have a shot at a BCS game, a good chance at the Cotton Bowl (depending on how LSU looks in November) and become a virtual lock for the Gator.  If they go 9-3, I imagine it's almost a definite trip to the Gator against the Canes or Hokies.  There are all fine games against good teams, so the focus of Irish fans should be on just winning, baby.