Saturday, September 5 - 3:30 p.m.
South Bend, Indiana
2008 records - Nevada (7-6) Notre Dame (7-6)
Under the scope
The Wolf Pack are coached by Chris Ault who is in his 25th year at Nevada...the Pack are 1-12 visiting BCS teams losing by an average score of 43-17...last season they played at Missouri and were whacked 69-17...last season Nevada average 278 yards on the ground but only had 182 against Mizzou...Nevada has a stout running defense, allowing only 89 yards on the ground in 08, but they are abyssmal defending the pass giving up 312 yards per game...
This is supposed to be the breakout year for highly touted QB Jimmy Clausen...Clausen torched Hawaii in the bowl game which made for a positive off-season...his main weapon is wideout Golden Tate, who is one of the elite players in the country...the Irish are loaded with a stable full of running backs led by Armando Allen...how far Notre Dame goes this season depends on the defense which is led by safety Kyle McCarthy...look for true freshman linebacker Manti Te'O, who was the top high school defensive player in the country last season, to see a lot of action...
Key Players
Nevada - the Pack return two 1,000 yard rushers in Vai Taua (photo) who led the WAC in rushing with 1,521 yards and 15 TDs...the other 1,000 yard rushere is QB Colin Kaepernick who racked up 1,130 yards and 17 rushing TDs...Kaepernick threw for 22 TDs with only 7 picks...
Notre Dame - Jimmy Clausen threw for 3,127 yards and 25 TDs last season...however, he had 17 INTs...Golden Tate caught 58 balls for 1,080 yards and 10 TDs...
Dan Hinxman of the Reno Gazette Journal writes about the positive feeling going on in Reno... "There's a charge in the air, and it's not because the Nevada basketball team is going to the NCAA Tournament. That could certainly happen -- the program has done so four times in the past six seasons and has gone on to postseason play seven straight seasons -- but it's three months until the basketball season even begins." ...
Brian Hamilton of the Chicago Tribune gives some tidbits about the Irish on his blog - Around the Bend...
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