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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Clausen, Irish pick up where they left off

Associated Press

Jimmy Clausen must have felt as if he was still in paradise.

Clausen, last seen playing nearly flawless in a Hawaii Bowl victory, completed 15 of 18 passes for 315 yards and four touchdowns to lead Notre Dame to a 35-0 victory over Nevada on Saturday in South Bend, Ind.

For Fighting Irish coach Charlie Weis, a pivotal season began with Notre Dame’s first easy season-opening win since his first game in 2005.

Clausen started the game by completing 10 of 11 passes for 184 yards and three touchdowns, highlighted by a career-long 70-yard pass for a touchdown to Michael Floyd. He bettered that in the third quarter with an 88-yard scoring pass to Floyd.

It was the third-longest pass completion in Notre Dame history. Floyd deserved most of the credit for the score, leaping over cornerback Doyle Miller and keeping his balance when Miller tried to pull him down at the 50-yard line, then racing in for the score.

Floyd also had a 24-yard TD catch and tight end Kyle Rudolph opened the scoring with a 19-yard TD catch. The other touchdown by the Irish (1-0) came on a 1-yard run by Armando Allen Jr., who rushed for 72 yards on 15 carries.

It was the first shutout for Notre Dame during the Weis era. The last shutout for the Irish was a 42-0 win over Rutgers in 2002. It was just the third time in Nevada coach Chris Ault’s 25 years as coach that the Wolf Pack was shut out.

The Irish held the Wolf Pack to 153 yards rushing and 307 total yards.

Auburn 37, Louisiana Tech 13: At Auburn, Ala., Chris Todd and Terrell Zachery hooked up on a school-record 93-yard touchdown pass to help the Tigers beat the Bulldogs in Gene Chizik’s debut as head coach.

Todd passed for 255 yards and two touchdowns, including the long one early in the third quarter.

Ross Jenkins finished 18 of 33 for 149 yards for Tech.

Fresno State 51, UC Davis 0: At Fresno, Calif., Ryan Mathews rushed for 106 yards and Ryan Colburn passed for 161 in his first career start as the Bulldogs smothered the Aggies.

Fresno State amassed 511 yards of total offense.