The Nevada Sagebrush

Nevada was unable to muster any points Saturday against Notre Dame, losing 35-0 at Notre Dame Stadium. Photo by Ricardo Lopez.

South Bend, Ind. — There was only one thing Nevada football coach Chris Ault was happy about after his team’s season opener against Notre Dame — the game ended.

Ault watched as his team was out-talented, out-muscled and out-played by the Fighting Irish Saturday at Notre Dame Stadium. No. 23 Notre Dame rolled to a 35-0 victory over the hapless Wolf Pack. Nevada was shutout for just the second time since 1981. After the game, Ault served up an apology to Irish coach Charlie Weis.

“I told him, ‘I’m sorry we couldn’t give you a better game so we could see what your ball club is about,’” Ault told the media.

Notre Dame got the scoring going early, as junior quarterback Jimmy Clausen found tight end Kyle Rudolph in the back of the end zone for a 19-yard score. Rudolph was tightly covered by Nevada defensive back Cameron Bayne, but the 6-foot-6 tight end leapt high and pulled down the pass.

It was all Notre Dame from there.

In front of a sellout crowd of 80,795, the Irish outgained Nevada 510 to 307 and held the ball for 33:40.

Michael Floyd, a sophomore wide receiver for Notre Dame, gave the Wolf Pack fits all day. He caught just four balls, but three went for touchdowns as he totaled 189 yards through the air. All together, the Irish passing game totaled 332 yards — 315 of which were by Clausen.

“(Our defense) got no pressure (on the quarterbacks),” Ault said. “Their front did a great job. But more importantly, the breakdown was in our secondary.”

The Wolf Pack’s defensive backs were beaten time and time again by the stellar Notre Dame wide receivers. Many times, Nevada defenders would be in the good position to make a play on the ball while it was in the air, but many times, they were outplayed by Irish receivers.

Notre Dame wide receiver Michael Floyd saw nothing but green and cheering fans while scoring this 88-yard touchdown in the third quarter of Notre Dame's 35-0 win. Photo by Ricardo Lopez.

“You got to want it,” Nevada safety Jonathon Amaya said about the secondary’s play. “It’s plain and simple. You got to want to make a play. We had guys in the right position, we had guy in the right spot, we just didn’t do what we had to do.”

Aside from the passing game, the Wolf Pack was also tore up throught the ground, allowing 178 yards on 41 carries to Notre Dame runners.

On the other side of the ball, the running of Vai Taua was just about the only thing Nevada could be happy with.

Taua, a junior running back, carried the ball 18 times for 114 yards. He constantly got into the Irish secondary and ripped off big runs.

“We were running the ball good,” he said after the game. “We were running good, we just couldn’t put any points up.”

Nevada will have a bye week to think about its loss and will next play at Colorado State on Sept. 19. Notre Dame will head to Ann Arbor, Mich. to face the University of Michigan next Saturday at The Big House.

Key stats:

Notre Dame:

QB Jimmy Clausen: 15-of-18, 315 yards, four touchdowns

RB Armando Allen: 15 rushes, 72 yards, one touchdown

WR Michael Floyd: four catches, 189 yards, three touchdowns

Safety Kyle McCarthy: nine tackles, one interception

Nevada:

QB Colin Kaepernick: 12-of-23, 149 yards, two interceptions

RB Vai Taua: 18 rushes, 114 yards

WR Tray Session: five catches, 51 yards

LB James-Michael Johnson: 10 tackles, two tackles for loss
Juan López can be reached at jlopez@nevadasagebrush.com.

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