Notre Dame-Duke Preview

Notre Dame and Duke square off today in the battle of one-wins. Duke, they expected to be awful this season. Notre Dame, this season is a disappointment in your opinion. It's senior day at Notre Dame. Say goodbye to Tom Zbikowski, Trevor Laws, and John Carlson. Say hello to Kyle McCarthy, Ian Williams, and Mike Ragone. This game doesn't have very high expectations, but both teams will play very hard, and it should be a good game.

Starting Lineups
Notre Dame
QB-Jimmy Clausen
RB-James Aldridge
WR-George West
WR-Robby Parris
WR-David Grimes
TE-John Carlson
OT-Sam Young
OG-Mike Turkovich
C-Dan Wenger
OG-Eric Olsen
OT-Paul Duncan

DE-Trevor Laws
NT-Ian Williams
DE-Dwight Stephenson
OLB-John Ryan
ILB-Joe Brockington
ILB-Maurice Crum
OLB-Kerry Neal
CB-Terrail Lambert
CB-Darrin Walls
FS-David Bruton
SS-Tom Zbikowski

Duke
QB-Thaddues Lewis
RB-Re'quan Boyette
WR-Jomar Wright
WR-Eron Riley
TE-Nick Stefanow
TE-Brandon King
OT-Cameron Goldberg
OG-Zach Maurides
C-Matt Rumsey
OG-Rob Schrimann
OT-Fred Roland

DE-Greg Akinbiyi
DT-Vince OghoBaase
DT-Ayanga Okpokowuruk
DE-Wesley Oglesby
OLB-Vincent Ray
MLB-Michael Tauliili
OLB-Marcus Jones
CB-Leon Wright
CB-Glenn Williams
FS-Chris Davis
SS-Adrian Aye-Darko

Notre Dame Stat Leaders

Passing
Jimmy Clausen-864 yards, 4 touchdowns, 57%
Evan Sharpley-736 yards, 5 touchdowns, 55%
Armando Allen-10 yards, 0 touchdowns, 100%

Rushing
James Aldridge-436 yards, 0 touchdowns
Armando Allen-302 yards, 0 touchdowns
Robert Hughes-48 yards, 2 touchdowns
Travis Thomas-40 yards, 4 touchdowns
Junior Jabbie-21 yards, 0 touchdowns
Asaph Schwapp-11 yards, 0 touchdowns
Luke Schmidt-6 yards, 0 touchdowns
Golden Tate-4 yards, 0 touchdowns
Geoff Price-minus 12 yards, 0 touchdowns
Evan Sharpley-minus 95 yards, 0 touchdowns
Jimmy Clausen-minus 177 yards, 1 touchdown

Receiving
Robby Parris-361 yards, 1 touchdown
John Carlson-285 yards, 2 touchdowns
Duval Kamara-232 yards, 3 touchdowns
David Grimes-188 yards, 1 touchdown
George West-137 yards, 0 touchdowns
Golden Tate-126 yards, 1 touchdown
Armando Allen-98 yards, 1 touchdown
Junior Jabbie-71 yards
Will Yeatman-37 yards
Aspah Schwapp-27 yards
James Aldridge-23 yards
Luke Schmidt-16 yards
DJ Hord-7 yards
Mike Ragone-7 yards
Travis Thomas-minus 1 yard

Results
Notre Dame
Georgia Tech 3-33 L
@ Penn State 10-31 L
@ Michigan 0-38 L
Michigan State 14-31 L
@ Purdue 19-33 L
@ UCLA 20-6 W
Boston College 14-27 L
USC 0-38 L
Navy 44-46 L
Air Force 24-41 L

Duke
Connecticut 14-45 L
@ Virginia 13-24 L
@ Northwestern 20-14 W
@ Navy 43-46 L
@ Miami 14-24 L
Wake Forest 36-41 L
Virginia Tech 14-43 L
@ Florida State 6-25 L
Clemson 10-47 L
Georgia Tech 24-41 L

Prediction
Notre Dame wins 28-14. I think the defense really steps up in this game. After two bad performances, they will go without starting nose tackle Pat Kuntz. Freshman Ian Williams will be making his first start. He's more of a true nose tackle, and I think he will have a big performance. Jimmy Clausen throws 4 touchdown passes in this game. Thaddues Lewis runs one in and throws one in.

Halftime Report

It's halftime at Notre Dame Stadium, and the Irish are, surpise, losing! Air Force is up 17-10. Here are the scoring drives.

First Quarter
AF-Ryan Harrison: 19 yard field goal; 8:31 (3-0)

AF-John Rabold: 19 yard fumble recovery; 0:40 (10-0)

Second Quarter
ND-Brandon Walker: 28 yard field goal; 8:29 (10-3)

ND-John Carlson: 2 yard catch from Jimmy Clausen; 2:32 (10-10)

AF-Spencer Armstrong: 8 yard run; 1:09 (17-10)

Statistical Leaders
Passing
AF-Shaun Carney: 5/10, 46 yards, 0 touchdowns, 0 interceptions
ND-Jimmy Clausen: 5/11, 59 yards, 1 touchdown, 0 interceptions

Rushing
AF-Chad Hall: 16 carries, 83 yards, 5.2 yards per carry
ND-James Aldridge: 11 carries, 55 yards, 5 yards per carry

Receiving
AF-Spencer Armstrong: 1 catch, 12 yards, 0 touchdowns
ND-John Carlson: 2 catches, 30 yards, 1 touchdown

Tackles
AF-John Rabold: 7 tackles
ND-Trevor Laws: 9 tackles

Longest Plays
AF-Shaun Carney 21 yard rush
ND-John Carlson 28 yard catch from Jimmy Clausen

MVP
AF-Chad Hall: If you've been watching the game, you would notice him. Maybe not from his play, but more from the lovefest he's getting from the announcers. It's starting to get a bit creepy. However, he's a big play back who has many runs that have been stuffed and many that have gone for 15 yards.

ND-James Aldridge: Aldridge has been the most consistent runner on the field. He always seems to get yards. You can't say that about Hall, Allen, or Carney. The Irish need him to keep it up for the Irish to come back and win this one.

LVP
AF-Keith Madsen: For a team that's doing as well as Air Force, it's hard to find a bad player. However, Madsen did have one bonehead play. He fumbled around the 37 yard line with 12 seconds to go. The Irish got lucky and kept the Falcons' lead at 7.

ND-Asaph Schwapp: If it weren't for Butterfingers here, this game would be tied. Clausen had a good handoff, but Schwapp fumbled it. When the ball was returned for a touchdown, Schwapp locked up my LVP of the half.

Bonehead Mistake of the Game
Clausen wraps this up. Air Force is clearly sending the blitz. I see it. Everyone else watching should be able to se it, but Clausen must not. He doesn't point it out to the tight ends, offensive tackles, or backs. This results in Clausen eating grass.

Outlook
Eh. Can't really say much. At one point, the Notre Dame defense was playing amazing. When Air Force ran the two minute drill, the Irish defense looked like they have never seen the option. Early in the game, Clausen was scrambling like crazy and throwing incompletes. At the end of the quarter, he was much more accurate. I can't even predict the rest of the game. It's just so weird.