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Notre Dame made an impressive start to their season when they trounced Nevada 35-0 at South Bend on Saturday afternoon. The Irish scored on five of their first six possessions and were far too strong for their WAC opponents.

Jimmy Clausen was the star man as he completed 15 of 18 throws for 315 yards and four touchdowns. The Irish quarterback threw three of those TDs to wide receiver Michael Floyd and his second and third scores were 70 and 88-yard completions respectively, Notre Dame career highs for Clausen.

What will give Irish fans most pleasure will be the performance of the defense, who had a shutout against the respected Nevada offense.

Such was the dominance of the blue and gold that the second half saw Weis field a host of back up players as he rested his starters for the big game against Michigan next week.

"I am really happy for the defensive players, they came in and everybody told them that Nevada was going to go up and down the field against them all day long,” the head coach told NBC after the game.

“They really wanted to come out and pitch a shutout and you don’t get a chance to do it too often.  They did it and I am proud of them.”

When asked what he was most happy about, Weis went on to say that his team looked sharp, showed no rustiness, didn’t turn the ball over and made very few mental errors.  The coach did sound a note of caution though.

“We have a long way to go, but it is a good start.”

Quarterback Jimmy Clausen was delighted with the job his team did in the season opener.

"We came out as a team and we wanted to start the year off on the right note,” said the star man.

“I give all the credit to my offensive linemen first, the wide receivers made some plays and it was a great game,” added Clausen, who will lead his team with confidence when they travel to Michigan next week.