Statistically Speaking: Michigan State | by Pat
It's a Numbers Game
• James Aldridge broke 100 yards rushing in his first career start. The sophomore totaled 111 yards on 18 carries with the highlight being a 43 yard run. Trivia Time. Who was the last Notre Dame running back to surpass the 100 yard rushing mark in his first career start?
• Looking at another way to view ND's offensive (get it?) numbers, here are the all-purpose yardage totals as broken down by class.
Fr. - 607 yds
So - 434
Jr - 87
Sr - 6
5th - 154
• Notre Dame's short running game continues to sputter. The Irish have faced 30 third downs so far this year where 1 to 3 yards were needed for a first down. The Irish ran the ball on 13 of those 30 downs, but only managed to make the first down 5 times (38%) The overall average yards per rush in this third and short situation was 2.31 yards. The passing game has been more successful as on the 17 times that ND decided to pass on third and short, they managed to make the first down 14 times (82%).
• Linebacker Maurice Crum, safety David Bruton, and defensive end Trevor Laws are all currently on pace to surpass 100 tackles this season. Not counting Crum's 100 tackle season last year, only 4 players total in the past 12 seasons have cracked the 100 tackle mark during a year. Trivia Time Part Two. With Laws on pace to hit triple digits in tackles, who was the last Irish defensive lineman to total 100 or more tackles in a single season?
Gotta Have M.O.E.
Some interesting results with the M.O.E. numbers this week. After three straight weeks of a M.O.E. result in the twenties, the Irish M.O.E. against Michigan State was 12%. In other words, Notre Dame cut their number of mistakes in half from the previous week. The Spartans did slightly better on offense, but not by much as they came away with an 11% M.O.E, which is the worst performance to date by a 2007 opponent.
Full results here.
Season Long Running Averages. Full season breakdown can once again can be found here.
