 Giving up nine sacks and two fumbles, and having negative 8-yards rushing, the Irish lost 33–3 in their most lopsided season opening loss in the history of the program.After the opening loss, Weis named freshman Jimmy Clausen the starting quarterback.Clausen would become the eighth Notre Dame freshman to start at quarterback since 1951 and would be the earliest to start when he faced the 15th ranked Penn State Nittany Lions in Happy Valley.