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Clausen, Irish get off on the right foot

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Associated Press

. -- Jimmy Clausen must have felt as if he were still in paradise.

Clausen, last seen playing nearly flawless in a Hawaii Bowl victory, completed 15 of 18 passes for 315 yards and four touchdowns to lead No. 23 Notre Dame to a 35-0 victory over Nevada on Saturday.

For Fighting Irish Coach Charlie Weis, a pivotal season began with Notre Dame’s first easy season-opening win since his first game in 2005. The Irish ended a disappointing 2008 season, one in which they finished 7-6 and had to deal with plenty of speculation about Weis’s job security, with a 49-21 victory over Hawaii in the Hawaii Bowl that provided at least some hope for the future.

“How do you keep momentum rolling from a game that was so long ago? A lot of it has to do with hunger. These guys are hungry,” Weis said.

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Clausen started the game by completing 10 of 11 passes for 184 yards and three touchdowns, highlighted by a career-long 70-yard pass for a touchdown to Michael Floyd. He bettered that in the third quarter with an 88-yard scoring pass to Floyd.

It was the third-longest pass completion in Notre Dame history.

Floyd also had a 24-yard touchdown catch and tight end Kyle Rudolph opened the scoring with a 19-yard touchdown catch. The other touchdown by the Irish (1-0) came on a one-yard run by Armando Allen Jr.

It was the first shutout for Notre Dame during the Weis era. The last shutout for the Irish was a 42-0 victory over Rutgers in 2002.

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It was just the third time in Chris Ault’s 25 years as head coach that the Wolf Pack was shut out.

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