A total of 21 different players took the field for the Irish on the defensive side of the ball, many of whom were in on a significant number of snaps. Weis attributed the change to things that he saw while watching film from last week's game.
"[Using more personnel] was the plan that I felt from watching the tape after the Michigan game," Weis said. "One of the things I felt at the end of the Michigan game, our frontline players, some of them, weren't getting any production. It could be for one of two reasons: They're not playing very well or they're spent. One of the plans today was to make sure, regardless where it was in the situation, we were rolling people through there."
The cornerbacks also saw heavy rotation with seniors Darrin Walls, Raeshon McNeil and Sergio Brown, junior Gary Gray, and sophomores Jamoris Slaughter and Robert Blanton all sharing time in the secondary.
Broken Streak
Before Saturday, the Irish hadn't beaten the Spartans at Notre Dame Stadium in their previous six tries, a streak dating back to 1993.
"Yeah, I think that's two streaks we've been talking about," Weis said. "We had that Bowl streak that they were getting drilled on that they got out of the way. They got this one out of the way. There's a lot of football to be played. But I think they're a bunch of happy campers today."
Injuries
Notre Dame was hit with two injuries in the second quarter. First, sophomore receiver Michael Floyd went down with a shoulder injury after landing awkwardly in the corner of the end zone.
Floyd suffered a broken clavicle on the play and underwent surgery Sunday. Weis said he expects Floyd to be out the remainder of the regular season.
On the next drive, Clausen went down after being sacked and hobbled off the field with a foot injury. Clausen missed only one play on that drive and returned on the Irish's next possession.
According to Weis, Clausen will have an MRI on Monday "so we know exactly what we have there."
"Jimmy's a tough guy, and unless there's a serious injury, he's going to do all he can to play [against Purdue]," Weis said. "So we'll just see where we are."
