If you compare N.D.'s first two games with the last three, you can see some pretty clear trends, particularly on the offensive end.

I broke it between the first two and the last three to try to control for the strength of the opponents. Based upon how they've played in other games, Maryland and Purdue are clearly among the middle group of N.D.'s opponents. Michigan is clearly the strongest, Stanford the weakest and M.S.U. in the middle group (though maybe ahead of Purdue and Maryland). So the group of the first two gives you two middle opponents and the last three gives you strong-middle-weak. The group of the first two also gives you one home game and one neutral site, while the last three gives you two home and one road, so that factor's about a wash.

Anyway, here are some breakdowns that I find interesting (2= first two and 3 = last three):

Points per game
2: 23.0
3: 25.7

Points scored on offensive possessions:
2: 9.0
3: 20.3

Yards per rush:
2: 3.14
3: 4.03

Yards per pass:
2: 5.6
3: 7.1

Tailbacks yards per carry:
2: 3.81
3: 5.37

Sacks allowed by N.D. per game/yards per game
2: 4/21.5
3: 3/20.0

Sacks by N.D. per game/yards per game
2: 2.5/9.6
3: 3.3/23.0

Penalty yards N.D./opp.
2: 55/12
3: 70/82

A couple of points: sacks really turned the corner starting with the M.S.U. game. In the last two games N.D. has only allowed 3 sacks and has recorded 10.

The penalty yards look like they might actually be going the wrong way, but not compared with the opponents' penalties. In the first two games, essentially all the penalties were called on N.D., suggesting that the officials were dropping the flag only when necessary and it was only necessary against N.D. Since then, however, N.D.'s opponents have been penalized more and more often than N.D.

The defensive numbers don't really break out in as interesting of a fashion; they're just plain great all year no matter how you slice it. The only one that has really seen a significant change has been the sack totals, which (as noted above) stood at only 5 through three games but the Irish have added 10 to their total in the last two games -- Tuck's emergence being an obvious factor.

The running game has clearly improved a great deal. A fair amount of that is the Stanford totals, but the tailbacks have actually posted impressive totals against all three of the last opponents.