[Austiger]

Okay, I found Auburn's participation stats. I'd love to see Florida's too, but here are ours compared to ND's. I combined the Sr and 5th yr senior totals for ND since I don't have Auburn's separated.

NOTRE DAME - eight games played
Fr - 15
So - 48
Jr - 45
Sr - 68

Auburn (8 games):
Fr - 38
So - 37
Jr - 43
Sr - 58

NOTRE DAME OFFENSIVE LINE
Fr - 0
So - 16
Jr - 16
Sr - 8

Auburn:
Fr - 20
So - 0
Jr - 16
Sr - 4

QB:
NOTRE DAME
Fr - 6
So - 1
Jr - 1
Sr - 0
5th- 0

Auburn:
Fr- 1
Sr- 7

Also the overall numbers don't include special teams. Auburn's kicker and punter are both freshmen. Most of our KO returns have been by a freshman. Our punt returner is a junior, but was replaced by a freshman @ LSU. I have no idea what ND's special teams experience is, but you can't get younger than that.

So all in all, Auburn is actually less experienced by a decent margin. ND's schedule is 2nd toughest according to Sagarin. Auburn's is #3. So that excuse doesn't hold either.