:: Notre Dame Football Gameday ::
Fighting Irish sink Navy 27-21:
Notre Dame wins with stifling defense, special teams touchdown, dominating ground attack, balanced offense
Nov. 17, 2008
Notre Dame rose to 6-4 and became bowl eligible with a 27-21 win over Navy in Baltimore. The Irish dominated the game statistically, outgaining Navy 340 yards to 242, 
including 230 Irish rushing yards, and got on the board first with a touchdown off a blocked punt. Sophomore halfback Armando Allen had 120 offensive yards, 60 rushing on 8 carries and 60 receiving on 7 catches.
The Notre Dame defense continued to impress, essentially shutting down the nation's second-leading rushing offense for most of game. The Irish gave up only 95 yards total offense to Navy in the first half, and Navy had registered just 135 yards total offense before taking possession with 5:05 left in the game and Notre Dame already playing back-ups, at least on offense.
Charlie Weis demonstrated some of his famed offensive genius, taking over the reins of offensive game planning and play-calling while his offensive coordinator mourned the loss of a family member. Weis used the platoon system at running back to throw a recharged Irish ground game at a previously stout Navy defense. And Weis cobbled together enough of a passing game from a talented young quarterback struggling with turnovers, and having lost one of his top receivers, to dominate the midshipmen with a complete offensive game.
Six Irish ball-carriers had positive rushing yardage, led by junior James Aldridge, who had 16 carries for 80 yards, 5.0 yards per carry, sophomore
Robert Hughes, who had 14 carries for 68 yards and a touchdown, 4.9 yards per carry, and sophomore Armando Allen, who had 8 carries for 60 carries and another touchdown, 7.5 yards per carry.
Sophomore quarterback Jimmy Clausen rebounded from early problems in strong winds to complete 83% of his passes, 15 of 18. Clausen had two interceptions, and had a receiver not rein in a potential touchdown pass in the end zone late in the first half, just after Clausen had been knocked out of the game for a play.
Clausen hit seven different receivers -- three halfbacks, three wide receivers, and a tight end. Allen had seven catches for 60 yards, followed by senior wide receiver David Grimes who had three catches for 22 yards. Sophomore wide receiver Duval Kamara, sophomore wide receiver Robby Parris, freshman tight end Kyle Rudolph, Hughes, and Aldridge, all had catches as well.
Leading all Irish tacklers was junior Mike linebacker Toryan Smith with 10, who saw increased game action after an injury to Mike linebacker starter Brian Smith caused by an illegal Navy chop block. (Toryan Smith also scored a touchdown off a blocked punt.) (Brian Smith had two tackles before the injury.) Fifth-year senior linebacker Maurice Crum, Jr., and sophomore nose tackle Ian Williams each had 7 tackles, defensive safeties David Bruton and Kyle McCarthy had six and five tackles, respectively, senior defensive end Justin Brown also had five tackles, while another senior defensive end, Pat Kuntz had four. Kuntz and linebacker Harrison Smith shared a sack.
During the first quarter, Notre Dame got on the board first after special teams gunner, former walk-on, Mike Anello blocked a Navy punt at the Navy 14, and Toryan Smith ran the ball in for a touchdown, doing a swan dive over the goal line.
Sophomore Notre Dame quarterback Jimmy Clausen overcame early setbacks, throwing an interception on his first pass, and fumbling on the second possession, both turnovers closing out two otherwise successful initial drives in which Notre Dame had been moving the ball well.
In the second quarter, in a possession that had started at mid-field, Navy put together its only truly successful offensive effort of the half driving for a touchdown with about four minutes to go. The score tied the game 7-7.
After two changes of possession, Notre Dame got the ball back one last time for the half, at mid-field with a little more than a minute to go. Clausen then went 4 of 4 passing, for 37 yards, and added a 7-yard scramble, to get the Irish to the Navy 9 yard line. The scramble resulted in a hit that briefly knocked Clausen out of the game, and after an incomplete pass by Evan Sharpley, and a pass by the revived Clausen was dropped in the end zone, Brandon Walker drove home a 28-yard yard field goal to put the Irish up 10-7 at the half.
In a dominant third quarter with a balanced offensive attack featuring strong runs interspersed by some short and medium-range passes, Notre Dame scored two touchdowns, by halfbacks Hughes and Allen, to go up 24-7. With the Irish defense all but shutting down Navy for much of the second half, Notre Dame outgained Navy in the third quarter 141 yards to 18.
Early in the fourth quarter, sophomore place-kicker Brandon Walker added a 36-yard field goal. Walker continues his resurgence, going two-for-two on the day, with a long of 36. In the past four games, Walker has been 7 of 8, with a long of 48.
The final minutes of the game were an adventure. Halfway through the fourth quarter, with Notre Dame up 27-7, and Navy giving up the ball on downs in its own territory, Weis started playing back-ups, at least on offense. As the skies finally opened up with heavy rain, with Notre Dame back-ups pounding towards another score, the Irish fumbled at the Navy 4 yard-line with 3:48 to go, still ahead by 20 points.
Navy actually did not do much with its next possession, and punted the ball to mid-field. Notre Dame, with the back-up quarterback still in, but using bruising regular halfback Hughes, tried to pound it forward. When Notre Dame went for it on fourth down rather than punting and did not convert, they gave Navy the ball at midfield on the Navy 43 with 2:30 to go.
Navy then came alive and drove for a touchdown to make it 27-14 with 1:39 remaining, following up with an onside kick.
Notre Dame had a hand on the ball, but rather than secure it, the Irish player batted the ball out of bounds, receiving a penalty. Navy re-attempted the onside kick, closer to mid-field, and this time recovered it. Aided by the enhanced field position impacted by the penalty, Navy then completed a pass to the Notre Dame 2. From the 2 yard-line Navy scored another touchdown with a 2-yard run to make it 27-21 with 1:21 left.
Navy then recovered yet another onside kick.
Curiously, by using a right-footed soccer-style kicker, who has to approach the ball at an angle from the left, and by Navy having the kicker attempt to kick the onside kick from left-to-right, by design the Navy kicker is going off-sides every time he kicks an onside kick. It is physically impossible for him to kick the ball soccer-style approaching from the left side, kicking towards the right, kicking with his right foot, without his left foot going off-sides as he approaches the ball.
In any event, after Navy was given the ball following their recovery of the final, high-bouncing, onside kick, this time the Irish defense returned to form. Notre Dame stopped the Midshipmen, got the ball back, and ran out the clock.
Notre Dame had at least two key injuries early on, freshman wide receiver Michael Floyd, and linebacker Brian Smith, the latter knocked out after an illegal chop block. Both suffered knee injuries and will not be back until the bowl game.
As mentioned above, Toryan Smith had a big day as Brian Smith's back-up, in addition to scoring a touchdown on special teams off a blocked punt.
Navy also is 6-4, and is headed to the Eagle Bank Bowl at RFK Stadium in Washington, D.C.
In this, Notre Dame Head Coach Charlie Weis's fourth season, Notre Dame is bowl eligible for the third time in four years (the fourth time in the past five years overall for the Irish).
Assuming Notre Dame receives an invitation from one of the now-multitudinous bowls, the Irish will be returning to post-season play for the first time since playing in the Sugar Bowl after the 2006 season, what was then Notre Dame's, and Weis's, second BCS bid in as many years.
With Notre Dame having four losses at this point, some possible invitations in the 2008 bowl season include the Gator Bowl or Cotton Bowl, both on New Year's Day, and the Sun Bowl, played in the afternoon of New Year's Eve.
Check back on this web site for additional information and analysis of Notre Dame's bowl prospects, including Irish participation in the Big East bowl framework for non-BCS bowls.
Next up ... the Fighting Irish back home in the House that Rockne Built against the Syracuse Orange ... who just fell to 2-8 with a 39-14 home loss to the Connecticut Huskies, and have announced that their head coach will not be returning after the season's end.
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