:: Notre Dame Football: Irish Game Day ::
Hard-working Navy perseveres, Notre Dame comes up short; Irish stand at make-or-break crossroads
Leprechaun Express: Notre Dame Football Intel Update, Nov. 10, 2009
"Navy scares me." — Lou Holtz
"When the going gets tough, the tough get going."— Knute K. Rockne
Hard-working Navy was definitively Navy, and Notre Dame was definitively not the usual Notre Dame, coming up short in the final moments in a game marked by multiple turnovers, including two near the goal line. In the weekend heading into Veterans Day, an unranked Navy upset a ranked Notre Dame team for the first time in more than seventy years, 24-22. The overall series now stands at 70 wins for Notre Dame, 11 for Navy, and one tie.
Both teams scored three touchdowns. But with 60 seconds to go, trailing by a touchdown and attempting another heroic late rally, Notre Dame gave up a safety to fall behind 23-14, only to recover an onside kick and march for a touchdown in less than a minute to make it 23-21 before failing on a second onside kick attempt.
But the game, as it turned out, was won and lost when Notre Dame was shut out in the first half, trailing 14-0 at halftime.
In a game in which neither side ran more than 60 plays, Notre Dame out-gained Navy 512 yards to 404, and picked up 32 first-downs to 20.
But the Irish fumbled at mid-field to end their opening drive, fumbled near the goal-line on a quarterback scramble that just as easily could have produced a touchdown, and gave the ball up on the Navy 5-yard-line on a long interception that, absent miscommunication between the quarterback and receiver, could have been a touchdown or first down near the goal line. Notre Dame also missed two field goals, after previously setting a school record of 14 straight field goals made good across more than half the season. To say Notre Dame was out of character would put it mildly, with the exception of the fact that the Irish also shot the lights out with yardage production in the passing game, even as Navy dropped a lot of defenders into coverage.
Putting up Heisman numbers in a losing effort, Jimmy Clausen threw for 452 yards and 2 touchdowns on 37 of 51 passing, completing 73% of his throws. Clausen threw one interception, a bizarre occurrence where he rifled a perfectly thrown, long pass to the 5-yard-line that bounced off the middle of the receiver's back. It was just Clausen's third pick for the entire season.
Heading into the game, it had appeared that the key points would be Navy's top-3 rushing attack; the return of Navy's dual-threat starting quarterback who also was an opportunistic passer; Navy's quietly productive and tenacious defense; whether Notre Dame would play with as much intensity as the Midshipmen; and whether Notre Dame would press their advantages, including a top-5 turnover margin advantage, the nation's best passing game, enormous size and talent, and a solid running game.
All of Navy's strengths were emphasized by the Midshipmen. Meanwhile, Notre Dame worked hard to overcome some apparent sluggishness and adapt to Navy's unique attack. But Notre Dame uncharacteristically committed the turnovers, and uncharacteristically missed a few red zone field goals.
Notre Dame's defense, previously stout against the run, gave up a whopping 6.1 yards per carry to a Navy offense that ran the ball 57 times, throwing only 3 passes. That meant Navy totaled an unthinkable 348 yards on the ground. At the same time, with Notre Dame's secondary multi-tasking to stop the run, one of Navy's three passes was an opportunistic throw for a 56-yard touchdown, one-third of Navy's scoring. There apparently was some cerebral analysis and complaining about whether Navy's formation had been misperceived with regard to whether the player in question was an eligible receiver, but the defense was well out of position to pick him up, and did not succeed in getting back into position or running him down.
Meanwhile, while putting up staggering passing numbers against a Navy defense that had held its own against teams like Ohio State and Pitt, Notre Dame rushed for only 60 yards on 20 carries, averaging only 3 yards per carry. And Notre Dame was weaker at times closer to the goal line, or making missteps, turning the ball over and missing field goals.
All the warning signs were there. Navy always play tough against Notre Dame, beat Notre Dame two years ago, staged a shocking near-comeback in 2008, nearly beat Ohio State at The Horseshoe this year, had their starting quarterback returning, had their defense hanging tough against top opponents, and had Notre Dame thinking about a BCS bowl bid and the next week's game at top-15 (now top-15) Pitt.
It also is that time of year, and it was a fateful weekend for college football across the board. A top-10 Oregon team that blew out Southern Cal the previous week followed up by losing to Stanford; a top-5 Iowa lost at home to Northwestern, after losing their quarterback; Purdue beat Michigan at Michigan; and a Wake Forest team that Navy beat two weeks ago, without Navy throwing a single pass, took top-10 Georgia Tech into overtime.
With last season's November losses a distant memory erased by the Hawai'i Bowl and a strong September and October, Notre Dame finds itself standing at a crossroads. Technically, Notre Dame, with all its ups and downs, could have been undefeated and competing for a national championship right now. Technically, Notre Dame at 6-3, freshly shoved out of the BCS bowl race, facing a tough schedule, having shown its ability to lose to Navy, could theoretically lose against each of its final opponents and end up only provisionally bowl eligible at 6-6.
Where does that leave Notre Dame? In less than a week Notre Dame travels to Heinz Field to take on an 8-1 Pitt Panther team ranked in the top-10 and on track for its own possible BCS bowl bid. The Irish might still have the ability to win out if they play hard, eliminate mistakes, show some passion, and keep at it. And that is going to be a great opportunity to show some character.
In the flow of a drive and in the flow of a game, Notre Dame has shown unbelievable capacity to pull out come-backs. Now is their chance to do that in the flow of their season.
In a press conference reviewing the Notre Dame-Navy game, Charlie Weis said there would be accountability. On defense, he indicated there were instances where defenders were in position but failed to make a play. There certainly instances where that might have been true, but as with some big plays given up earlier in the season, there also were plays where defenders were out of position. And the defense gave up 158 yards on 14 carries to a Navy fullback who did not play in 2008, a whopping 11.3 yards per carry. The fullback's day including a 25-yard touchdown run up the middle. As with some of the gashing runs up the middle by Nevada, another top-3 rushing team Notre Dame played, regardless of whether the fullback every broke some tackles, one generally does not give up those kinds of yards to a fullback without being out of position.
As with a late loss last year, some more marginal voices in the actual news media, or peanut gallery quasi-media, have started speculating about coaching status. Regardless of one's emotions or attitudes, as a matter of actual fact, there has been not even the slightest effort to corroborate that any relevant party has indicated that there is the slightest basis for such false misreporting. Last year the point was raised that third parties could have a motive for starting false rumors, as an small-time gimmick to stir the pot with recruiting, in an effort to sabotage the perceptions of the top talent flocking to Notre Dame and impressed by Notre Dame has to offer.
Notre Dame, for the first time in nearly a decade-and-a-half, has a rebuilt program across four class years, with an NFL-style offense putting up big numbers despite injuries, and a defense stocked with talent and making some incredible stands throughout the year, with work still in store.
With the Irish facing on of the toughest schedules in the country, true Notre Dame fans will get behind their team more than ever, to close out the year on a series of high notes. At the same time, with Notre Dame so thoughtfully and patiently rebuilding its program, and hopes high for a major bowl and a victory in a major bowl, disappointment in a later-season defeat is understandable. But the Irish are still 6-3, a great record, and have a lot of football left to play.
It is interesting to note what the situation was when Knute Rockne asked one of his later teams to "Win one for the Gipper." Most people are familiar with the speech. What most people might not be as aware of, however, was the broader context. Rockne was the winningest coach in the history of football, with only 12 losses in 13 seasons. But four of those 12 losses came in just one season, 1928. It was a year in which there was concern Rockne, the winningest coach in history, might actually have a losing season.
That was the team he challenged to go out and Win One for the Gipper. His weakest team. And Rockne challenged them to go do it against one of the juggernauts of the day, Army, in front of over 78,000 people. And they did it. They beat Army, they won one for the Gipper, and as legend has it, a player who never had had a big play scored the winning touchdown, saying as he crossed the goal line, "there's one for the Gipper."
Keywords: Notre Dame Football, Jimmy Clausen, Golden Tate, Michael Floyd, Navy Football, Charlie Weis
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