For a good long while it was shaping up to be a classic loss to Navy. The opponent was executing a time-sucking ball possession game perfectly. One good Notre Dame play was met with a momentum stopping positive play by Navy. Ball carriers were caught for little gain and wiggling free for positive yards. Previously unproductive players were having career days. There was a crushing turnover and key pass surrendered. It didn’t look pretty.
But, Notre Dame did just enough (with some help from Navy) and will head to Palo Alto looking for a 10-2 regular season.
PASSING OFFENSE
This was the 7th(!!) game this season where Wimbush finished with a completion percentage of 50% or worse. At one point this season it seemed like he was slowly turning things around as a passer and showing some improvement. Now, I’m looking back and he basically did quite well against Michigan State, made big plays against Wake Forest, but the rest of his game log is really, really sad.
Just about the best you could say is that Wimbush settled down, 7 of his 9 completions were first downs, and he racked up a solid 164 yards on those few throws connected.
Also, I’ll give him credit for spurring the super important touchdown drive right before halftime with a pair of 23-yard completions but even then he missed his final 2 passes (with a pass interference penalty thrown in there) before showing a lot of toughness on a touchdown run.
Kevin Stepherson tied his career-high in receptions (5) and set a new career-high with 105 receptions yards.
RUSHING OFFENSE
News flash: The Irish didn’t run many plays on offense on Saturday. The 49 offensive snaps were the lowest of the season and tied for the fewest in the entire Kelly-era. Notre Dame did run the ball 63.2% of the time and generally did a lot better than the close and tight game would suggest.
| Player | 1st/2nd Yes | 1st/2nd No | 3rd/4th Yes | 3rd/4th No | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Adams | 11 | 5 | 1 | 1 | 66.6% |
| Wimbush | 3 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 57.1% |
| Jones | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 66.6% |
| Total | 16 | 8 | 2 | 2 | 64.2% |
It wasn’t a game for the Heisman highlights but if you dig in closely (which the Heisman committee certainly will not) this was one of Adams’ best games of the season, especially since it’s obvious he’s far from 100% healthy. The starting Irish tailback finished with a respectable 106 yards, but even better, finished the game with 8 straight successful carries.
Adams now stands exactly 100 yards away from tying Vagas Ferguson’s single-season school record.
PASSING DEFENSE
It was the best of times. It was the worst of times. The Middies threw 8 passes on the afternoon and it mostly worked out for them, until it didn’t. Also, Navy was just 5 rushing attempts away from the most in a single game against a Notre Dame team, for what it’s worth.
Quarterback Zach Abey–not known for his arm–connected on 3 absolutely massive throws in the game. The first was a 21-yard gain on 4th down which he followed up on the same drive with a 12-yard touchdown pass on 3rd & goal for their final touchdown. He also fired an 8-yard pass on 3rd & 7 during their final drive which put the Middies on track to tie up the game before time expired.
Unfortunately, Abey also threw a really bad interception in the second half (which actually didn’t end up hurting Navy as Notre Dame went 3 & out afterward) and the game ended on a failed halfback pass that was batted down by the wind and dropped to the turf incomplete.
RUSHING DEFENSE
This was simultaneously an amazing performance by Navy’s offense and actually kind of not impressive all wrapped up in the same game. I actually don’t know if I’ve ever seen a game quite like this. We usually see either a Navy offense being super efficient and always on the button or they fall behind and get out of their gameplan when they start chasing points.
How it feels playing Navy every year.
Navy was successful on 51.3% of their runs which is solid for a triple option team that plays cleanly. For most of the game it looked like it would be enough for a win. The Midshipmen were just 9 of 19 on 3rd or 4th down rushes which highlights how they were doing just enough to keep scraping down the field. Every 1 out of 7 carries (roughly) was Navy failing to convert on 3rd or 4th down and they damn near won the game!
I hazard a guess the defense was on their way to dominating a lot more had the Finke fumble not occurred and/or the offense had done more than punt-field goal-punt on their first 3 drives. Up until the fumbled punt return the Middies were 11 of 25 on successful runs and just 2 of 7 on 3rd or 4th down.
Navy would go on a little bit of a hot streak–back to back touchdown drives bracketed by halftime–before the defense settled backed down and regained their composure from being disheartened earlier around the Finke fumble.
SPECIAL TEAMS
Navy punted once and Notre Dame fumbled the return. Let’s move on.
TURNING POINT
Not so fast let’s not move on from special teams! Navy arguably lost this game on a few really bad coaching decisions which is ironic because for the most part Navy played oh so close to flawless in most areas.
Remember how I mentioned Navy’s offense started humming right before halftime and in their first series in the 3rd quarter? Things also started swimmingly on their second series of the 3rd quarter. That drive included 6 straight successful runs that brought the ball down to the Notre Dame 26-yard line.
Suddenly, the Irish defense stiffened holding Navy to runs of 1, 3, and 2 yards. On 4th & 4 from the 20-yard line Navy decided to kick a field goal sending cheers through Irish fans everywhere. They missed the kick and as a result went the final 22:01 of the game without scoring.
3 STARS
- Troy Pride
- Kevin Stepherson
- Josh Adams
FINAL NOTES
Notre Dame punted 3 times in this game. I run pretty close to always saying never punt against Navy because turning it over on downs isn’t a huge catastrophe if it means you’ll get the ball back sooner. Notre Dame punted on 4th & 2 on the first drive from their own 36-yard line, then on 4th & 5 from Navy’s 44-yard line, and finally on 4th & 2 from their own 22-yard line. The first would’ve been bold but understandable, the second should’ve been an automatic go for it, and the third perhaps bold but it could’ve sealed the game had the drive continued. At the very least, you have to change your gameplan to mimic Navy’s decisions to go for it a lot on 4th down.
Navy had 42:42 of possession, just 2 penalties, and still lost. That’s kind of funny in a game with even turnover differential. Perhaps even funnier Notre Dame only had the ball for 1:48 in the 3rd quarter.
This series with Navy sucks. Sure, we can be selfish and say it’s because they’re a good program right now. Is it wrong to say this should be a big brother vs. little brother dynamic where football isn’t even the reason why the team’s play every year? Is it wrong to witness Navy stashing dozens of unqualified recruits at NAPS, with 180 players in their fall camp, and the same amount of 290+ pounders on their roster as Notre Dame and want to play less often? Those are all legitimate reasons in my opinion but what really separates things is that Navy is just so boring and lacking in entertainment. This game was an affront to college football and I’m blaming Navy for 93% of it.
I don’t really understand the cross-section of fans who think it’s ridiculous to stop playing Navy while also writing off where the Navy program is today in a historical sense. In other words, that we should be pounding this lowly program and it’s all the head coaches fault if we don’t. This is literally the most improved program in the country since the early 2000’s. I actually think the national media are finally accepting that any win over Navy is completely fine. I don’t know if Irish fans will ever get there because of Navy’s ineptitude for so long for decades.
“This was the 7th(!!) game this season where Wimbush finished with a completion percentage of 50% or worse”
Counterpoint: It’s his 6th game with a completion percentage of 50% or better! Seriously, if looking for upside on Wimbush’s arm he sandwiched the Miami stinker with his first and second best games of the year by YPA (9.3 against Wake, 9.1 vs Navy). It seems like he has much more confidence on his downfield throws than he does more lateral ones for screens / quick hits, which seems more technique issue than anything else. Sort some of those mechanical things out, complete the easy throws at a higher rate, and that would unlock a few mmore things Chip Long likes to do and make the efficiency stats a lot better.
I couldn’t agree more re:Navy Series. We need to issue them an ultimatum. They either play us the first week of the season on a Thursday or some other type of kickoff thing, the week before our bye, or in place of Army or the series is off
I honestly think the easiest thing to do is treat Navy like any one of our second or third tier rivals. We can play them 2-3 times per decade and that’s it. No need to create all these crazy scheduling quirks.
I could see that, but I guess I would feel a little bad straight-up insulting them. Laying down the law because we’re the dominant program is one thing but maybe don’t be a dick about it. Just say, “Hey, we cant afford to keep getting our season derailed because you guys play a close to dirty style of football every year. Y’all need to make these concessions or we’re done.” I dont think we owe Navy really anything anymore. The debt has been paid so many times over and we need to get off that angle and start doing whats best for NDFB.
“Close to dirty style” coming from a ref is a bit rich. Sounds very ND crybaby-ish.
ND prides itself in “doing it the right way” but you think we should welsh on the deal for what, exactly?
As for boring, we play some really boring teams that we totally outclass (eg Miami, Temple) this year.
Admit it, they play us tough and you guys don’t like it.
Well, seeing as how the NCAA rules committee every year makes it harder for teams that throw low blocks to compete…seeing as how the NFHS has completely made low blocks illegal…and seeing as how cut blocking has been proven to be the second-most dangerous play in football, yes any team that is going to rely on implementing it as the main component of their game plan would be considered borderline dirty.
I dont like that they continually injure our players and that they have a stat that shows teams that play the week after Navy more than often lose. I could care less about Navy’s stupid feelings about this game nor the faux tradition it holds. Like I said above, the debt has been paid thousands of times over by now. Thanks, Navy, we appreciate you keeping us afloat for 5 years or so, but we’re square now. We dont need to keep putting ourselves up to have our seasons destroyed by Navy every year.
Wow. Classy. Not.
Did I sleep with your girlfriend or something? What is with this animosity?
No, you didn’t, I just thought the attitude you expressed lacked class and respect for the deal that ND made with Navy. We don’t get to just opt out because you don’t like us playing them.
I think the construct “keeping us afloat for 5 years or so” so we don’t need to play them anymore is logically fallacious. If you die, you die. Period. You don’t get to come back in 5 years. That’s what Navy did for us. I respect and appreciate that, and the powers that be at ND agree.
I’ll also explain why I disagree with your “borderline dirty” characterization of Navy’s play. Its either legal in NCAA BCS football or not, regardless of what any other organization’s rules are, like NFHS–that’s irrelevant. Think of it like doing 50 in a 50 mph speed limit. You’re borderline but legal. In football, a team is remiss if it doesn’t do anything legally within the extant rules to win its games. If and when the powers that be rule cut blocking illegal, it will be illegal. Until then any team can use them, including ND. The fact that you personally think its borderline dirty is something that is reasonable for you to conclude, but by no means the unanimous opinion out there, especially by the people who make the rules.
To me, it sounds like excuse making to get out of what has become an uncomfortable competition for some.
Not trying to insult you or show animosity, I apologize for being so curt. I just thought your attitude was offensive and pretty cavalier. I was pressed for time and short cut my reply.
Do better man, seriously.
Better, or we not allowed to disagree in direct fashion with others? I admit it was curt, but no swearing or personal attack. I was referring to the comments themselves, not the person–I perhaps should have clarified that, I agree.
Mea culpa.
I believe the agreement was that we play Navy every year unless and until they decide they don’t want to play any more. Maybe we have the raw end of the deal, but we made that deal. Maybe people care less about that sort of thing these days, but I care about it. So I’m not in your camp on this one.
Sounds to me like accusing the other team of playing a “close to dirty” style of football would be being a dick about it.
I’m pretty sure that was sarcasm.
If we can get 2 out of 3 of Stepherson, Claypool, and Mack to go a full game without a drop, I still think this can be an elite offense. Stepherson is going to be a legit, big time college receiver if he can hold onto the ball. Claypool could be Mo Stovall. Mack is just flat out a huge disappointment.
There’s no excusing Wimbush’s bad passes, but it would also be nice if the receivers could step up for him too (as long as he doesn’t get them murdered).
What happened to that Stovall kid we were recruiting a couple years ago? Mo’s brother, wasn’t it?
The last time that Navy beat a team that finished the season ranked in the AP poll was (I believe) 1984. I don’t think it’s unreasonable for fans to expect to beat Navy every time we play them, even granting their definite improvement over the past decade.
One good reason to keep playing Navy is that it tells us something about our coach and our program. No coach who has won a title at ND has lost to Navy since the series began in 1927.
I don’t think it’s crazy unreasonable to expect to beat Navy every time but it’s a much different discussion than it was 20 or 30 years ago. Part of me thinks it’s kind of absurd to expect to beat any team with a pulse every single time, though.
I don’t think modern Navy tell us anything worthwhile about our program re being a national championship caliber outfit. Does anyone think if Urban Meyer came to ND and lost to Navy his first year that it would doom his chances? It’s a weird barometer these days.
Navy was leading Ohio State at halftime in 2014 and it was a 3-point game in the 4th quarter. The Buckeyes ultimately didn’t lose but they did the following week. And of course went on to win the national championship.
Also, doesn’t Holtz losing to 6-5 Air Force kinda put a hole in the argument? It’s the same thing in spirit at least.
That is fair, although I wouldn’t claim that there is an absolute rule vis-a-vis losing to the academies in general or even Navy in particular. There isn’t a necessary connection, certainly. I would describe it as a warning sign.
Lotta nice plays by Rockne in that highlight video
He was all over the place.
BK said he was considering “surrender defense” at the end of the first half, i.e. letting Navy score to get the ball back with time. 1) I’m glad he didn’t do it, and 2) I wish he hadn’t mentioned that he considered it. I remember Weiss doing that. I consider it an abomination, an infamnia. I would be totally demoralized if I were on the defense. I don’t care if advanced stats showed it increased the chance of winning.
The surrender defense has a place. We absolutely should have used it in the last drive of the 2016 game once they got past midfield with only a few minutes of game left. That was Kelly’s biggest coaching mistake since 2014 Northwestern.
I love your “2014 Northwestern” qualifier because I was seized with a Tulsa ptsd episode just now. I need to go lie down…
2014 Northwestern is borderline unforgivable and will always color my view of BK. That fourth quarter alone should negate any time Kelly refers to “twenty-plus years of coaching.” He has tons of experience but apparently is unable to do simple addition.
Eric,
Interesting about the count of 290+ sized players. So do they no longer have the weight restrictions?
Why do you feel this game was an affront to college football?
Herecometheirish, thanks for the historical context. I’m more in your camp now that we haven’t suffered horrible chop block injuries in a few years, but if like to hear more from Murtaugh on his position.
I guess it’s an interesting annual discussion point but this series ain’t ending anytime soon. It seems like a waste of time to talk about it.
I’m not sure the USNA has ever had codified weight restrictions but I could be wrong. I think it’s more a question of getting these large guys to pass the annual fitness test. It would seem something changed in recent years when the team went from virtually no one in the 280+ range to a whole bunch of them all of a sudden.
The fitness test is required for graduation, it’s not annual. So sure, weigh 300 pounds for college but they’ve got a month or two to meet the height/weight table or get a lower body composition, as well as run a mile and a half.
Yup, seems it’s waived for athletes. This was the article I had in mind this past weekend:
https://www.nytimes.com/2016/12/09/sports/ncaafootball/navy-midshipmen-army-football.html
So your point is what, exactly? Every team we play has big guys, so why not Navy? I’m curious why that offends you Eric?
For the same reason I want to punch the TV announcers every Academy game. So much gets made of how they do things “the right way” or are undergoing hardship that GOSH, no other college student could POSSIBLY handle! They live in barracks! They have to study! They have designated lights out times! And then gee, they go serve their country!
The latter part is fine–though as someone who went ROTC, the whole “they’re so special for serving their country” aspect is annoying as hell. and Academy grads were no better than officers coming from ROTC or OCS, and when they were worse, they were noticeably worse. But relative to football, it’s a bit disingenuous for them to be pumped up as “gosh, they don’t get to give athletic scholarships!” (don’t need to, as every student is on scholarship) or to minimize the backdoor ways they bring players in. There’s nothing wrong per se with it. But let’s drop the putting them on a pedestal. I don’t think Eric’s saying it’s the same as Bama using greyshirts, and players having mysterious medical issues that move them off scholarship to make way for the next 5 star, but the narrative around Navy football isn’t as honest as it should be.
Because the very reason why we play them, every single year, has nothing to do with football.
It’s an entirely one-sided relationship–not based on football–and when Navy started using unseemly practices (putting NAPS on steroids) and their game with us became their Super Bowl it became an even more one-sided relationship.
It’s like me going to help out at a soup kitchen every year and giving away money solely because I felt a duty to do it because something my grandfather did. Only to find the soup kitchen people driving nice cars and talking crap out my family.
Navy is a charity that wants to collect money from us and turn around and kick us in the nuts when the check clears. In a way, it’s a matter of principle.
And even if Navy did suck more often than not why devote 8% of every Notre Dame season to a matchup where it’s just a sad, boring matchup where a win means nothing? These two factors colliding are too much for me to continue the series every year.
Really weak straw men Eric.
I thought the game was tense, not boring. The game was in doubt to the last Navy play. Not boring, just different.
Thank you for not addressing my main point and for not adding anything to this discussion.
Well, I addressed the “boring” part and respectfully disagree.
Not sure which was your main point, so I’ll try other thoughts, with respect:
“the reason we play them every year has nothing to do with football”–well after all there is an actual football game played, and in many venues that ND likes for exposure reasons. ND gets to pick exactly where we want to play them. As for the reason we play, sometimes there is an over-riding issue of honor that carries the day, and clearly the university considers this a point of honor. It has in fact been an almost entirely beneficial relationship for ND, both in terms of win/loss, money, and grace/good will. I don’t see it as one-sided at all.
Calling Navy a charity is a huge sign of arrogance and lack of respect, IMO. You won’t like me saying that, but if you’d ever served, you’d get why that is so extremely offensive, Eric.
Hopefully I’ve clarified and added to the conversation. I get that you hate ND playing Navy. Not everybody feels that way, even though its fine that you don’t want to play them.
They are most definitely NOT a charity though.
Thanks for the response.
I don’t think exposure is in the least bit compelling with this series. The lone exceptions being the Ireland games. Plus, it’s not an all-or-nothing proposition. We can and obviously have plenty of neutral site games all over the country, most importantly, against far more compelling opponents.
Jacksonville, New Jersey, and Baltimore against Navy isn’t compelling and is near the bottom for recruiting exposure.
The issue of “honor” is fine but I’d just point out that’s primarily the reason why the series still exists. Again, not football related.
I don’t have a problem with people thinking that honor should ever be removed but I tend to take a more pragmatic approach to these things. Deep down, the “relationship” is a lot of chummy off the field wine and dine stuff that Notre Dame just absolutely LOVES and always will. And, the stories about the school closing, as per Notre Dame tradition, have been sugar coated as well. There’s truth to it but it’s also been embellished through the years.
The best part is that things can continue and we can still be best friends, we just don’t need to play football against each other every year.
The best part about that article? Army beat them the next game 🙂
I see here http://www.public.navy.mil/bupers-npc/support/21st_Century_Sailor/physical/Documents/Guide%204-%20Body%20Composition%20Assessment%20(BCA).pdf that the weight restrictions are 271 lbs. max for an 84-inch-tall man, and that they go down from there. However, I also see that if a recruit exceeds the weight limit they estimate body fat by measuring the difference between his neck size and his waist size. For a 6’5″ man, if the difference is less than 23 inches, he passes.
I believe this is a change from using just the weight table that was implemented in 2015.
So, this is dated information from about 17 years ago, but even then Navy had lesser weight restrictions than the other academies. I went through initial armor officer training course with a guy who played at West Point, and for Army the players are allowed to balloon up in-season to play, but had to drop back down to meet normal Army weight standards in the off-season. Meaning that virtually no sustainable gains could be made for the linemen. (there’s no way an offensive lineman is falling within the body fat percentages allowed). According to this guy, on top of the fact that the Navy has laxer standards than the Army for weight in general, the Navy football players (linemen, really, because an RB is going to be fine) could maintain their entire time there, and only had to drop the weight once their playing careers were done–which most linemen do anyway whenever they stop. In his mind, this is why Navy always was going to have an advantage over Army.
I have no idea how much has changed since then, but….and now I see you posted an article on it so hey maybe I should read that…
I think like most ND fans, I’ve got conflicted feelings on the Navy series. On one hand, for 364 days of the year the concept is cool, noble and nice to see a tradition being carried on. But that one afternoon of the year it’s no fun to play.
I also tend to think it’s a little bit unbecoming to try to beg out of this series now that Navy’s improved so much in the last 10-15 years as a program. Other than the George Welsh days of the late ’70s (and until now, of course) Navy’s been a pushover for pretty much the last 50 years, and I don’t know since there wasn’t internet but I doubt ND fans wanted out in the ’80s or ’90s when it was pretty much an automatic win. Now it’s more annoying, cut blocks! The hangover and prep time to defend the option! This sucks!
Obviously ND has a lot more to lose in the games than Navy does, the cost/benefit from a pure football stance now makes the series an easy no for Notre Dame. But, in a weird way, I’m fine with it continuing. Well for 363 more days, anyways.
Also important to remember that Navy will play anywhere we ask them to on their “home” years. Jacksonville, Dublin, Baltimore, San Diego, wherever.
…so they can make more money.
The immediate problem is that we’re effectively scheduling North Dakota State every year. It’s fine if people don’t want to drop the series because Navy is good now.
But on the other hand, even if Navy were bad what is so endearing about this series? It’s a million miles away from the Army-Navy yet there’s often a lot of talk from our side of the aisle as if it is that kind of game.
But but but it’s Navy’s Super Bowl!!!
I am a traditionalist, but I dread this game every year. I agree with Clearwall, let’s schedule it the first Thursday or before a bye week.
Realistically, I don’t think the administration will ever drop them from the schedule unless we end up in a conference.
“But on the other hand, even if Navy were bad what is so endearing about this series?”
A question worth asking. I suppose a major part of the endearment is the endurance being as the game’s been played every year since 1927 without interruption. An object in motion, and all that. Add in the WW2 ties and all that and there you go. I don’t think it’s nearly Army-Navy or anything close, but 90 matchups in a row isn’t something to just discard to discard, IMO.
I’m not dying on the hill that this rivalry needs to be preserved, don’t really care all that much, and Navy is clearly the lowest of the ND yearly rivalries. And in this day and age since Purdue and Michigan State aren’t on the schedule every year, it’s not a debate that’s without merit to wonder/hope that maybe Navy/ND goes by that wayside as well. (And FWIW, I was saddened to see the scheduling issues that necessitated playing the Big10 teams, including Michigan, less).
Big picture though, I don’t see a good reason to take the yearly tradition away to remove Navy from the schedule, aside from just being scared that Navy is a decent program now. It’s an annoying game, to be sure though.
This is a really good point and one that I think refutes the question of “do we want to drop Navy just because they’re good now?” I’d rather drop Navy and get Meatchicken back on the schedule. I’d rather do 2 years with Purdue and 2 years with Navy. I’d rather drop Navy and pick up more games against Texas teams. It’s not at all anything about Navy being good, it’s that it’s borderline dirty football, it’s boring as hell to watch, it doesn’t make us BETTER because you cant take anything away from it(positive or negative) and it effectively disrupts your season progression because you always have this one week with some gimmick offense you have to prep for. You cant say, “well Team A this week does some of what Team B the week after does. We can work on that a lot and have two weeks worth of prep in one.” No, you have to basically bring in a completely different defense and game plan for this one week then try to restart your normal team the week after.
“get MEATCHICKEN back on the schdule”
1000x no, regardless of what we do with Navy. Eff Michigan.
I dont want them back because I think they deserve it. I dont want them back as some kind of reward to them. I dont want them back for any reason other than I hate the ever loving piss out of them and that raw hatred is such a strong emotion. And that’s what sports should be about, passion, emotion. Good or bad, it’s intense and it’s exciting. Much more fun than a rain soaked 24-17 win watching Navy run the ball for 3-4 yards for 40 minutes. And then, we get NO reward for winning the game or we get destroyed if we actually lose it.
I don’t feel any love for this series. Just pointing out:
a) It’s not ending no matter how much griping we do.
b) They’ll play anywhere we ask them to.
Maybe they do make more money at bigger stadiums in far away places. But that is still valuable to ND because we get to go someplace (like Jax) that has recruiting value or someplace (like Dublin) that can fleece the sentimental Irish-Americans.
And think of it this way, Eric. If the USNA makes a little more money at a big-stadium “home” game today, that’s a little less money that your grandchildren will have to pay back to the Chinese in 70 years when the bills come due.
I think the best solution is to join a conference and use that excuse to stop playing Navy. We solve all our problems and no alums are upset, right?
On an unrelated note, have we decided on a sarcasm font for this site?
Yeah, just use the HTML code
p font = “comic sans” /p
Let me try that:
Dallas Sucks
Hey it didn’t work. I guess that means I was being serious.
The city, football team, owner, or all of the above?
Team and owner. That was a low blow, though. Was meant as a good-natured troll of Clearwall but I feel bad now.
Team is missing so many top players at key positions, it’s everything they can do just to keep afloat right now. I’m staying positive because most of the injured guys should be getting back Thursday, or at least they’re saying they’ll give it a go, and the schedule is VERY friendly the rest of the year.
4-5 Chargers Thurs
WSH the next thurs
Awful NYG
Raiders who are not nearly the team they were last year
Seattle minus Sherman and Chancellor(Zeke returns as well)
Philthy with nothing to play for in week 17
Winning last night would have been huge, but it’s really not the end of the world. 11-5 or 10-6 is still doable.
How many women has Zeke beaten up lately? But Dallas is proud to have him, right?
None. Stop getting your news from BSPN
Really???
Hmm…
I tried it, too, and no, it doesn’t work. Seems WordPress strips out any attributes (including the style attribute) in paragraph tags in posts. That might be something that can be changed by a site administrator. (Eric?)
With a hat-tip to This Week in Schadenfreude, I’m just gonna leave this bonkers Michigan conspiracy theory right here – http://michigannation2.blogspot.com/2017/11/this-football-season-and-possible.html
Wow. Talk about rants. I couldn’t really get through it all, started skimming at the halfway mark, but it really does confirm any and all prejudicial thoughts about those particular fans. Thanks for sharing!
I agree with this intrepid investigator…Boycott the Big Ten!
I can see that the Fielding Yost legacy is alive and well.
Another excellent write-up. LIke several of you have said, I do anticipate these with impatience, and thanks again to Eric and The Staff for having stayed the course and built this new site.
I have read all the comments about keeping Navy on the schedule with great interest. I would place myself in the apparently small group that can appreciate all the good reasons to keep them on the schedule, while appreciating that they are a tough out and a damn good team that fights their ass off for every down and puts us to the test; thus making me a fan that is happy to credit our team for even hard-won and narrow victories like this one.
Hey — we held them to 17 freaking points. There were lots of drives they just… did… not… finish. See their coach’s lament post-game. To me, that’s a big deal, and I am rejoicing. (Also rejoicing that BW started to find some mojo again after a rocky start.)
When I ask myself why, having known the 42 year win streak, that I do not put Navy in this box of “horrible team to which it is a disgrace to only win by 7 points against” — it’s because I was around before the streak began… like for that Roger Staubach led Navy victory which was truly one of the most amazing performances I have ever seen from an opponent in our stadium. So, for me… bring ’em on. I understand all Eric’s points, and they are good ones, but to me they are overborn by the genuine weight of tradition. That includes that I don’t like ’em at all — having taught at West Point, and having been brought up on ND-Army above all else except SoCal, I enjoy beating Navy, and beating up on them for the Kaydets, but that is OT.
I would enjoy the thoughts of at least two fellow …hmm, long-timers… Kiwifan and Cubsfan? And fellow Navy hater KG…
How about a poll to see where everyone stands? Drop them completely, keep as is, or demand a more favorable timing of the game*
* I assume this is easier said than done. Now that Navy is in a conference themselves, I’m sure there is less room for Notre Dame in their schedule.
I respect the tradition, but hate the Navy hangover, so I would favor that they play the game at the beginning of the year, end of year, or before the bye week. ND plays USC and Stanford on a regular pattern, so you would think that this could happen for Navy as well.
I’d be ok with that, makes a lot of sense.
Sign me up.
Hah, I was there for that Staubach game too, Noise! We were cursed by really bad coaches back then, weren’t we? Staubach is one of the best qb’s ever to play in ND stadium. Truly exciting in college and with the cowboys.
Navy provided an existential rescue to ND. You younger guys don’t seem to realize your degree would be from elsewhere absent Navy saving ND.
Life saving gratitude shouldn’t be abandoned because they play us tough, IMO.
Hey — Joe d__n Kuharich. What a miserably ineffective coach. But he did recruit some good players for Ara.
Concur on all else!
Don’t forget Devore, Noise. Kuharich was my freshman year and Devore my sophomore year. Fortunately Ara came in during the back end of my sophomore year, I was at the bball game when he was introduced, and we all went crazy delirious. Then the sun rose again on ND football 🙂
The Staubach era preceded me by six years (my freshman year was 1970). So by the time I got to ND, Navy was already a pretty bad team. During my four years, the average score was ND 41, Navy 9. Thus, when I was there, the student body regarded the Navy game as a boring game. I even remember fellow students giving up their Navy student tickets my senior year (during a National Championship season) so that needy South Bend kids could experience a game in Notre Dame Stadium (perhaps sadly, I wasn’t as benevolent).
With regard to continuation of the Series, the only Series I consider sacrosanct is USC. I would prefer that we kept Michigan State or Purdue on the schedule, as opposed to Navy (or another interesting team we could add to the schedule if that slot opened up). I get much more up for playing Sparty or the Boilers (Purdue gets so psyched up for us and my sister went to Purdue) and I too am sick of all the platitudes about Navy and all the Service Academies.
I might feel a little differently if the cut block was outlawed, so that our players didn’t have to worry about getting hurt. I was at an Air Force/ND game here in Colorado in the early nineties when, though we won, two of our D linemen got broken ankles during the game (I think one of them may have been Bryant Young, though I could be wrong). If that rule change happened, the Navy game would be a little more easy to continue, though I think it would still be a thankless, boring game.
Although I deeply appreciate what our servicemen do for our country, my experiences at the Air Force Academy/ND games has not been good. They are the poorest sportsmen I’ve ever seen. Once incident I will never forget was the game in the early 90’s that Powlus couldn’t play in and we had to start Tom Krug at QB (we had to win to get into a major bowl). Their band (however small) literally marched up and down the sidelines so it could blare noise at our offense whenever we were trying to get a play off. We had a TD called back before halftime because of an illegal motion penalty caused by their band’s noise. Another occasion was Tony Rice’s first start (it was at Air Force). During the game, their cheerleaders tried to kidnap our Leprechaun and an actual on-field fight ensured in which the Leprechaun’s nose was bloodied. So, perhaps my attitude towards Navy is colored by these experiences.
It was Bryant Young. I will never forget the ashen look on Lou Holtz’s face.