A Budding Rivalry

Move over USC, Michigan, and Michigan State!! The game I now most fear on the Irish schedule is Navy. Having beaten the Irish three out of the last four, Navy is now considered a big game. Having beaten the Midshipmen for 44 straight years prior, Notre Dame had traditionally chalked up Navy as a "sure win." Not anymore. The Irish got dominated by an undersized and less talented squad to the final tune of 35-17 on Saturday, to fall to 4-4 on the season.


HEISMAN BABY

DANYE CRIST - Made you laugh right?


ROCK SOLID

DAVID RUFFER - Ruffer nailed a 45-yarder to put the Irish on the board. Ruffer has set numerous school records this year, and is currently 13 for 13 on FGs and 22 for 23 on PATs, with the lone miss being blocked. Ruffer is quietly on his way to a great season, although having just given him praise, he will inevitably miss a FG next week.


GET HIM OUTTA THERE

DAYNE CRIST - 19 0f 31 for 178 yds - 1 TD, 2 INT - A week after a shaky performance in a dominating win, Crist followed up with a shaky performance in a dominating loss. At times, Crist moved the Irish offense at will. However, Crist's two interceptions were very, very poor reads and extremely costly - a potential 17-14 Irish lead at the half turned into a 21-10 deficit from which the Irish never recovered. Crist was pulled in the 4th quarter for back-up Tommy Rees who went 6 of 7 for 79 yds on a TD scoring drive. This will no doubt establish a heated QB battle for the remainder of the season.

HARRISON SMITH - Navy attempted three passes the whole game - two were completed for a total 71 yards. The third resulted in blatant, grade school pass interference on Smith who pathetically ripped the receiver to the turf. Better yet, had Smith actually looked for the ball, he probably would have intercepted it.

IRISH DEFENSE - The Irish D gave up 367 yards on the ground. The Irish D were at the mercy of Navy all day long. Navy scored on 5 of its first 6 possessions, converting on 10 of 13 3rd downs throughout. The lone stop came late in the 2nd quarter, but was quickly negated by a Crist interception. Navy punted only three times in the game, with the other two coming in the 4th quarter with the game out of reach.


WAIT WHAT?

There were many moments during that game at which point I knew it was over. I still cannot believe what I saw and experienced watching the Navy-Notre Dame game. Navy could not be stopped. Notre Dame failed to execute time and time again. At the end of the day, if you can't stop an offense, you can only hope to outscore them. However, the problem is, you can't turn the ball over - which Crist did twice - maybe three times if you consider the opening drive turnover on downs. Bottom line, the Irish turnover margin is -1 on the season and is 1-3 when losing the turnover battle.

-DH