Sorry for the delay but I had a World Series hangover.
It happens every year around the time of the Navy game… the grousing about playing Navy reaches a fever pitch and people start talking about canceling the series and the “debt has been paid,” etc. My only complaint about this series is that it’s not played against Army (yeah, @alperry and I are both jealous), but Army was just on the wrong side of history here. Everyone knows the story of how Navy saved ND so I won’t go in to it save to quote Fr. Hesburgh saying that the game was “An annual payment on a debt of honor.” If someone saved your life, would there ever be a point where you thought, “I’ve shown enough gratitude?” Not me.
We always talk about tradition at ND. Well this series is the longest uninterrupted intersectional rivalry in college football. The series started in 1927 (fresh off of Navy’s 1926 National Championship), so more than 14 straight games were played before the start of WW2, making this game a tradition well before Navy saved ND. This game is good for ND, it’s good for Navy, and it’s great for this country. The only tradition I would like to see changed, however, is I would love for the game to be played at Annapolis at least periodically.
Here’s a very thoughtful take on the series- https://www.theodysseyonline.com/thank-letter-navy-notre-dame
Notre Dame has a proud partnership with the defenders of this country (https://www.nd.edu/stories//history-of-nd-and-military/) and I hope this series goes on forever.
On to the game-
First half- It wasn’t perfect because you had the Boykin fumble and the missed XP, but it was as near perfect football as you can get, and the type of game that we haven’t seen against Navy in some time.
It Was Over When- The 1st half ended- ND had a 27 point lead. No matter how well Navy played in the 2nd half, they realistically don’t move the ball fast enough or average enough possessions to mount a comeback. This one was in in the books despite the worries of some.
Perspective- Post of the game…
Ian Book- 27-33 for 330 yards. That’s just about 82% completions. He makes good, accurate, throws, he’s great with snap decisions and has great awareness in the pocket and goes on the run at the right times. In the 2nd Q he had a great scramble for a 1st down when he didn’t see an open receiver. Sure, he threw an interception, but the game was over by then. He put it out there quickand I don’t think he even saw the defender. On a positive note, and one I didn’t hear mentioned by the announcers, Book made a sensational tackle
O-Line- I really liked what I saw out of Aaron Banks. Some will say, “It’s just Navy,” but he was pushing linemen around out there and it seemed like it helped out Eichenberg as well. As a unit, they didn’t allow a sack and only allowed 3 tackles for loss. They also really opened up the running game for Notre Dame, picking up 254 yards on 43 carries for about 5.9 yards per carry. This allowed ND to control the clock and the game.
Aaron Taylor- Speaking of o-linemen, I really enjoyed his commentary during the game. Very knowledgeable and quick with his analysis. I thought he was very impressive.
Speaking of Running Games- Dexter Williams is a monster. He gained nearly 6.2 yards per rush and even when he screwed up and fumbled, he didn’t give up and fought to get that ball back. People talk to me all the time about how the outcome would be different if ND played Michigan today and I say Dex would have run all over Michigan. He was a big missing ingredient over the first 4 games.
Receivers- One thing that has really stood out to me over the past several games is that it seems the receivers have just been running better routes this year. Chip Long likes to spread the ball to different receivers and that continued against Navy. The 27 completions went to 9 different receivers for an average of 10 yards per catch. Very nice.
Gilman- This guy is just a badass. I saw him blow a tackle just before Navy’s second TD, but other than that it looked like a really solid game for him. A couple of plays that stood out to me were in the 1st Q after the Boykin fumble he came up and made a big stop on a Navy run up the middle. On the next play he rode the ball carrier out of bounds. After the play he kind of bumped one of his former teammates as he walked back on the field. I liked the attitude and swag. Statistically, he was the second leading tackler for ND with 6 solo tackles and 7 total.
Defensive Front- Particularly in the 1st half, Navy kept trying to punch the ball through the center of the line and got nowhere. They only started picking up yards in the second half when they attacked the edges. On long run that Navy had to start the 2nd half, the runner split Okwara and Pride, both of whom had their hands on him but didn’t make the tackle. Navy had a little more success up the middle in the 2nd half, particularly on their final TD, one which saw another Umpire throw a pick for the opposition.
I’m not sure if the defensive effort in the 2nd half had anything to do with playing a bit softer to avoid injuries or if they just lost interest after building up the big lead. Unfortunately, it didn’t seem like they worked many second teamers in on either side of the ball. This poster made a good point:
Tranquill- Anyone else get sick to their stomach when he went down early in the game? He’s such an important part of this team’s success over the rest of this season. His absence made the 1st half defensive effort all the more impressive. Hopefully he’ll be back at full speed soon. Update from “SIAP-Tranquill a Freak” thread:
Boykin- I love it when someone redeems themselves. He follows up the big fumble with 2 big TD receptions. Well done.
Jafar Armstrong- Tremendous game as a dual threat weapon, gaining 64 yards in the air and 52 on the ground. What a great connection between Armstrong and Book on that 26 yard pass in the 4thQ. Armstrong stayed engaged and got open to give Book a good read.
Coney- Someone asked if he played this past game and I have to assume it was a joke. 8 solo tackles, 14 total with 1 tackle for a loss. I just really enjoy watching him.
Out Navy-ing Navy- The announcers made several mention of this during the game, but what exactly is that? It’s having more possessions than Navy, more clock time, and scoring quickly on the possessions you do have. Geek Stats: NF had 33 passing plays and 43 rushing plays for a total of 76 (584 total yards). Navy had 12 passing plays and 48 rushing plays for a total of 60 (344 total yards). Additional Geek Stats: ND possessed the ball for nearly 32 minutes while Navy had the ball for about 28 minutes.
Super Geek Stats: Compare the above figures with the past 2 ND-Navy games, one a Navy win (2016) and the other a close ND win (2017). In the 2016 Navy win, ND only had 6 possessions all game, and only 2 in the second half and had possession of the ball for nearly 8 full minutes less than Navy. In the 2017 game Navy had possession for nearly 43 minutes compared to almost 17 minutes for ND despite the fact that they had nearly the same number of possessions (9 for Navy, 8 for ND)! In Saturday’s game, ND had 12 possessions to Navy’s 13.
I’d say that Long and Lea, but particularly Long, have figured out how to deal with Triple Option teams.
Post Game Post-of-the-Game-
We’re on to Northwestern and I think we have a score to settle. Here’s a GREAT primer- https://notredame.forums.rivals.com/threads/some-northwestern-thoughts.131741/
Have a great week, folks!
It happens every year around the time of the Navy game… the grousing about playing Navy reaches a fever pitch and people start talking about canceling the series and the “debt has been paid,” etc. My only complaint about this series is that it’s not played against Army (yeah, @alperry and I are both jealous), but Army was just on the wrong side of history here. Everyone knows the story of how Navy saved ND so I won’t go in to it save to quote Fr. Hesburgh saying that the game was “An annual payment on a debt of honor.” If someone saved your life, would there ever be a point where you thought, “I’ve shown enough gratitude?” Not me.
We always talk about tradition at ND. Well this series is the longest uninterrupted intersectional rivalry in college football. The series started in 1927 (fresh off of Navy’s 1926 National Championship), so more than 14 straight games were played before the start of WW2, making this game a tradition well before Navy saved ND. This game is good for ND, it’s good for Navy, and it’s great for this country. The only tradition I would like to see changed, however, is I would love for the game to be played at Annapolis at least periodically.
Here’s a very thoughtful take on the series- https://www.theodysseyonline.com/thank-letter-navy-notre-dame
Notre Dame has a proud partnership with the defenders of this country (https://www.nd.edu/stories//history-of-nd-and-military/) and I hope this series goes on forever.
On to the game-
First half- It wasn’t perfect because you had the Boykin fumble and the missed XP, but it was as near perfect football as you can get, and the type of game that we haven’t seen against Navy in some time.
It Was Over When- The 1st half ended- ND had a 27 point lead. No matter how well Navy played in the 2nd half, they realistically don’t move the ball fast enough or average enough possessions to mount a comeback. This one was in in the books despite the worries of some.
Perspective- Post of the game…
Ian Book- 27-33 for 330 yards. That’s just about 82% completions. He makes good, accurate, throws, he’s great with snap decisions and has great awareness in the pocket and goes on the run at the right times. In the 2nd Q he had a great scramble for a 1st down when he didn’t see an open receiver. Sure, he threw an interception, but the game was over by then. He put it out there quickand I don’t think he even saw the defender. On a positive note, and one I didn’t hear mentioned by the announcers, Book made a sensational tackle
O-Line- I really liked what I saw out of Aaron Banks. Some will say, “It’s just Navy,” but he was pushing linemen around out there and it seemed like it helped out Eichenberg as well. As a unit, they didn’t allow a sack and only allowed 3 tackles for loss. They also really opened up the running game for Notre Dame, picking up 254 yards on 43 carries for about 5.9 yards per carry. This allowed ND to control the clock and the game.
Aaron Taylor- Speaking of o-linemen, I really enjoyed his commentary during the game. Very knowledgeable and quick with his analysis. I thought he was very impressive.
Speaking of Running Games- Dexter Williams is a monster. He gained nearly 6.2 yards per rush and even when he screwed up and fumbled, he didn’t give up and fought to get that ball back. People talk to me all the time about how the outcome would be different if ND played Michigan today and I say Dex would have run all over Michigan. He was a big missing ingredient over the first 4 games.
Receivers- One thing that has really stood out to me over the past several games is that it seems the receivers have just been running better routes this year. Chip Long likes to spread the ball to different receivers and that continued against Navy. The 27 completions went to 9 different receivers for an average of 10 yards per catch. Very nice.
Gilman- This guy is just a badass. I saw him blow a tackle just before Navy’s second TD, but other than that it looked like a really solid game for him. A couple of plays that stood out to me were in the 1st Q after the Boykin fumble he came up and made a big stop on a Navy run up the middle. On the next play he rode the ball carrier out of bounds. After the play he kind of bumped one of his former teammates as he walked back on the field. I liked the attitude and swag. Statistically, he was the second leading tackler for ND with 6 solo tackles and 7 total.
Defensive Front- Particularly in the 1st half, Navy kept trying to punch the ball through the center of the line and got nowhere. They only started picking up yards in the second half when they attacked the edges. On long run that Navy had to start the 2nd half, the runner split Okwara and Pride, both of whom had their hands on him but didn’t make the tackle. Navy had a little more success up the middle in the 2nd half, particularly on their final TD, one which saw another Umpire throw a pick for the opposition.
I’m not sure if the defensive effort in the 2nd half had anything to do with playing a bit softer to avoid injuries or if they just lost interest after building up the big lead. Unfortunately, it didn’t seem like they worked many second teamers in on either side of the ball. This poster made a good point:
Tranquill- Anyone else get sick to their stomach when he went down early in the game? He’s such an important part of this team’s success over the rest of this season. His absence made the 1st half defensive effort all the more impressive. Hopefully he’ll be back at full speed soon. Update from “SIAP-Tranquill a Freak” thread:
Boykin- I love it when someone redeems themselves. He follows up the big fumble with 2 big TD receptions. Well done.
Jafar Armstrong- Tremendous game as a dual threat weapon, gaining 64 yards in the air and 52 on the ground. What a great connection between Armstrong and Book on that 26 yard pass in the 4thQ. Armstrong stayed engaged and got open to give Book a good read.
Coney- Someone asked if he played this past game and I have to assume it was a joke. 8 solo tackles, 14 total with 1 tackle for a loss. I just really enjoy watching him.
Out Navy-ing Navy- The announcers made several mention of this during the game, but what exactly is that? It’s having more possessions than Navy, more clock time, and scoring quickly on the possessions you do have. Geek Stats: NF had 33 passing plays and 43 rushing plays for a total of 76 (584 total yards). Navy had 12 passing plays and 48 rushing plays for a total of 60 (344 total yards). Additional Geek Stats: ND possessed the ball for nearly 32 minutes while Navy had the ball for about 28 minutes.
Super Geek Stats: Compare the above figures with the past 2 ND-Navy games, one a Navy win (2016) and the other a close ND win (2017). In the 2016 Navy win, ND only had 6 possessions all game, and only 2 in the second half and had possession of the ball for nearly 8 full minutes less than Navy. In the 2017 game Navy had possession for nearly 43 minutes compared to almost 17 minutes for ND despite the fact that they had nearly the same number of possessions (9 for Navy, 8 for ND)! In Saturday’s game, ND had 12 possessions to Navy’s 13.
I’d say that Long and Lea, but particularly Long, have figured out how to deal with Triple Option teams.
Post Game Post-of-the-Game-
We’re on to Northwestern and I think we have a score to settle. Here’s a GREAT primer- https://notredame.forums.rivals.com/threads/some-northwestern-thoughts.131741/
Have a great week, folks!
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