My friends who saw yesterday's Navy-Notre Dame game on TV all talked about the exciting, nearly come-from-behind finish by Navy, which was down 27-7 with only 150 seconds left in the game. Sitting through it, however, was a completely different experience, one that left a lot of Navy fans frustrated.
The good: The Navy defense came to play. They shut down Notre Dame on their first two drives with an interception and a fumble recovery, and held ND to a single field goal in the first half.
The uneven: Special teams allowed a blocked punt in the first quarter that was run in for a TD, and couldn't generate kick returns. Recovering back-to-back onsides kicks, however, was pretty amazing.
The abysmal: Navy's offense just couldn't get going. The D intercepted. Navy went 3 and out. The D recovered a fumble. Navy went 3 and out, and had the punt blocked for a Notre Dame TD return. Navy made its first 1st down in the 2nd quarter -- and then went 3 and out. The D forced ND to punt. And finally Navy put together a 5-play, 58-yard drive for a TD. The D rose to the occasion and intercepted yet again. And then Kettani fumbled, and ND ended the first half with a field goal.
The second half started with Navy going 3 and out on all three possession in the 3rd quarter. Meanwhile, the D, which spent way too much time on the field, was getting worn down and allowed ND to mount nice drives that resulted in 2 more Irish TDs in the 3rd quarter, and a field goal early in the 4th. At that point a squall was ripping through the stadium, and with the score 27-7, fans on both sides (including the two nuns from a few rows behind us) figured that the game was over and headed for the exits in droves.
I remarked to Craig that this was exactly where we were two weeks ago -- down 27-7 early in the 4th. His comment: "That was Temple. This is Notre Dame."
The majority of the fans in the stands had jumped ship, but the Brigade was still there. They seemed to gain energy from the energy of the squall, and were down there in the endzone making a lot of noise. Their energy was infectious.
The D didn't give up, even when Navy (under Dobbs since 4:03 left in the 3rd) went 3 and out again after the ND field goal. The D proceeded to recover another fumble. And Navy went 3 and out yet again. And still the D didn't give up, and forced ND to turn the ball over on downs.
There are 2 minutes and 30 seconds left on the clock. The rain has mostly ended. The stands are three-quarters empty -- except the endzone section where the mids are generating as much excitement as they can. The Brigade still believed.
And Dobbs finally got into gear, putting together a drive of 4 plays for 57 yards and a TD. Navy picked up three first downs, plus a first down on penalty, on that drive, too.
Now it's 27-14. I muttered, "We only need two more TDs."
And Navy recovered the onsides kick, which everybody knew was coming. And Dobbs struck again, covering 41 yards in 3 plays for a TD/extra point which made it 27-20.
At this point a bunch of ND fans, who had headed for cover about a half-hour earlier, started to re-emerge and stood there in near disbelief and Navy made and recovered yet another onsides kick.
The clock read 1:21.
Navy picked up a first down and made it to the ND 34. Then, instead of trying to make another first down on short passes to the sideline (no timeouts left), or rushing and then spiking the ball, Navy tried to go for broke on long passes -- and they all fell incomplete.
Notre Dame took over on downs, and didn't obligingly fumble for a Navy runback. And that was all she wrote.
Final score -- Notre Dame 27 -- Navy 21.
Here's the big question from the upper deck. Coach Ken said at the Coach's Lunch on Tuesday that he wouldn't hesitate to put Dobbs in if the offense needed a spark, but he wouldn't change quarterbacks if there was a good flow. Despite the one drive in the 2nd quarter, it was apparent by halftime that the offense needed a spark, and there wasn't much the the way of flow to interrupt.
Knowing that it took Dobbs a couple of series to find the groove against Temple, we couldn't help but wonder what took Coach so long to make the change. If Dobbs had started the second half, would he have turned it into a real ballgame?
Navy managed to beat Temple with about 13 minutes of great football. Two-and-a-half minutes of great offense (and a boost from King Neptune, who generated the squall) just wasn't enough against Notre Dame.
FOR THE RECORD
Navy earned 121 of its total 242 yards of offense after Dobbs entered the game late in the 3rd quarter. They also picked up 5 of their 9 earned first downs and one of the 2 penalty first downs in that same time frame.
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