Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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www.BLUEANDGOLD.com NOV. 13, 2021 27 down. Graduate student quarterback Jack Coan's pass, though, hit the wall below the Notre Dame Stadium flowerbeds in- stead of hitting Austin's hands. He left the pocket and threw the ball away. A mis- read, plain and simple. Coan heard about it from head coach Brian Kelly right away. "I was like, 'I'm open, I'm open' on the sideline and Coach Kelly is yelling at him," Austin said. Rees gave him a second chance. Two plays later, on third-and-seven from Notre Dame's own 30-yard line, he called the play again. Same result. Austin was open. This time, Coan saw it and let it rip. Austin caught it 23 yards downfield, a sizable chunk on its own. Navy safety Jamal Glenn's decision to play the ball gave him a lot more. Glenn broke on the throw and undercut Austin, hop- ing to get his hands on the pass. He arrived too late, and as a result, left Austin with no one else to beat. Austin sprinted untouched for a 70-yard score — Notre Dame's longest passing play this year — and 17-3 lead. "Jack used his eyes to influence the safety," Kelly said. "Pulled the safety, came all the way back across the field and was able to find Kevin in the hole shot. It was something we had game planned all week." A second-quarter touchdown is rarely a backbreaker, but this one can argu- ably be classified as such in hindsight. It turned a one-score lead into a two- touchdown game, and with the way the Irish defense had played to that point, 14 points felt just about insurmountable for Navy. Sure enough, they never got closer than 11 the rest of the way in the Irish's 34-6 win. Austin ended the day with six catches on seven targets for 139 yards and a touch- down. His 70-yarder had meaning beyond this game, too: Even as Notre Dame's of- fense further establishes itself as a quick passing game, up-tempo attack, there's room for the downfield throws to Austin that were an early season staple. A u s t i n 's 2 1 - y a r d t o u c h d o w n ca tc h ve rs u s No r t h C a ro l i n a wa s his first connection with Coan for a shot play since their 36-yard score against Wisconsin Sept. 25. A pair of Coan benchings and the subsequent shift to a quick-strike passing at- tack pushed the deep shots to the periphery of the offense. Now, though, it has found its way back. Notre Dame still needed a sem- blance of verticality to keep a defense honest. Austin's speed and ability to make contested catches make him an intriguing downfield weapon. Coan and Austin linked up for a pair of comple- tions on throws that traveled at least 20 yards in the air against Navy, giving them three in the past two games after a month without any. Kelly doesn't need to tell him that's good for Notre Dame's offense. "When you get the ball to a guy like Kevin Austin," Coan said, "you know he can take it the distance every play." ✦ NOTRE DAME INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS Rushing Att. Gain Lost Net Avg. TD Long Williams 17 97 2 95 5.6 2 20 Diggs 8 59 0 59 7.4 1 23 Buchner 2 9 0 9 4.5 0 6 Tyree 1 1 0 1 1.0 0 1 Coan 3 3 17 -14 -4.7 0 3 Total 31 169 19 150 4.8 3 23 Passing Com. Att. Pct. Int. Yards TD Long Coan 23 29 79.3 0 269 1 70 Buchner 1 1 100.0 0 11 0 11 Total 24 30 80.0 0 280 1 70 Receiving Rec. Yards TD Long Williams 7 36 0 14 Austin 6 139 1 70 Mayer 4 28 0 14 Tyree 3 15 0 9 Davis 2 18 0 16 Colzie 1 31 0 31 Styles 1 13 0 13 Total 24 280 1 70 Punt Returns No. Yards TD Long Williams 1 16 0 16 Total 1 16 0 16 Kick Returns No. Yards TD Long Salerno 2 33 0 26 Williams 1 29 0 29 Total 3 62 0 29 Punting No. Avg. Long Blk. TB FC 50+ In 20 Bramblett 4 44.5 50 0 0 2 1 2 Total 4 44.5 50 0 0 2 1 2 Field Goals Made Att. Long Blk. Doerer 1 1 24 0 Total 1 1 24 0 Defense Solo Ast. Total TFL Sacks PD FF FR Hinish 8 2 10 2-9 1-8 0 0 0 Bertrand 6 3 9 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 Ja. Ademilola 4 0 4 1-2 0-0 0 0 0 Kia 3 1 4 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 Kollie 3 0 3 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 Watts 3 0 3 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 Foskey 2 1 3 1-1 0-0 0 0 0 Kiser 2 1 3 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 Lacey 2 1 3 1-1 0-0 0 0 0 Tagovailoa-Amosa 2 1 3 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 Bauer 1 2 3 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 Bracy 2 0 2 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 Cross 2 0 2 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 Ju. Ademilola 0 2 2 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 White 0 2 2 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 Ajavon 1 0 1 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 Botelho 1 0 1 1-7 1-7 0 0 0 Mills 1 0 1 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 Osafo-Mensah 1 0 1 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 Pryor 1 0 1 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 Sherwood 1 0 1 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 Brown 0 1 1 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 Griffith 0 1 1 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 Lewis 0 1 1 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 Int. Returns No. Yards TD Long None NAVY INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS Rushing Att. Gain Lost Net Avg. TD Long Ruoss 22 73 0 73 3.3 0 10 Umbarger 1 32 0 32 32.0 0 32 Acie 4 18 0 18 4.5 0 9 C. Warren 1 18 0 18 18.0 0 18 Jones 2 13 0 13 6.5 0 8 Arline 8 11 3 8 1.0 0 4 Harris 3 4 1 3 1.0 0 2 Haywood 1 3 0 3 3.0 0 3 Puailoa-Rojas 1 3 0 3 3.0 0 3 Hall 2 2 0 2 1.0 0 2 Mauai 1 0 0 0 0.0 0 0 Lavatai 9 12 19 -7 -0.8 0 4 Total 55 189 23 166 3.0 0 32 Passing Com. Att. Pct. Int. Yards TD Long Arline 1 2 50.0 0 18 0 18 Lavatai 0 1 0.0 0 0 0 0 Total 1 3 33.3 0 18 0 18 Receiving Rec. Yards TD Long Umbarger 1 18 0 18 Total 1 18 0 18 Punt Returns No. Yards TD Long None Kick Returns No. Yards TD Long Haywood 3 60 0 23 Hassan 1 16 0 16 Total 4 76 0 23 Punting No. Avg. Long Blk. TB FC 50+ In 20 Riethman 5 52.6 75 0 0 2 2 1 Total 5 52.6 75 0 0 2 2 1 Field Goals Made Att. Long Blk. Nichols 2 2 49 0 Total 2 2 49 0 Defense Solo Ast. Total TFL Sacks PD FF FR Lane 6 3 9 1-2 0-0 0 0 0 Marshall 7 1 8 2-12 1-11 0 0 0 Fagot 5 2 7 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 McMorris 6 0 6 1-6 1-6 0 1 0 Gibbons 4 1 5 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 Glenn 3 1 4 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 Hodges 3 1 4 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 J. Warren 3 0 3 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 Busic 2 0 2 1-1 0-0 1 0 0 Fletcher 2 0 2 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 Collins 1 1 2 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 Berniard 1 0 1 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 Cromwell 1 0 1 1-1 0-0 0 0 0 Ramos 1 0 1 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 T. Robinson 1 0 1 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 Ruoss 1 0 1 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 D. Williams 1 0 1 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 Int. Returns No. Yards TD Long None