Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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BLUEGOLDONLINE.COM NOV. 16, 2024 35 GAME PREVIEW: VIRGINIA The Irish also play a ton of man cov- erage, even after losing star junior cor- nerback Benjamin Morrison to a hip injury. "I think to play man, you have to be confident in your defenders' ability to play man," Irish head coach Marcus Freeman said. "We've had a lot of confi- dence, and we still do, in terms of what our guys can do and do it well. "I think the ability to have change- ups and the ability to go off of your tendencies is crucial. It's the ability to play man but it doesn't always look the same. I think those are the things that have made this defense successful." Freeman and Golden have Notre Dame's defense riding high, despite the injuries. Colandrea, Elliott and com- pany are reeling. The latter's rhetoric is starting to sound awfully similar to Freeman's after the Irish lost to North- ern Illinois in Week 2. "Leading indicator of success is well- managed failure," Elliott said. "Leading indicator of failure is mismanaged suc- cess. We've had a chance to be on both sides of that. "You start 4-1 and everybody is pat- ting you on the back and telling you how great things are going, and then you don't manage success the right way." Notre Dame responded well from its failure to manage success. Virginia has yet to stop the bleeding. The Irish hope to make sure that doesn't happen on Senior Day in South Bend. ✦ Date: Nov. 23, 2024 Site (capacity): Yankee Stadium (54,251) Kickoff: 7 p.m. ET TV: NBC/Peacock All-time series: Notre Dame leads 39-8-4 Last meeting: Notre Dame 44, Army 6 (Nov. 12, 2016 in San Antonio) 2024 Record To Date: 9-0 overall, 7-0 AAC through Nov. 9 Army head coach: Jeff Monken (78-55, 11th season) Season Summary: The first program name that appeared on your televi- sion set during the first College Football Playoff rankings reveal of the 2024 season wasn't Georgia or Alabama, Oregon or Ohio State. It was Army. Of course, the show eventually got to those other four programs. ESPN typically saves the best for last. But the fact that thousands of people saw the No. 25 Black Knights pop up with an undefeated record next to their name probably provided some shock value for plenty in America. That's what this season has been for Jeff Monken and Co. going on a dozen sea- sons under his guidance at West Point. Army started a season 8-0 for the first time since 1996. The schedule to that point was not formidable by any stretch but the Black Knights rolled right on through it with ease. The smallest margin of victory by Monken's team in those eight games was 17 points. It's been the Bryson Daily show. In just seven games — he didn't play in the eighth because of an injury — Daily accounted for 26 touchdowns, 7 through the air and 19 on the ground. He completed 27 of 47 pass attempts for 629 yards and ran 138 times for 909 yards. He's Army's everything on offense, but the Black Knights' collective defense is equally impressive. Through Week 10, Army ranked fifth in the FBS in total defense, only allowing 272.8 yards per game, and No. 1 in the land in scoring defense, giving up just 11.3 points per game. Again — the schedule is what it is, second to last in the FBS according to ESPN's Football Power Index (FPI). That's only ahead of Liberty. But an unblemished record is an unblemished record, and the CFP committee rec- ognized that in assigning Army a ranking in the inaugural poll of the season. If Army takes care of North Texas Nov. 9 and uses a bye week to get Daily healthy prior to playing Notre Dame, Monken will treat the game against the Irish as a national showcase in New York. A win over Notre Dame is exactly what Army needs to prove it is for real and surge even higher up the rankings. — Tyler Horka FIVE PLAYERS TO WATCH Pos. No. Player Notable Stats* QB 13 Bryson Daily 644 pass yards, 7 TD; 1,062 rush yards, 21 TD RB 6 Kanye Udoh 128 carries, 856 yards, 9 TD WR 87 Casey Reynolds 11 catches, 317 yards, 3 TD LB 51 Andon Thomas 60 total tackles, 1 TFL, 1 INT S 20 Casey Larkin 33 total tackles, 3.5 TFL, 3 INT * Statistics through Nov. 9 Opponent On Deck: Army Black Knights Through eight games, sophomore linebacker Kam Robinson led the team in sacks (3) and was fourth in both total stops (43) and tackles for loss (4). PHOTO COURTESY VIRGINIA ATHLETICS 2024 NOTRE DAME SCHEDULE Date Opponent (TV) Result/Time (ET) Aug. 31 at Texas A&M W, 23-13 Sept. 7 Northern Illinois L, 16-14 Sept. 14 at Purdue W, 66-7 Sept. 21 Miami (Ohio) W, 28-3 Sept. 28 Louisville W, 31-24 Oct. 12 Stanford W, 49-7 Oct. 19 vs. Georgia Tech# W, 31-13 Oct. 26 vs. Navy^ W, 51-14 Nov. 9 Florida State W, 52-3 Nov. 16 Virginia (NBC) 3:30 p.m. Nov. 23 vs. Army* (NBC) 7 p.m. Nov. 30 at USC TBA # at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta; ^ at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, N.J.; * Shamrock Series at Yankee Stadium in The Bronx, N.Y. ; Games on NBC are also televised by Peacock