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✦ top storylines: notre dame vs. air force By Lou Somogyi The Wrong Angle To Take Every time Notre Dame faces a military academy, the centerpiece story usually revolves around how the Fighting Irish defense will have to deal with the tripleoption scheme. What tends to get overshadowed, maybe even ignored, is the opposite side of the ball, which generally is more relevant: How will Air Force (or Navy or Army) be able to stop Notre Dame's attack when the Irish possess so much more size, strength and speed? That's the real angle of the game. To wit: Air Force's three-man defensive front has no one listed in the two-deep who weighs more than 265 pounds, including 6-3, 245-pound starting senior nose guard Dana Luebbe. Other than freshman Jaylon Smith, all of Notre Dame's starting linebackers weigh at least as much as Luebbe. Speaking of linebackers, the Falcons' four-man starting unit has two 215-pounders as the starters on the outside. The top tackler is 6-1, 230-pound junior Joey Nichol on the inside, with 6-2, 220-pound junior Spencer Proctor as his running mate. In the 15 seasons from 1998‑2012, Notre Dame eclipsed 50 points four times, and three of them have been the last three meetings with the service academies: 59‑33 versus Air Force in 2011, 56-14 two weeks later against Navy and then 50‑10 in the 2012 opener versus Navy (a 57‑7 victory at Stanford in 2003 was the other such contest). With sophomore quarterback Tommy Rees at the helm in 2011, the Irish scored touchdowns on all six of their first-half possessions against Air Force to build a 42‑16 cushion at halftime. They finished with 560 yards of total offense — 266 rushing and 294 rushing — while aver- Junior linebacker Joey Nichol (6-1, 230) is part of an undersized Air Force defense that has had trouble stopping opposing offenses in 2013, allowing 37.6 points and 488.7 yards per game during a 1-6 start. photo courtesy air force ✦ Page 7