Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/200019
Game Preview: Navy rookie to start at quarterback for Navy since freshman eligibility was first permitted in 1972 and the first since 1991. He also was the first signal-caller at the Academy to win his first four career starts since senior Bob Powers in 1979. While passing for 898 yards (completing 56.5 percent of his passes with nine touchdowns and only two interceptions), rushing for 649 and accounting for 19 touchdowns (nine passing and 10 rushing), Reynolds evoked memories of the charismatic Ricky Dobbs, Navy's starting quarterback in 2009-10. During those two seasons, Dobbs propelled the Midshipmen to 19 victories, most notably against Notre Dame in 2009 (23-21) and 2010 (35‑17), a feat that not even Heisman Trophy winner Roger Staubach was able to achieve during his Navy career from 1962-64. Hampered by an injury and illness a good part of this season, Reynolds remains figuratively and literally the aircraft carrier in the Navy football arsenal. In fact, there almost seems to be an overreliance on the 5-11, 185-pound signal-caller to shoulder too much of the load. In the opener, a 41-35 defeat of Indiana, Reynolds carried 32 times, netting 127 yards rushing. After trailing at halftime against Air Force Oct. 5, Reynolds took control in the second half, finishing with 28 rushing attempts for 126 yards. On Oct. 19, he was called upon again to handle most of the carries against Toledo, but this time his 29 attempts netted only 37 yards (but three touchdowns) in a 45-44 double-overtime setback to the Rockets. In his first two seasons at Navy, Reynolds is far ahead of where Dobbs was at the same time in his career trajectory. If he follows anywhere near a similar path in the ensuing two and a half seasons, the Midshipmen can become a much tougher out for Notre Dame than they have been the past two years. Where it starts is not difficult to figure out. When Navy won in 2009 and 2010, it outrushed Notre Dame 348-60 and 373-122, respectively. Last year, the Irish outrushed Navy 293‑149. Staying Healthy Head coach Brian Kelly has been "Mr. November" at Notre Dame with a 10-1 record in that month (tied with Jesse Harper from 1913-15 for best November record by an Irish head coach in his first three seasons), and he wants to keep it that way — starting with a victory against Navy Nov. 2, while keeping the troops healthy. Notre Dame will be facing three physical games in a row to cap the regular season, all against teams that had the Irish seemingly beat in their stadium during last year 's magical 12‑0 regular season. Pitt (Nov. 9) lost 29‑26 in three overtimes after holding a 20‑6 fourth-quarter advantage, BYU (Nov. 23) fell 17-14 after leading 14‑7 at halftime, and Stanford (Nov. 30) also was defeated in overtime, 20‑13, after being in front most of the game. Starting senior offensive guard