Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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murphy's Law dan murphy Jaylon Smith to make what amounted to a game-ending tackle. During the game, junior outside linebacker Ben Councell, senior defensive lineman Kona Schwenke, senior safety Austin Collinsworth and sophomore defensive lineman Sheldon Day all joined the barely walking wounded on Notre Dame's roster. The Irish were already missing All-American senior nose guard Louis Nix III, sophomore starting safety Elijah Shumate and junior outside linebacker Ishaq Williams for the game — not too mention linebackers Jarrett Grace and Danny Spond, both of whom are out for the season. Without at least five players who were at some point labeled as starters since August, Notre Dame ran dangerously thin on "next men in." "We're on the next, next man now," fifth-year linebacker Dan Fox said. Navy's offense at times shined light on the dings and dents for Notre Dame. The Midshipmen collected 419 yards of offense, including more than 300 on the ground in the first three quarters, en route to equaling the highest point total a losing opponent has scored against Notre Dame this season (Arizona State also tallied 34). Notre Dame can take two wins with it after back-to-back weeks in physically taxing battles with the military academies — and not much else. "This is one, just throw it away," Kelly said. "It's such a different game. … You're ready for one game and the Naval Academy and what they do and how they do it, and then the next week it's a totally different situation. That's why it's such a difficult game to play." Playing the triple option changed the way Notre Dame approached both sides of the ball. The Irish got only three possessions in the entire second half. Navy held on to the football for 37 minutes, nearly twice as long as the Irish from start to finish. Those odd numbers keep Kelly from analyzing where his defense stands after an apparent setback against Navy. Some players said the team probably wouldn't even watch film of the win because it would be useless, at least for this season. Of course, to be fair, the same logic negates the 45-10 whipping the Irish doled out to Air Force in Colorado a week earlier. Notre Dame took a comfortable lead in the second quarter, which threw off the Falcons' option attack game plan and opened up the possibility of a lot of points. They weren't as good as the scoreboard looked against Air Force, and weren't as bad as Navy made them appear to be defensively. Notre Dame won both games and moves to 7-2 on the season, BCS dreams still intact as the season tumbles toward its final weeks. Most Notre Dame players were happy to see the service academies, and the potential to be injured by them, in the rear view mirror. The goal of a 6-0 second half to the season becomes more feasible each week. If they can field a healthy defense a few more times, Notre Dame faces a path to a January bowl game that looks navigable again. ✦ Dan Murphy has been a writer for Blue & Gold Illustrated since August 2011. He can be reached at dmurphy@blueandgold.com