Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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GAME PREVIEW: NAVY BY LOU SOMOGYI TAKING THE DIVE There is not a more elementary play than the fullback dive — although the fullback in the last decade has been pretty much phased out in the football lexicon in favor of another receiver or tight end in most of today's spread at- tacks. In the triple option, though, the full- back remains extremely vital, while the offense looks to gain at least a hard three or four yards between the tackles to help loosen up the line of scrimmage. That in turn can open up huge plays off the edge, either with the quarterback keeping or pitching out to the trailing slot back. Except that simple little fullback dive wasn't averaging the run-of-the-mill three or four yards per run for Navy through the first seven games. Its top two combination of senior Noah Copeland (60 carries for 532 yards and two touchdowns) and junior Chris Swain (59 carries for 414 yards and two scores) have combined to av- erage 17.0 carries and 135.1 yards per game (an amazing 7.95 yards per at- tempt). In Notre Dame's hard fought 38-34 victory against Navy last season, the fullback was repeatedly sent into the middle with 32 carries for 162 yards (5.1 yards per attempt) and a touch- down. The 245-pound Swain carried the ball 16 times for 85 yards and a score, while current senior Quinton Singleton, the No. 3 fullback this year for the Midshipmen, also had 16 carries for 77 yards. Everything off the triple option gen- erally emanates from the fullback dive. If that is functioning effectively, then everything else usually does as well, as evidenced in last year's game versus TOP STOrylineS Senior fullback Noah Copeland was Navy's leading rusher through seven games, with 60 carries for 532 yards (8.9 yards per attempt) and two scores. PHOTO COURTESY NAVY