Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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26 NOV. 14, 2016 BLUE & GOLD ILLUSTRATED TURNING POINT Notre Dame regained the lead, 24-21, with 5:51 remaining in the third quarter. If it could just get one stop from the defense and regain possession, the chances looked promising to seize control with a two-score lead. Indeed, the Irish defense then forced a punt on fourth-and-six from the Navy 40 — only to be called for having 12 men on the field. The Midshipmen gambled, picked up the fourth-and-inches from their 45, and concluded the 16- play, 75-yard drive that consumed nine minutes with a touchdown by quarterback Will Worth with 11:51 remaining in the contest. By giving Navy's offense a second life with that special teams snafu, the game turned. It's like a baseball fielder dropping a pop-up in foul territory — and then on the next pitch the same batter hits a game-winning home run. STATS OF THE GAME In the history of Notre Dame foot- ball — or maybe even any football — we can't ever recall a Fighting Irish team having only six posses- sions in a game. Notre Dame scored on five of them with three touchdowns and two field goals, and punted on the other. However, limiting the Irish to two field goals was a moral victory for the Midshipmen defense. Notre Dame had two series on offense in the first quarter (a touch- down, plus a field goal by sopho- more Justin Yoon) and two in the second (a punt and a touchdown with 30 seconds left in the half). Particularly amazing was it had one possession apiece in the third quarter (a touchdown drive that lasted 5:17) and in the fourth quar- ter (a field goal after a march that took 4:23). THE DECISION An argument can be made that a turning point to Navy's 28-27 vic- tory against Notre Dame occurred when the Fighting Irish faced fourth-and-four at the Midshipmen 14-yard line while trailing 28-24 and 7:28 remaining in the contest. Head coach Brian Kelly opted to kick the field goal and put the game into the hands of his defense to make a stop that would enable Notre Dame to march for the game-winning score. From a straight football strategy standpoint, it's a logical, sane deci- sion. Unfortunately, Navy's ability to run clock prompts the question- ing of that choice. The Midshipmen took nine minutes to score the go- ahead TD on their previous drive, and then were clutch on third and fourth down to run out the clock. As the underdog, Navy was the aggressor, while Notre Dame had more to lose, and played like it. THREE OBSERVATIONS BY LOU SOMOGYI Junior linebacker Greer Martini notched a career-high 11 tackles against the Midshipmen. PHOTO BY BILL PANZICA OFFENSE: WR TORII HUNTER JR. The senior wide receiver set career highs with eight catches and 104 receiving yards in Notre Dame's 28-27 loss to Navy. It was obvious from the outset that he would be a key player, haul- ing in a reception on the game's first play. Hunter Jr. was clutch on the opening drive, converting a pair of third downs and a fourth-and-four with a 23-yard gain before scoring from 26 yards on a first-and-20 play. Half of his recep- tions converted a third or fourth down, or went for a score. DEFENSE: LB GREER MARTINI Notre Dame's defense had a hard time defending Navy's triple option, but the junior linebacker was involved in most of the stops the unit did make. He tied with junior linebacker Nyles Morgan for the team lead in tackles, setting his personal best with 11 stops. Notre Dame's early stop against Navy had Martini's stamp on it. On second-and-10, Martini crashed off the edge and brought down Navy quarterback Will Worth behind the line of scrimmage. Two plays later, facing a fourth-and-four, he flowed well from the backside, avoided a blocker and quickly closed on Worth to make the stop short of the first down. SPECIAL TEAMS: PK JUSTIN YOON Notre Dame's special teams continued its season long strug- gles, but the sophomore placekicker was a bright spot. He nailed both of his field goal attempts, one from 39 yards and another from 31 yards. Yoon also was perfect on both point after attempts and three of his kickoffs went for touchbacks. Navy came into the game ranked 18th nationally in kick returns, but Yoon's high kicks limited the Midshipmen to just a 19.0-yard average on its two runbacks. TOP PLAYERS OF THE GAME BY BRYAN DRISKELL