Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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GAME PREVIEW: NAVY sibly have to prepare, we need it, we want it and we need every minute of it and every second of it. Even then, it won't clearly be enough." Given a choice, it still appears to offense is expected to have 12 to 14 possessions per game, or about three per quarter. However, Notre Dame often has In an average football game, an been limited to eight to 10 against Navy because of the Midshipmen tactic to keep the clock running with their methodical, run-oriented of- fense. In the 23-21 loss to Navy in 2009, be better now than later for the Irish. ADDING SOME SHORTENING game) with a 40-15 victory versus first-year head coach Howard Schnellenberger's Miami Hurricanes. The "Mirage Bowl" was an annual event from 1977-93 hosted by Mitsubish Motors in Japan, named This year's game in Dublin, Ireland, marks Notre Dame's third appearance on the international stage. The first occurred in Tokyo, Japan, on Nov. 24, 1979, to conclude the 7-4 regular season (and no bowl INTERNATIONAL FLAVOR after its subcompact Mirage, to help increase football interest in Japan. It was played in Olympic Sta- dium, and 62,574 were in attendance during the downpour that saw Irish running back Vagas Ferguson cap his career with 177 yards rushing and three touchdowns. Then on Nov. 2, 1996, Notre Dame and Navy played in front of 38,651 fans in Dublin's Croke Park. The Americanized "Fighting Irish" romped to a 54-27 victory while rushing for 303 yards, led by sophomore Autry Denson' 123 yards, plus three touchdowns from fullback Marc Edwards. Thanks to a bye Saturday the previous week, Notre Dame players, staff and administration spent five days in Ireland prior to the game. This year, Notre Dame will depart Wednesday (Aug. 29) evening at 6:30 p.m., arrive 7 a.m. local time on the 30th, and have a couple of short workouts before playing two days later. the Irish amassed 512 yards total offense in eight series — but three turnovers and two missed field goals negated the fact that the Irish didn't have to punt and scored touchdowns on their other three possessions. Notre Dame opened last season with five turnovers apiece in losses to South Florida and at Michigan. A comedy of turnovers versus the Midshipmen, especially with a first- time Irish starting quarterback, could likely result in a similar outcome. Jumping to an early lead against a triple-option team forces them to play left-handed. In Notre Dame's 2010 and 2009 losses to Navy, the Midshipmen scored touchdowns on their opening possessions, had 21-10 and 14-0 leads at halftime, and never trailed. scored touchdowns on five of its first six possessions versus Navy to take a 35-7 halftime advantage. Against Air Force, the Irish were up 14-0 before Conversely, last year Notre Dame Date Opponent (TV) Result/Time (ET) Sept. 1 vs. Notre Dame* (CBS) 2012 NAVY SCHEDULE Sept. 15 at Penn State (ABC/ESPN) 3:30 p.m. Sept. 22 VMI (CBSSN) 9 a.m. Sept. 29 San Jose State (CBSSN) 3:30 p.m. Oct. 6 Oct. 12 at Central Michigan (ESPN2) 8 p.m. Oct. 20 Indiana (CBSSN) at Air Force (CBS) Nov. 3 Florida Atlantic (CBSSN) 3:30 p.m. Nov. 10 at Troy Oct. 27 at East Carolina (FSN) Nov. 17 Texas State (CBSSN) Dec. 8 vs. Army^ (CBS) www.BLUEANDGOLD.com 3:30 p.m. 3:30 p.m. 3 p.m. * at Aviva Stadium in Dublin, Ireland; ^ at Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia 3:30 p.m. 11:30 a.m. 3:30 p.m. TBA Senior inside linebacker Brye French (6-1, 216), who made 55 tackles in 2011, leads the way for an undersized Navy defense. PHOTO COURTESY NAVY PRESEASON 2012 79 the Falcons ran their second play of the game. Forcing option teams to throw when they have to rather when they want to usually works out favorably. ple-option team, the foremost story angle usually entails all the problems the Irish will encounter while facing the dreaded triple option. Less mention is made of the im- Every time Notre Dame plays a tri- WEIGHED DOWN mense size advantage Notre Dame's offense has on the Navy defense — and the major adjustment smaller players in the military academy have to make. Other than junior nose guard Barry Dabney (6-1, 297), the Navy defense — Lou Somogyi is quite undersized by Football Bowl Subdivision standards. The starting ends in the 3-4 are 6-2, 255 and 6-2, 247, while the outside linebackers are 212 and 218 pounds. Imagine what you would think if the Irish had to face the rest of their 2012 schedule with those dimensions. Contrast that with an Irish offen- sive line that has no projected starter under 300 pounds. Last year was a prime exhibition of how if the Irish play relatively clean on offense, a smaller military team should not be able to hold it to less than 30 points. Notre Dame scored 59 points against Air Force and 56 versus Navy, the first time since 1996 it had multiple 50-point games in one season. ✦