Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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Taking A Closer Look What Worked • Ground game. It’s not often that a team can outrush the triple-option attack of Navy, but Notre Dame did. The Irish racked up a total of 293 yards compared to the 149-yard rushing output by the Midshipmen, and averaged 6.4 yards per carry due to the stout play of the offensive line. Notre Dame also hit pay dirt on five different occasions on the ground and finished just one yard shy of having two 100-yard rushers in the contest. • Reading keys. The primary objective in being able to slow down, not stop, the trickery of a well-executed option offense is each defensive player remaining focused on his keys. While having the interior lineman reading the dive, the ends playing the quarterback to pitch and the safeties cleaning up anything outside seems like an easy task, factoring in misdirection and cut blocks adds to the difficulty in execution. Notre Dame was able to remain discipline and limit the offensive production by Navy to finish the contest with an impressive defensive performance. • Protecting the football. One of the glaring issues during the 2011 season was keeping possession of the football, particularly after entering the red zone, and Notre Dame displayed how much time had been devoted to it in the offseason by finishing plus-three in the turnover ratio. Three of the four turnovers were fumble recoveries, one of which was a 77-yard touchdown by sophomore defensive end Stephon Tuitt to bolster the scoring defense. What Didn’t Work • Pass coverage. The lack of plays being made in the passing game in the secondary clearly didn’t have that much of an impact on the result of the game considering the 50-10 result. However, allowing 192 yards in the air against a run-first, pass-maybe squad doesn’t reduce the level of concern surrounding the inexperienced secondary. Navy was able to average 13.7 yards per catch, with one of the receptions being the only touchdown for the Midshipmen in the contest early in the third quarter. Senior linebacker Manti Te’o did record his first career interception, and the defense compiled three sacks on the 20 pass attempts. • Minimizing miscues on special teams. Notre Dame was sound in kick coverage by not allowing Navy’s kickoff return team to start off with field position beyond its own 33-yard line, but had a few issues in other units that could be difference makers in closer games. In addition to a missed extra point by senior Nick Tausch following the first touchdown of the 2012 season, senior holder Ben Turk missed the snap on another extra point. • Balanced attack. It didn’t present much of an issue against the Midshipmen because it was evident that Notre Dame was going to continue pounding the ball due to having success in the run game, but moving forward against stronger opponents the Irish will look to have more balance than 293 yards rushing and 197 yards passing. — Jason Sapp By The Numbers By Lou Somogyi 1 Senior linebacker Manti Te’o recorded two firsts in his Notre Dame career. The first was a fumble recovery with 11 minutes remaining until halftime. The second was his diving interception of a Trey Miller pass late in the third quarter. 3 Touchdowns scored by Notre Dame on its first three possessions of the game on drives of 84, 70 and 80 yards, respectively. The last time the Irish achieved that in their opener was 2009, when they jumped to a 21-0 lead versus Nevada en route to a 35-0 victory. 4 Turnovers forced by Notre Dame’s defense, a welcome sight after producing 14 all of last season, the fewest dating back to 1951. It was the first time the defense produced more than three turnovers in a game since intercepting four passes in the 33-17 Sun Bowl victory over Miami to end the 2010 season. 8 Players who made their first career start for Notre Dame: sophomore running back George Atkinson III, junior right tackle Christian Lombard, junior wideout Daniel Smith, junior cornerback Bennett Jackson, sophomore quarterback Everett Golson, sophomore tight end Troy Niklas (at tight end, after starting one game at outside linebacker last year), sophomore safety Matthias Farley (who started at the Star position) and freshman cornerback KeiVarae Russell. 9 True freshmen that played: cornerback KeiVarae Russell was a starter. Also appearing were defensive end Sheldon Day, outside linebacker Romeo Okwara, cornerback Elijah Shumate, safety Nick Baratti, receivers Chris Brown, Davonté Neal and Justin Ferguson, and left offensive tackle Ronnie Stanley. Shumate, Baratti and Ferguson were regulars on special teams, and Neal was the starting punt return man, gaining 11 yards on his first attempt. 11 Seasons since two Notre Dame running backs scored at least two touchdowns apiece in one game. Both Theo Riddick and George Atkinson III achieved it against Navy with two apiece, a first since Julius Jones and Tony Fisher did the same against first-year head coach Rich Rodriguez’s West Virginia team during a 34-24 victory on Oct. 13, 2001. 18 Years since a Notre Dame defensive lineman scored a touchdown — until sophomore Stephon Tuitt did with a 77-yard fumble return against Navy with 2:12 left until halftime. The last time it occurred was a 20-yard fumble return by nose guard Alton Maiden on Nov. 9, 1996 in a 48-21 victory at Boston College. A week earlier, defensive end Renaldo Wynn had a 24-yard fumble return for a score — against Navy in Dublin, Ireland, in a 54-27 win. 50 Points scored by Notre Dame, the most in an opener since a 52-6 victory at Purdue on Sept. 10, 1983. It marked the third time since the end of World War II in 1945 that the Irish reached the half-century mark in an opener. The third was a 50-7 victory versus Northwestern in 1971.