Here is a quick look back at some of the highlights of Saturday afternoon's victory over Navy
It Was Over When ...
Jonas Gray and Michael Floyd scored within 2 minutes of each other to put the Irish up 28-7 midway through the 2nd quarter. With the way the entire team was playing, the 21 point lead felt more than comfortable.
Turning Point
After another fumble on a swing pass to a RB led to a Navy TD, Tommy Rees connected with Michael Floyd for a 56 yard TD pass on the first play of the ensuing drive.
Three Good Stats
- 56 points -- With 56 points against Navy and 59 early in the season against Air Force, Notre Dame has multiple 50 point games in on season for the first time since 1996
- 0 -- 0 sacks allowed. The O Line hasn't given up a sack since the 3rd quarter of the Pitt game. I know ND runs a ton of quick passes but that's still an impressive acheivement.
- 196 yard/ 3.9 YPC -- Navy game into the game averaging 300+ rushing yards per game and had shredded Bob Diaco's defense last year. The Irish held them way under their season averages and the starting D only gave up 1 TD, which was on a short field after a turnover. An impressive turn-around for the D.
Three Bad Stats
- 2 -- 2 more turnovers for Tommy Rees. Both led to Navy's two TDs. As Irish fans have lamented all season, the turnovers need to be cut down if we have any hope of winning out and finishing 9-3.
- ∞ - approximately the amount time more than necessary that NBC, via Tom Hammond, Mike Mayock and Alex Flanagan, spent talking about the non-story story of BK calling out his seniors. Just a unnecessary amount of time waster during the telecast.
- 0 -- 0 snaps for Andrew Hendrix. While this didn't annoy me as much as it did other fans, it would have been nice for Hendrix to have seen some meaningful snaps during the game. Putting Dayne in with the 2nd string at the end of the game was fine. I'd rather Hendrix have gotten some snaps earlier in the game. Not a huge deal but there weren't too many negatives from the game
Three Stars
- Jonas Gray -- Entering the season, Jonas Gray had 0 rushing TDs. He now has 8 after totaling 3 on Saturday. Jonas is looking the best he's ever looked at ND. He actually lowered his YPC to 8 but is within striking distance of George Gipp's single season record.
- The entire DL - Darius Fleming, Prince Shembo, Stephon Tuitt, Louis Nix and the rest played an outstanding game. They controlled the LOS, occupied blockers and totally shut down the FB dive part of the option.
- Manti Te'o -- Apparently he's been battling a sprained ankle all season but Te'o looked the best he has all season on Saturday. Bouncing back from a poor performance last weekend against USC, Te'o was all over the field finishing with 13 tackles with 3 TFL.
Housekeeping:
- Coach Kelly announced on his Sunday afternoon teleconference that Chase Hounshell should be fine and his shoulder injury was not as serious as initially thought
- The stadium music returned on Saturday and the selection and variety was 100X better than its debut against USC. Crazy Train was only heard once, after the game was more or less over, to solid laughter from the crowd and everyone on twitter.
- Ethan Johnson dressed but did not play. Thankfully the Irish were able to handle Navy without him which allows Johnson another week to heal from the injury suffered early against Purdue.
- For what it's worth, I've heard solid rumors that "Field Turf" will be installed for the 2012 season.
As SDI elaborated in the comments below, look to Lambeau Field for an example of what ND will be installing. It's a hybrid system that uses real grass and synthetic fibers together.
Next Week:
Notre Dame is at Wake Forest next Saturday. The game is at 8 pm on ABC/ESPN. Notre Dame opens as a 14.5 favorite.
The game is will be airing at the same time as the 2011 version Game of the Century, LSU-Alabama. Those of you who are CFB fans and not just ND fans will need to be ready with the remote.
By SDI October 30, 2011 - 4:42 pm
Nice job Poot. One nit, the Packers don’t have Field Turf. They have real grass reinforced with synthetic fibers:
http://www.surfacesolutionsna.com/ddgrassmaster.asp
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By PootND October 30, 2011 - 4:44 pm
Yeah, I’m aware. I just call it field turf to indicate it’s not 100% real grass. I’ll edit the post to make it more clear.
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By PAK October 31, 2011 - 5:51 am
People might be confused because Field Turf is the brand name of the new type of fully artificial turf, the one that tries to simulate blades of grass that is used, for example, in virtually every NFL dome.
Surfaces like the one in the link are generally referred to as “hybrid”.
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By NDtex October 30, 2011 - 9:16 pm
I can’t see how people wouldn’t be happy with that. That’s a great happy medium. Had I not clicked that link, I would’ve never known that the Sunday night game was on such a surface and not just regular grass.
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By SDI October 30, 2011 - 5:01 pm
sorry to be a nitpicker, but I’ve learned that ND fans take this topic very seriously.
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By GraceHall1980 October 30, 2011 - 7:19 pm
Everyone should check out tonight’s Eagles game. It’s being played on the product that ND is considering. And I think the field is about 10 years old.
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By DJ October 30, 2011 - 7:35 pm
That type of surface was also used at one of the stadiums in the 2010 World Cup in South Africa. Approximately 3% of the field was artificial fibers, interspersed to strengthen the overall surface.
This is fine. If The rumor is true, better to go with this than directly to a full artificial surface. It would be better to exhaust all possibilities to make a good grass field before abandoning it all together.
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By tjak October 30, 2011 - 8:59 pm
The grass has to go. I am a traditionalist at heart, but our field is choppy and the lads are tripping up on it. I could care less about what the opposition does as long as Irish players have a surface that makes them faster. The Green Bay solution is the best. The field at 55 degrees in November would be great.
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By Erik '04 October 30, 2011 - 6:35 pm
I guess I’m not a CFB fan in general, because I just couldn’t care less about LSU-Alabama. Plus, I don’t think I’d be able to stand Mouseburger and Herbie fighting each other for who can give the most praise to the SEC during the broadcast.
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By tjak October 30, 2011 - 9:02 pm
Erik, I completely, utterly, and totally agree. Cannot say it any clearer then that, cannot stand ABC.
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By NDtex October 30, 2011 - 9:13 pm
It’s a good thing the game in on CBS!
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By squeeze77 October 30, 2011 - 7:50 pm
They really are pissed off at us over at ABC/ESPN, putting us on opposite arguably the National Championship Game. I will be at the game. This is why God made DVR.
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By PAK October 30, 2011 - 8:42 pm
Well, we were always scheduled to be a prime time game at Wake. Us being scheduled opposite LSU-Bama is a sign of respect, they figured ND was their best chance to get any ratings from CFB fans opposite that game.
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By canuck75 October 30, 2011 - 8:26 pm
So I went to the game this week… The music was great and definitely added some life. More importantly, the team liked it. Both kick off and kick return units definitely fired up when the music played before the kicks.
Apparently (according to the geniuses on the other board) Tommy confirmed in this game that he is no good and shouldn’t take another snap.
I missed that. I would probably give him one more chance.
What actually went well was; Slaughter-great.Tuitt -great.
Collinsworth and Niklaus. fantastic on kick coverage.
Jonas running over people.
It was a great day and how anyone could spend one second of time complaining is beyond me.
Here are a few points
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By Erik '04 October 30, 2011 - 9:02 pm
People will find something to complain about no matter what happens. Human nature, especially with a team/school as famous and polarizing as this one. I’m glad you had fun, and that your comments reflected what we saw.
Question, on the latest Irish Connection video, I see that they played “Jump Around.” Can you (or anyone else) tell me at what point in the game they played that? Was it just during a random TV timeout in the first half? I hope we’re not just trying to copy Wisconsin.
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By NDtex October 30, 2011 - 9:15 pm
It was a random timeout and wasn’t televised. I saw someone tweet about it around third quarter IIRC.
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By GB October 30, 2011 - 10:30 pm
I thought this game was the most complete of Kelly’s tenure. Great on both O and D. diaco finally figured out the triple option. The only real negative was Tommy Turnover with his usual 2.
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By radirish October 30, 2011 - 11:05 pm
Field turf or whatever brand of surface they get is fine.
Seriously , if they can play the freaking World Cup on it (without any complaints that I heard, anyway), it should be fine for us.
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By kyndfan October 31, 2011 - 6:54 am
You forgot to mention the rediculous amount of time Hammond spent revisiting the usc game
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By irish4222 October 31, 2011 - 8:31 am
I decided to do some research on the grass vs Fieldturf debate from an injury, speed, and cost perspective and wrote this. Let me know what you guys think and if you have any questions:
http://bleacherreport.com/articles/918034-notre-dame-football-and-the-fieldturf-debate-a-scientific-analysis
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By IrishGuy23 October 31, 2011 - 8:38 am
I guess I’m unlcear on the rumors that you have heard. Will it be Field Turf(the fully synthetic) or the Hybrid stuff based on what you have heard?
I know Keith Arnold covered the new playing surface issue in a post over at his site last week and mentioned Lambeau
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By MarkG October 31, 2011 - 9:16 am
As the SB Police Lieutenant next to me at the Navy game said, if synthetic turf was available when ND stadium was originally built, it would have been used at that time. Good point. I am a traditionalist, and could do without a jumbo tron, and would prefer a miked up band (3 parabolic mikes hooked to the PA system would do it) over most of the music used this past Saturday. However, growing grass in South Bend in late September and October just does not work, and I would welcome some sort of synthetic and fast surface.
Reminds me of Scalia’s comment when a reporter asked him if he was a originalist like Thomas. He said, yes I am an originalist, but I am not a nut. So yes I am a traditionalist, but I am not a nut.
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By E-Man October 31, 2011 - 11:17 am
Am I the only person upset that the backups weren’t put in earlier? You’re up 42 points heading into the 4th quarter, and you’re still playing starters, some of whom if they get hurt dramatically affect the dynamics of the team? Wasn’t Kelly a couple of weeks ago bemoaning the fact that he hadn’t had too many opprotunities to get the back-ups in for meaningful experience?
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By SDI October 31, 2011 - 11:35 am
I was thinking the same thing. But in Kelly’s defense, he probably didn’t want to hear a bunch of bitching and moaning about giving up X yards or Y points to a service academy team like we heard after the AF game.
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By The Biscuit October 31, 2011 - 3:02 pm
I think he was sending a message to the starters – we need to be better. So work on it. In a game.
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By John Hutton October 31, 2011 - 11:22 am
BTW, as Ann Landers used to say, quityerbitchin. I was flipping back and forth, ND-Navy and Ga-Fla. The time-outs and dumb ads were nearly equal. I got a free ticket and all I had to do was put up with some distractions? Keep me signed up.
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By Joe Magarac October 31, 2011 - 11:45 am
FYI, the stuff at Lambeau is called “DD Grassmaster.” It is mostly natural grass but has artificial fibers interspersed so that the grass is less likely to divot when players make sharp cuts. DD Grassmaster has been used at the World Cup and at many other venues.
However, DD Grassmaster has also been used at what is routinely voted the worst surface in the NFL – Heinz Field here in the ‘Burgh. Even with the extra support, the grass (which doesn’t grow from mid-October on) cannot stand up to Steelers games plus Pitt games plus high school championship playoff games.
It’s notable that while reporters, opposing teams, and many fans have complained about the DD Grassmaster surface at Heinz Field (they want to see fully artificial turf, aka FieldTurf), the Steelers players have consistently asked the Rooneys (who own the Steelers) to keep the existing surface. They feel that the (mostly) real grass reduces injuries. Unless ND coaches and players are pushing for a different surface, I think we as fans should be cautious about saying the existing surface is unacceptable.
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By IrishGuy23 October 31, 2011 - 11:57 am
Heinz Field doesn’t use the Lambeau hybrid anymore. Heinz is fully natural grass at this time.
Heinz Field’s turf has always been awful, whether it was sod, DD, etc. Wembley Stadium uses DD as well. Based on everything we have seen with DD Grasmaster I would say Heinz Field is the VAST exception to the rule for this surface’s performance.
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By The Biscuit October 31, 2011 - 3:04 pm
I am from the Burgh and remember the talk was about the drainage issue there more than the actual surface. Am I wrong in remembering it that way? Water doesn’t drain well, which results in mud/slippage and sloppy play, especially when they play HS championship games there (which, btw, is totally stupid)
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By SDI October 31, 2011 - 3:50 pm
I think that is a good point Biscuit. For a field that struggles anyway, to play pro, college, and then add in high school games just doesn’t make any sense. I watched the Broncos game yesterday and their DD Grassmaster looks awesome.
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By SDI October 31, 2011 - 3:52 pm
Not sure about the players, but Kelly is definitely pushing for a alternative playing surface.
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By HLS Pre-Snap Read: That Other Night Game | Her Loyal Sons November 5, 2011 - 6:19 am
[...] Poot leads off the week with the usual recap [...]
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