Navy’s Will Worth runs the ball as Notre Dame’s Nyles Morgan (5) gets tripped up. (Photo: South Bend Tribune, Michael Caterina)
I’m still in a bit of shock that the same Notre Dame defense that held Miami to three yards of rushing just a week ago, let Navy’s triple option offense run all over them this week. I know this team is young, I know this team is inexperienced, I know this is a growth or rebuilding year or whatever you want to call it. I would be okay with all of this if the team seemed to be progressing, and growing, and learning; but I don’t see that on a consistent basis. They keep making sophomoric mistakes, and I am unable to put a finger on exactly what is broken with this team. So, instead of hashing through all of the defensive stats this week, I’m going to look at some top-level highlights, and then we can look forward to Army.
What did the Notre Dame defense do good this week?
Greer Martini was the defensive player of the game this week. He had 11 tackles, 1 tackle for loss, and he tied fellow Irish teammate Nyles Morgan for the team-high in tackles with 11. In four games against option teams during his career (Navy 2014-16 and Georgia Tech in 2015), Martini has 37 tackles (9.3 per game).
Leadership also stood tall.
“Everybody do their job,” said Irish defensive lineman and captain Isaac Rochell. “Let’s go.”
“Time to get paid,” said linebacker Nyles Morgan. “It’s pay day.”
Where did Notre Dame fall short?
The Notre Dame defense allowed the Navy offense to convert on fourth down attempts 4-out-of-5 times. Yikes.
There were shining moments when the Notre Dame defense looked impressively solid, and looked as though they were going to be able to stop the Navy run game; and then on key fourth downs, Navy kept finding a way to convert. In the final drive, as Navy ran the remaining 7:28 off the game clock, the Midshipmen converted a fourth and one along with a fourth and six.
And where did everything go terribly, terribly wrong?
12 Men On The Field at 2:09 in the third quarter.
When you have two teams who were, in the end, quite evenly matched (Notre Dame had 370 total yards of offense, and the Naval Academy had 368 yards of total offense), attention to detail can make or break you. Unfortunately, Notre Dame’s attention to detail fell short on Saturday and the Naval Academy prevailed. After James Onwualu made a tackle, in which Navy lost yards on first down with 3:40 remaining in the third quarter, Navy ended up facing a fourth and six at their own 40-yard line, trailing Notre Dame 24-21. The Midshipmen decided to punt, but then upon an untimely Irish error, Notre Dame was caught on a replay review with 12 men on the field. After the officials adjusted the yardage, Navy was facing a fourth and one, converted, and drove the rest of the field and scored the game-winning touchdown.
It’s time, once again, to put this week’s loss behind us, and look forward to our next matchup; Army. Time to focus on fundamentals, focus on attention to detail, and focus on not making the same mistakes over again. Time to beat Army.
Cheers & GO IRISH!
Her Loyal ... Daughter
Lisa Kelly is a multidimensional marketing professional. She has over two decades of marketing experience and earned a bachelor of business administration and marketing from the University of Notre Dame (Class of 1993 ... Siegfried Hall!). She is a Digital Publishing Manager by day and by night is writing her third book, a continuation of "Echoes From the End Zone: The Men We Became" and its sequel "The Men We Became: MORE Echoes From the End Zone." In 2012, Lisa was crowned the "Biggest Fan of the Big East" in a blogging and social media contest, representing Notre Dame.
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