For 43 years Notre Dame football fans could count one at least one thing: their favorite team would always beat Navy.
Through the good times and the Gerry Faust-era, the Fighting Irish always respected how hard the Midshipmen played. But at the end of the day, everyone knew that Notre Dame would ultimately prevail.
Those days are over.
For the second time in three years, the Naval Academy ventured to South Bend and came away victorious, as it beat Notre Dame 23-21 Saturday at Notre Dame Stadium in front of the customary 80,795 fans. It also won the 2007 contest 46-44 in triple-overtime, for its first win over the Irish since 1963.
“It came down to red-zone production,” Irish coach Charlie Weis said. “We missed a couple of field goals; we turned the ball over… Getting the ball down in position to score wasn’t the issue, it was scoring.”
Indeed, it was. Notre Dame advanced the ball four times in the first half into Navy territory – including three times to at least the 24-yard line – and came away with zero points. Two more times in the second half Notre Dame advanced the ball past the Navy 12-yard line and turned the ball over both times.
Meanwhile, the Midshipmen (7-3) scored touchdowns on their initial two drives, as Notre Dame had no answer for the option attack of their foes.
“The first thing you have to do is stop the fullback,” Weis said. “Navy fullback Vince Murray) had too many yards, some of them easy yards.”
The Midshipman broke off several long jaunts en route to a game-high 158 yards. For the game, Navy outrushed Notre Dame 348 yards to 60, as the Irish relied heavily upon the throwing arm of quarterback Jimmy Clausen.
Navy quarterback Ricky Dobbs finished a 12-play drive at the 6:08 mark of the opening quarter with a one-yard sneak into the end zone to put his team ahead 7-0.
The Irish (6-3) answered with a drive of their own, but freshman kicker Nick Tausch’s 41-yard field goal attempt missed wide left. Tausch would miss a pair of kicks today, snapping a streak of 14 consecutive makes.
On Navy’s second possession, Murray scored on a 25-yard run on the opening play of the second quarter to put his team up 14-0.
“I want to give our kids credit for continuing to fight,” Midshipmen coach Ken Niumatalolo said.
Following halftime, Notre Dame managed to utilize its leading receiver, Golden Tate, on its first possession, something that had eluded the Irish up until that point. Though Tate finished with nine catches for 132 yards, he was held to just one catch in the opening half. On this drive however, Tate caught three passes. Those ultimately led to Notre Dame running back Robert Hughes, who started in place of regular Armando Allen, who did not play due to an ankle injury, barreling in from one yard out to pull the hosts to within 14-7.
Hughes totaled 20 yards rushing on the day, as freshman Theo Riddick paced the Irish with 35 yards on the ground.
Despite the Irish finally able to finish a drive, the Midshipmen were not rattled. On their ensuing possession, it pulled a rare trick, the forward pass. Navy completed just two passes on the day, but one was huge. Dobbs ran a play-action pass play, which once Dobbs dropped back, had receiver Greg Jones streaking past a stunned Notre Dame defensive back Robert Blanton into the great, wide-open and Dobbs’ toss hit him perfectly. Jones raced 52 yards in for the score, which put Navy ahead 21-7.
With time ticking down in the third quarter, Clausen, who finished with a career high 51 passing attempts, as well as passing yards (452), tried to close a 10-play, 80-yard drive, as he scrambled, then tucked the ball and ran for the end zone from the Navy nine-yard line. Clausen reached the one-yard line where he tried to run over cornerback Kevin Edwards, who laid a lick on Clausen and caused the quarterback to fumble the ball. Navy’s Wyat Middleton recovered the loose ball and the entire ‘Irish Nation’ held its breath, as Clausen lay motionless on the ground for several minutes.
“I’m not going to get into details (about being hurt),” Clausen said. “But the guy made a good play, made a big hit on me and made me fumble.”
The entire stadium was stone-quiet, as the training staff sprinted to the goal line to aid Clausen. After he stood up and was led to the sideline, no fewer than six members of the Irish medical staff were attending to the All-American candidate. However, after a few minutes, in which the Navy offense was controlling the ball, Clausen returned to the game, not missing a snap.
The Irish again had success in moving the ball in the final period, as it reached the Navy 12-yard line with just over 10 minutes left in the game. However, a “miscommunication” between Clausen and Irish receiver Michael Floyd, led to a strange turnover.
Clausen had altered the cadence on a play, which called for Floyd to run a pattern and catch the pass. However, Floyd thought the play was a screen to a running back and he simply went out and blocked a cornerback. Clausen went ahead and threw the pass to Floyd, hoping he would turn and catch it, but he never did and the pass drilled Floyd squarely in the back and bounced up in the air, where it was picked off by Navy’s Ram Vela.
“We just miscommunicated,” Clausen said. “He was blocking (for) a screen and I was just trying to throw a slant.”
Saturday’s game was the first action Floyd had seen since mid-September after he broke his collarbone against Michigan State. Floyd led the Irish receivers with 10 receptions and 141 yards.
Floyd would make up for the earlier miscue with 4:46 remaining in the game, as he corralled a 12-yard touchdown pass from Clausen to pull Notre Dame to within seven (21-14).
Notre Dame forced the fourth Navy punt of the second half on the next possession. However, on the Notre Dame possession, the Midshipmen got to Clausen for consecutive sacks, the second time for a safety to stretch their lead to 23-14 with 1:00 remaining.
The Irish were able to recover the free kick following the safety, and Clausen drove his team to their final score when he hit Tate for a 31-yard touchdown with: 24 left on the clock. Notre Dame failed to recover the ensuing onside kick and the game ended.
“I think it’s important to be short-sighted,” Weis said. “Especially after a disheartening loss, it’s important to just put all your focus on one thing, and that one thing is beating Pittsburgh (next week).”
* Rudolph not too badly hurt
Late in the third quarter Notre Dame tight end Kyle Rudolph caught a 14-yard pass from Clausen and was injured on the tackle. The Irish medical staff took him to the locker room and Rudolph emerged late in the fourth quarter in street clothes. However, the initial diagnosis does not appear serious.
“The first word back to me was ‘collarbone,’ and I thought ‘Here we go again,’” Weis said in reference to Floyd’s injury earlier this season. “I don’t know for sure what the complete diagnosis is, but the medical people came back and said ‘(Kyle) will be gone for the day, but we should have him back.’”
