It's not 1946 and the Alamo Dome is not Yankee Stadium. Neither Johnny Lujack, Leon Hart or other Irish greats will face a team like that Army team with Mr Inside (Blanchard) and Mr. Outside (Davis) in the backfield. Legendary coaches like Leahy or Red Blaik will not walk the sidelines. Instead deeply flawed coaches will stride the sidelines in this game. The Irish will be the more talented group, but the Army maybe the more focused and more determined group. On paper the Irish should beat the Army 50-0 or something like that. But I doubt that happens. I think we'll win, but I'm not sure, that's how far down I am about this team. Will our OL finally assert itself, will our passing game return to what it was vs Syracuse, or even Texas? Will we make a critical mistake at a critical time that will doom us? We seem prone to that. The defense just played a really good triple option and while they couldn't stop the Navy QB, they weren't awful either. Will they have carry over in their recognition of the plays as they develop and play better, forcing the Army to punt the ball. No answers for those questions. I hope we win, I hope the lads play well in the win, I hope we don't have any injuries. The last game in 2009 in the Alamo Dome with Wash State just happened to be Charlie's last win as a Notre Dame coach. If we win could this be Kelly's last win, as I don't see us beating either Va.Tech or USC. Certainly many Irish faithful are hoping that Swarbrick relieves him of his coaching duties following the USC game. I'm taking Jack at his word that Kelly will be back next year no matter what.
Does anybody remember the famous Army team in the late 50s with the Lonesome End? They had a great backfield with Heisman Trophy winner Pete Dawkins and All American Bob Anderson. I recall the lonesome end's name was Carpenter. Red Blaik was the coach. I'm not sure, but I think that might have been Army's last undefeated season. I was 14 years old and thought Army was one of the coolest teams in college football. I remember thinking I'd like to attend college at Army. If I had followed through, I would have gone to Vietnam. Whew!
A couple of notes. 1. Dru Tranquil is carrying a 3.74 GPA in Mechanical Engineering and has been nominated for Academic All-District Honors, this sets him up to possibly be an Academic All-American. http://www.und.com/sports/m-footbl/spec-rel/110816aab.html 2. Rick Mirer's son Morrison will be playing Lacrosse at Notre Dame. He attends Cathedral Catholic High School in San Diego. http://www.cathedralcatholic.org/campus/news/16-dons-sign-nli
No comments? I watched the whole game since I had an earlier Tee time. I was of course glad for the win, pre game I said we should beat them 50-0, and we came pretty close to doing that. Army was over matched badly vs the Irish. That said, even though we ran for over 200yds vs the Army, some how it didn't feel like we ran the ball that well. The 1st and goal situation where instead of lining up and running it in, Kizer threw a pick...I went why??? Kizer had good numbers but he could have had much better numbers, he's struggling some what with accuracy, misssed some wide open receivers. Leading 38-6 at I was surprised that we only scored 6 points in the 2nd half, and I don't think it was because Kelly called off the dogs. I was thinking we'd score a couple more in the 3rd qtr and then let Zaire play the rest of the 3rd and all the 4th. But he really only got 1 series of downs. I'm not sure what to take away from the game other than we won handily against a team we should have won handily. Va.Tech will be a barometer of is this team going in the right direction.
I think we have probably witnessed our last win this year. I would be surprised if we beat Va Tech and completely shocked if we beat USC. You can't take anything away from this game. Besides the obvious talent and size disparity, unlike Navy, this Army team was very mistake and penalty prone. Our offensive play calling is so predictable and when we run an empty backfield shotgun formation inside the five I want to scream. Kizer has great talent but has played lackadaisically for several games now. His accuracy has suffered and he has thrown a lot a careless passes.
I have to agree on Kizer, he's seemingly regressed this year. Now granted last year he had Will Fuller, and Chris Brown, etc. Those guys were veterans and the WR's this year had 23 catches between them starting the season, but this is the end of the year and they are vets now. ESB while no Will Fuller has been great, and Kevin Stepherson has shown a lot of progress and I expect him to be very good next year. They keep talking about Kizer and the NFL acting like he'll be the 1st or 2nd QB taken, maybe so but I do have to wonder if that will even be in the 1st round now. Deshaun Watson hasn't exactly lit it up this year either, I mean he's had a good year but nothing that would make me want to make him a Top 5 pick. But what the heck Blake Bortles was a top 5 pick and he's been not a bust I guess but not a success either. So I guess if you are desperate then you can make the pick. Maybe Kizer is sandbagging it to make sure he doesn't get picked by the Browns!