So many ND fans wish we would no longer play Navy, not out of disrespect to the Naval Academy or ignoring the history of the rivalry. But their style of play with so much emphasis on cut blocking and going after the DL's legs can be very dangerous to our defensive players. Ever since Paul Johnson brought what is now known as the Service Academy Offense, they have been a load for a lot of teams that are much more talented. They have beaten the Irish 4 times since they broke the streak in 2007. Charlie Weis lost twice and Brian Kelly has lost twice. No ND coach in history has lost 3 games to Navy, and only a few have lost 2 times. Joe Kuharich and Terry Brennan are the only other ones to have lost twice to Navy. This years Navy team is a very good team and this will be a tough game. As other teams who face a good service academy offense experienced (OU and Mich vs Army) you have to pretty much score every time you have the football, because they dominate time of possession so much that you don't get many opportunities. Irish will miss Julian Okawara a lot as you need every man on defense to hold up against them. The key is always the Linebackers and safeties, they have to be very disciplined and assignment correct. Drew White our MLB made his bones last year with his play at LB vs the Navy option. He'll be key again. On offense as I said we have to score on almost every possession. We have to get out quick again, get them down a couple of scores, as most option teams don't do well trying to come from behind as they don't throw the ball. Our big receivers, Kmet, Claypool, McKinnley, Tommy Tremble, etc all have to have good games. Book has to make plays like he did vs Duke. __________________ In other Sports, tonight the Irish Women face the Lady Vols. The Irish have had a good run vs the Lady Vols in recent years, during Pat Summit's time they dominated us. It wasn't till the last year or so of her career when she clearly wasn't herself that we turned the tide against them. This years Irish team is very thin having lost another player recently to a knee sprain, so we'll be playing with 7 scholarship women for then next month or so. It's going to be a tough year for the team.
I will say that I also expeck JOK and Asmar Bilal to have good games. JOK is very fast and if he stays with his assignment he can have a great game, the problem is just that. Navy just lives off of guys who try to out athlete them and go for the big play and get left in the dust. Bilal has seen them a lot as well and he's having a very good season. He's also fast and physical and should be a big player. You might think that Kyle Hamilton would be a big player, but this will be his first time seeing the option, now he might have a natural feel for it, but he could also find that going for the big play rather than staying with your assignment is too tough to resist and he'll get burned.
There are 2 philosophies as to how to oppose the Navy attack. The first is to read and then react to it. The second is Holtz's theory, you don't DEFEND the option, you ATTACK it. If you can't stuff the FB you're dead.
I agree with Holtz, you attack the option. If you aren't attacking, you're catching and if you're catching against the option then you have no hope of getting the ball back.
Exactly, get behind early and you are in for a long day. Get up on them a stay ahead. Get behind and it's over.
You have to be very disciplined to defend the Navy offense. Every defender has to take care of his assignment and not fly to the ball. Sure tackling is also a must
Hell, we’ll be lucky if we win at all let alone 8 points. This is the best Navy team we’ve seen in about 15yrs.
Not sure it's the best Navy team in 15 years, but they are a solid squad and we'd better be ready. That 2015 Navy Team with Keenan Reynolds at QB was maybe their best they finished 11-2 losing only to Notre Dame and Houston. They were 18th in the final AP poll.
Reading the post game of the Tenn win at Notre Dame last night it was easy to see how we are going to struggle with only 7 players and a couple of them being true freshmen and a couple being transfers. Going to take awhile to mesh as a team. Tenn has an incredible lineup. They weren't ranked going into this game, but they'll start moving up. They have a lot of talent, and they are a big team, Holly Warlick recruited well and Kellie Harper has a lot to work with on the roster. This team is going to struggle in Nov and Dec. They have another good team coming in this week in Michigan State.
I have a bad feeling about this game. The version of the Irish is not the most disciplined team I have ever seen and that can spell doom against the academies. Plus I still think there is something going on behind the scenes that is a distraction.
I've had a bad feeling about this game for a long time. We don't have a offense that plays consistently well enough to win this one. We need to score almost every time we have the ball because Navy will. This will be a loss to Navy, they are playing too well.
I Think The best we can expect now is 9-3. We will lose to Navy then find a way to beat BC and Stanford. Going to Some no name bowl. Best hope then is Kelly ( Yes, I know he is building a new home in South Bend) retires and Urban Meyer decides to fulfill his desire (yes, I remember) to coach at ND. And yes, I’ll take the baggage he brings.
Yeah it's not pretty around ND football right now, and hasn't been since the Michigan game. Kelly has never been accepted by the fanbase completely even during the good times. Obviously it's not all of the fanbase but a fairly vocal group of the fans who post online don't like much about him. The loss to Michigan really has gotten that group up in arms. Daily topic is firing Kelly and bringing in Urban Meyer, who by the way isn't supported by all of those wanting Kelly out. There is lately a swell of hope that we can hire PJ Fleck after we fire Kelly. Any way it's a mess online right now. I don't believe even running the table with excellent wins ( ie big scoring margins) will have things die down. On the other hand Kelly clearly has the support of his AD and he is building a house (reportedly) close to Campus. He has 2 years remaining on his contract and I won't be surprised if after the season it's announced that his contract is extended. I think you almost have to do it if for no other reason recruiting. Recruits want to at least think the coach they are signing on to play for will be there for their 4 or 5 years. Other coaches will use that against us if he's not extended. Just beat Navy, hopefully the offense has a good game and the defense keeps Navy at bay.
Some good news, Cole Kmet will be back next year and so will Liam Echinberg. Tommy Kraemer has said he'll be back and it's likely that Robt Hainsey will be back. Aaron Banks and Jarrett Patterson aren't eligible for the NFL so they will be back. That's all 5, which will be a good thing assuming that they all stay healthy next year and are improved of course. It is certain that Ian Book will be back, while I don't think he's made a public statement everything I read is that he's expected to be back, so what will happen to Phil Jurkovec? Will he transfer or will he possibly beat out Book this Spring, nobody knows.
I always have some dread about the Navy game, as we all know they are a PIA with that triple option offense. But this is Clark Lea's 3rd year seeing the offense, I have faith that he's got the knowledge to set up the defense to win, of course the players have to execute and all that. I think our LB and Safeety's can handle the pitch and outside stuff, not shut it necessarily but make things tough for them. The key will be as always that FB dive play.