Irish Survives Navy's Best Shot, But What's Next?
Photo by Eric Canha-Imagn Images
Survive and advance is one of the most overused sayings in sports vernacular.
Today exemplified the phrase's outdated nature.
Notre Dame beat their rival Navy, 35-13. On the surface, this looked like a dominant Irish victory, but that's a bit misleading. For the first half, Notre Dame was dominated and bullied by Navy. The Irish allowed the Midshipmen to have the ball for 23:33 while giving up close to 200 yards defensively. This allowed Navy to take a late first-half lead, 13-7. The Irish would regain the lead on a Nolan James Jr. 52-yard touchdown scamper to go into the locker room up 14-13.
Leaning on the running game, and some electric receptions by Jerome Bettis Jr., the Golden Domers would score the next 21 points en route to the victory.
For some, that is good enough. A 20-plus-point victory is something many teams strive for heading into November. However, awaiting Notre Dame is something harrowing, frightening, and possibly season-derailing as the Miami Hurricanes approach South Bend.
On the injury front, LB Drayk Bowen and DL Francis Brewu were injured in the first half and did not return. LB Kyngstonn Viliamu-Asa and CB Leonard Moore did not play today, as the injuries have piled up at an alarming rate.
That main question coming out of this game, however, was: how did this team come out so lifeless and uninspired? Having a two weeks to prepare for this exotic Navy offense, Notre Dame was out of sorts.
For all of those that are just saying it was a just bad half, the time for optimism is over. Miami will be coming into South Bend with an offense that has been a wrecking ball of scoring.
Fortunately, there are seven days for the Irish to find their early season mojo. The attacking defense (especially the rush defense), punishing offense, and wearing teams down to a nub before blowing them away will have to remerge for the Irish in November.
Because if it doesn't, the team's quest for the College Football Playoff will likely be over.
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