BCS Rundown | by Jeff

As the BCS continues to get messier and messier, some order appears to be slowly emanating forth from the primordial ooze of one-loss teams and unusual suspects. At this point, there are five (no, three!) real contenders for two spots in the BCS championship game: LSU, Oregon, and Kansas-Oklahoma-Missouri. Let's look quickly at each of these five (no, three!) teams and their remaining schedules:

#1 LSU
Remaining Schedule: @ Ole Miss, vs Arkansas, SEC Championship (vs Tennessee or Georgia)

LSU has a tough schedule to close out the season, but certainly not impossible. After feasting on some of the worst run defenses in the country, Arkansas' Darren McFadden's production was relatively contained against Tennessee's average run defense last week. With the third best run defense in the country, LSU should beat Ole Miss and contain Arkansas to make it to the SEC Championship game without much trouble. Beating Tennessee or perhaps Georgia will be slightly more problematic, but the Tigers should be double-digit favorites in that game, and are more likely to face the Vols than the suddenly hot 'Dawgs. LSU is ranked first in both polls and by the computers, and their strength of schedule looks solid for their remaining games, so winning out means the Tigers will almost certainly be in the championship game.

#2 Oregon
Remaining Schedule: @ Arizona, @ UCLA, vs Oregon St

With by far the easiest remaining schedule among the contenders, Oregon looks poised to win out and stake their claim to a spot in the BCS championship game. However, the Ducks are ranked second in both polls and number 3 by the computers (behind Kansas). So, a strong finish by Kansas or possibly even Oklahoma could send the Ducks to Pasadena instead of the BCS championship. I won't be too surprised to see some gamesmanship again among the voters in the BCS polls to give an edge to either the Big XII champ or Oregon. However, it looks like the Big XII and PAC-10 will get two teams into the BCS regardless, so at least the financial incentives for coaches to play with their votes is minimized this time around.

#3-#5 Big XII Champion
Remaining Schedules:

Kansas: vs Iowa St, vs Mizzou, Big XII Champ (vs Oklahoma)
Oklahoma : @ Texas Tech, vs Oklahoma St, Big XII Champ (vs Kansas-Missouri winner)
Missouri: @ Kansas St, @ Kansas, Big XII Champ (vs Oklahoma)

The Big XII appears to be involved in a play-in tournament for a spot in the BCS championship game. For the first time, the Kansas v Missouri game will actually mean something, as the winner will take on Oklahoma for the Big XII title. Those tough games may be enough to jump the Big XII champ over Oregon and into the the BCS championship game, although an undefeated Kansas has perhaps the best shot at the leapfrog, followed by Oklahoma. Kansas wasn't even ranked in the top-25 until October 7th, so a place in the BCS championship game would be truly remarkable. A one-loss Missouri team will likely end up in the Fiesta Bowl.

The rest of the BCS
The rest of the BCS will be full of the usual controversy this season. It appears that the 10 BCS teams will consist of two representatives each from the Big XII, SEC, ACC, and PAC-10 and one each from Big Ten and Big East, regardless of who makes the championship game. Here's why...

The BCS rules require a team to finish in the top 14 of the BCS with at least nine wins to be eligible for an at-large bid. But this season, the BCS eligible teams are likely to be concentrated in just a few conferences, and BCS rules also limit participation to two teams from the same conference. So, based on today's standings, the BCS eligible teams are:

SEC:	LSU, Georgia, Florida
PAC-10:	Oregon, Arizona State, Southern Cal
Big XII:	Kansas, Oklahoma, Missouri, Texas
Big East:	West Virginia
Big Ten:	Ohio State
ACC:	Virginia Tech, Virginia

The only way to fill the ten spots from these fourteen teams is to take two teams from every conference that has more than one team eligible. This means currently-fourteenth Virginia would get a BCS bid over Florida, the ASU/Southern Cal loser, Texas, and the odd man out of KU/OU/Mizzou.

While there is still plenty of football to be played, most of the jockeying around the BCS cutoff will be among ACC teams. The ACC holds the 10th, 14th, 15th, and 17th positions, with two pairs of those teams playing each other before the end of the season and the two winners facing off in the ACC championship.

The past three national champions occupy the 11 to 13 spots, and if they win out (Texas over Texas A&M, Florida over Florida Atlantic and Florida State, and Southern Cal over ASU and UCLA) they'll almost certainly be BCS eligible by the end of the year. However, only Southern Cal has a good shot at the BCS, as Texas is behind three Big XII teams and Florida trails two SEC teams. Look for Georgia to possibly claim a spot in the BCS despite not winning their division, and possibly Texas as well (especially if Oklahoma beats Missouri to win the Big XII).

Hawaii has a shot to join the big boys with a top-12 BCS finish or a top-16 finish if UConn wins the Big East, but with a possible injury to Colt Brennan and a relatively tough schedule to finish out the season, it doesn't look like the Rainbows will make it this year.

Defying logic
I'm rooting for Tennessee to win out and claim a spot in the top twelve of the BCS and above both the Hawaii vs Boise State winner and the ACC runner-up. This will make the Top 14 teams:

Big XII:	Kansas, Oklahoma, Missouri, Texas
PAC-10:	Oregon, Southern Cal, ASU
SEC:	Tennessee, LSU, Georgia, Florida
ACC:	Virginia Tech
Big Ten:	Ohio State
Big East:	West Virginia

Go ahead, try to fill the five BCS bowls with those teams without taking more than two teams from one conference. It can't be done. I don't know what the BCS backup plans are, but I am very curious to see what would happen in this scenario.

Now all we need are about three or four upsets to make this year a real mess. Anyone up for a West Virginia vs Missouri national championship game?

Top Gunner | by Pat

Last week before the Air Force game the Chicago Daily Southtown had a short article about walk-on punt team gunner Mike Anello. A special teams standout this year, Anello's hustle play to save an Eric Maust punt from going into the endzone was one of the few highlights from last Saturday. He was primarily a wrestler in high school, and came to ND as a regular student before deciding to try out for the team.

Anello, who ironically wrestled against Ruettiger's nephew in high school, didn't go to Notre Dame to play football, but once he decided to give it a whirl, there was no stopping him.

"At Notre Dame, athletes aren't in one dorm," Anello said. "They're spread across the campus. I lived in a room across from Travis Thomas, the running back. He kept me informed. Plus there was Nick Possley, a walk-on from Wheaton-Warrenville South. He encouraged me. I filled out the paperwork, and began working out to prepare myself."

It was January 2006.

"Tryouts began one morning at 5:30 a.m. If you were late, you were gone. There were about 42 kids the first day, and it was cut to 12 right after that. Then it was cut to seven going into spring practice."

Anello was one of the seven.

Anello toiled with the rest of the scout team members before getting his big break right before the Michigan game.

Before the Michigan game, Anello was being used on the scout punting team, playing the role of the "gunner," the guy who charges headlong toward the punt returner from the outside. Michigan lines up a gunner on each side of the line, so Anello got a workout.

So did the first-teamers on Notre Dame's punt return team. Defenses double-team gunners to assure they don't clobber punt returners. Anello, all 5-foot-9 and 165 pounds of him, was fending off blockers and making plays.

"I beat our guys three times in a row," Anello remembered.

Weis noticed.

"He'd have two guys doubling him and he'd go by them every play," Weis told Blue and Gold Illustrated. "I said, 'He's on the wrong team.' "

Just like that, Weis yelled, "Anello!" and Anello went, "Uh-oh. What did I do now?"

A few words later, Anello was a scout-turned-starter, with a spot on the Irish punt team.

On his first play as a special teamer, he tackled Michigan punt returner Greg Matthews for a one yard stop. Against UCLA he picked up another tackle and helped to down a punt on the Bruin one yard line . Facing the Southern Cal Trojans Anello held Desmond Reed to a zero yard gain and combined with Terrail Lambert to stop Joe McKnight after only seven yards. And then Saturday, he pulled off that acrobatic save to keep a punt out of the end zone.

There haven't been many bright spots this year, but Mike Anello certainly has been one.

Try the Veal | by Jay

Did you hear they recently exhumed George Gipp's body for DNA sampling in a paternity suit?

Turns out, the DNA didn't match, but they did discover something interesting: Gipp had turned over in his grave.

Post-crash Cleanup | by Jay

Sifting through the wreckage of yet another loss, it's clear there were a litany of critical mistakes in this ugly game. I'll highlight a few of them.

Mistake #1. The first gaffe was on the very first play of the game. You all saw it: Clausen darts the ball to Carlson 25 yards downfield, hitting him in the chest. Carlson catches it, turns, and is immediately stripped by free safety Bobby Giannini. It was a nice effort by Giannini, and a poor one by Carlson. I won't say this "set the tone" for the game, because we did bounce back, but it was a harbinger of things to come.

So we hand over our first possession, and proceed to give up a long drive. But then the defense clamps down. Air Force has a 1st and goal on the 1 yard line, and they rush Hall twice for no gain, then Carney on the keeper for no gain. It's a great defensive stop and the defense is clearly fired up. AFA boots a field goal, which is something of a moral victory.

Mistake #2. ND gets the ball and drives to the Air Force 47, where it's 3rd & 8. Clausen drops back to pass, AFA fires the corner on a zone blitz, and although we're in max protect nobody picks it up. Travis Thomas is looking for the stunt up the middle (which AFA used effectively later in the game), but nobody is looking outside. Clausen gets crunched and we have to punt. The first drive was killed by a turnover, and the second with a sack. We're not off to a rousing start.

(By the way, Mike Anello is my hero. On the punt coverage, he pops into frame just as the ball hits the ground, and deftly swats it between his legs and away from the end zone, downing it on the 2.)

The defense picks up where it left off, stopping Chad Hall on consecutive handoffs for 2 yards and 3 yards. Carney drops back to pass on third down, and Laws gets a paw on the pass and breaks it up. Another good effort by the defense, and it sets up a punt.

Mistake #3 comes on the ensuing ND drive. We have excellent field position from AFA punting from the end zone, starting at the AFA 38. Three rushes by Allen churn out just one yard (the last play being a fake quick pass/handoff that we've run with some success in the past), so we decide to go for it on 4th and 9.

The decision to go for it in this situation is sound. We're down 3, it's still early in the game, the ball is on the AFA 37, it's too far to kick a field goal and probably too close to pooch it (especially with Geoff Price sitting out the game with an injury). But AFA spring another zone blitz on us, dropping a lineman, looping a linebacker around through the middle and blitzing a safety as well. It's a three-on-two matchup on the left side, and Clausen has no chance.

Mistake #4 is a killer. After the defense makes yet another great stop (total yards on the last two Air Force drives: 7), Clausen muffs a handoff to Schwapp -- or Schwapp muffs a handoff from Clausen -- the ball pops up in the air, John Rabold snatches it and rumbles into the end zone to make it 10-0 Air Force. I'm still not clear on whose fault this was; it didn't look like Schwapp was looking for the handoff at all, so it's likely a missed call on his part or Clausen's. Either way, it's a self-inflicted error that resulted directly in -7 points, and killed yet another drive. That's four times we've had the ball, and four times we've tripped over ourselves.

On the next Air Force drive, the Zoomies start to move the ball a little bit. Carney surprises us for 21 yards on a QB draw right up the gut, which is a nice call considering we were focused on Chad Hall, and had shut him down the last half dozen times or so the ball came to him. Air Force makes it all the way to the ND 35, when Carney runs an option left, gets engulfed by Irish linemen, and pitches it sloppily to Hall who can't get a handle on it. ND recovers. Another nice stop by the defense.

The Irish offense finally gets on track, taking it from the ND 37 all the way down to the Air Force 11. It's a nice combo of Aldridge + Allen + some well-timed passes, and it looks like this:

N 1-10 N37 ALDRIDGE rush for 16 yards to the AF47, 1ST DOWN ND
N 1-10 A47 ALDRIDGE rush for 3 yards to the AF44
N 2-7 A44 ALDRIDGE rush for 1 yard to the AF43
N 3-6 A43 CLAUSEN pass complete to GRIMES for 7 yards to the AF36, 1ST DOWN ND, out-of-bounds.
N 1-10 A36 ALLEN rush for 9 yards to the AF27
N 2-1 A27 ALLEN rush for 5 yards to the AF22, 1ST DOWN ND
N 1-10 A22 CLAUSEN pass complete to PARRIS for 3 yards to the AF19.
N 2-7 A19 HUGHES rush for 3 yards to the AF16
N 3-4 A16 ALLEN rush for 5 yards to the AF11, 1ST DOWN ND.

I wish more drives looked like this, because it seems like the mix we've been envisioning since the first game of the season. Schwapp even gets in on the act, throwing a great block on the first play to spring Aldridge for his long gainer. (If you don't believe me, check the tape. Asaph actually made quite a few excellent blocks in this game, which gives me hope for him yet.)

So we're on the AF 11, and it's 1st & 10. What happens next I can't qualify as an out-and-out mistake, but it's a frustrating three-play set. First is a play-action pass that never has time to set up because the OL can't sustain protection; Clausen has no time and has to throw it away. Second is another pass, a fade to Grimes in the left corner that's well-covered. Third is another pass, with Clausen threading it to Parris just across the end zone line, but the pass is broken up. You'd like to see a little more effort by Parris here, because I think the ball was catchable, but he was out-battled by the defender. Nonetheless, three straight passes after you've run the ball well for fifty yards is a head-scratcher. We kick the FG and it's 10-3.

We kickoff, and the defense responds with yet another terrific stop. This time, AFA elects to go for it on 4th & 1 at the 50 yard line. It's a handoff going right, and Trevor Laws makes a great stop.

(Have you heard of this guy Laws, by the way? He's a defensive tackle. He only leads the country in tackles by a defensive linemen, to go with his two forced fumbles, two blocked kicks, and numerous passes batted down. On any other team with a better record, he'd be a shoo-in for first team All-American. Sadly, I don't think he's going to get it.)

ND puts together another scoring drive, featuring several nice plays including a 14-yard out to Grimes, which is a route and completion I haven't seen in oh, forever. I had momentary flashbacks of Samardzija dragging across the middle 15 yards deep, and Quinn finding him open on the other side of the coverage. That's exactly what happened here, and you wish you saw more of it. The drive ends with a beautiful fade to Carlson in the right corner of the end zone. It's 10-10.

So let's review the defensive effort to this point in the game. Air Force drives are going like this:

Start	Plays	Yards	Result
A42	14	56	FIELD GOAL
A02	3	5	Punt
A47	3	2	Punt
A33	6	30	Fumble
A31	6	19	Downs

Five drives, 112 yards, three points, and it's nearly halftime. That's pretty solid. Unfortunately, it starts to unravel right here. (The defense would ultimately yield 405 yards and 34 points).

It's only about two and half minutes until the half, and if we get another stop here we can bring it into the locker room tied, or maybe even ahead if we can scrape out one last scoring drive. Instead, we give up plays of 17, 10, 15, 14, and 8 yards, culminating in a touchdown on a reverse by Air Force that made us look silly (and John Ryan looking the silliest of them all). The key to this drive (and the key to the Air Force offense for the rest of the game, really) was the first play, a 17-yard run up the gut by the fullback Jim Ollis, his first carry of the game. The Ollis carry was an option, and Brockington was playing the pitch and took himself out of the play. Nice adjustment by Calhoun to carve out the middle, which really opened things up outside later on. We'd been playing the outside pitches & runs pretty well, but that left the middle open, and Air Force took advantage of it.

So, 1:09 until the half, and on the first play Clausen is sacked on a delayed stunt up the middle for Mistake #5. The defender comes in clean, unseen, untouched, and nobody so much as shot him an ugly look on his way to sacking the quarterback. A few more plays here and there, and it's halftime, 17-10, Air Force.

---

The second half was a combination of Air Force finally getting their offense on track, and us futilely trying to play catch-up. Calhoun opens another drive with a handoff to Ollis, this time a counter-cutback that works for 15 yards. The drive also features a nifty reverse to Armstrong, and several more runs up the middle. The biggest gaffe (Mistake #6) comes on the sixth play of the drive, where it's 3rd and 3 on the ND 33. Carney breaks the huddle, receiver Mark Root splits out wide -- and nobody covers him. I mean, nobody. Nobody lines up across from him, none of the safeties roll over the top, nobody even seems to notice him. Carney does, though, and hits him for 26 yards uncontested. The next play is a play-action pass to Quintana in end zone for a score, and it's 24-10. (Quintana, man...that creep can roll.)

ND, down two scores now, really needs to answer this with its own touchdown. There's a quick pass to Grimes, and a nice pitch to Aldridge for seven yards and a first down (with another great block by Schwapp. I'm not making this up). Then Grimes drops a sideliner that hits him in the hands, then drops another pass over the middle that hits him in the chest. It would have been a first down. Cripes. Count these as Mistakes #7 and #8: unforced miscues that cost us another drive.

The next Air Force drive is looking like it's going to be another scoring effort, until Chad Hall hears a phantom whistle and inexplicably stops, and stands up on a 3rd & 1 handoff, allowing himself to be tackled. Air Force punts.

ND takes over on their own 12, but can't get untracked; there's a nice screen pass to Allen on the drive but Air Force bottles up Aldridge twice and forces a punt. Sullivan and Olsen are both hurt on this drive, and are replaced by Wenger at center and Bemenderfer at guard.

The defense is softened up now from the middle runs, and Air Force takes advantage of it. Ollis up the middle, option left to Hall, option right to Hall, and the Falcons drive all the way to the ND 38. Then, on 3rd & 8, another great call by Calhoun: a shovel pass to Hall that goes for 25 yards right up the middle. All the action is headed outside, and the linebackers flow along with it, and Carney squirts it back to Hall who jitterbugs his way down to the 13. Air Force scores on a rollout pass to the tight end Madsen in the end zone, who's seemingly surrounded by blue jerseys but not actually covered. 31-10, Air Force.

It's at this point in the game I would have expected the Irish players to call it a day. I wouldn't have been surprised in the least, and I probably wouldn't have begrudged them, either, down by three touchdowns at the start of the fourth quarter in the 10th game of the year. But the Irish respond, and put together two fine scoring drives sandwiching another Air Force field goal. The key seems to be that screen pass that has sputtered so often this year. We run it to Jabbie and suddenly it works like a charm: 13 yards, 8 yards, 12 yards, and 18 yards. Jabbie racks up 51 yards on screen passes between the two drives, both of them capped by Clausen touchdown passes. The first TD goes to Grimes on a picture-perfect fade, and the second to Allen on a swing pass featuring a nice look-off from Jimmy -- the first swing pass of the day to Allen. After the second touchdown it's 34-24, with about 8:00 left in the game. There is hope.

Air Force takes over on their own 38. Hall goes for 6 on a handoff right. On the next play, Ian Williams (playing for an injured Kuntz) busts up the middle and drops Hall for a 2-yard loss. On 3rd & 6, it's Ian Williams again, bringing down Hall for two yards. The Irish defense has regrouped momentarily, and forces a punt just when they need it most.

Unfortunately for the Irish, it would be the last glimmer of hope in the game. Clausen throws low for Parris incomplete, then flings it to Parris again under pressure for two yards. Needing 8 yards, Grimes for some reason runs a 7-yard out pattern, and it's 4th and a long 1. The Irish offense scrambles to get into position, and Clausen sneaks it, but comes up way short. I almost wish they had called a timeout here, and set something up, because the team looked confused; the play looked like a fire drill. Air Force gets the ball with a short field, rushes 7 times and gets the touchdown (41-24), and save for a token Irish drive at the end, the game is over.

---

There's a moment in the movie The Darjeeling Limited where a train comes to an unexpected halt in the middle of the Indian desert. The conductor and several passengers climb outside, poring over a map.

"What's going on?" asks one of the main characters.

"He said the train is lost."

"How can a train be lost? It's on rails."

"Apparently we took a wrong turn at some point last night."

"How far off course are we?"

"Nobody knows. We haven't located us yet."

"What did you just say? Say that again."

"We haven't located us yet."

"Ahh! Is that supposed to be symbolic?"

Until this season, I'd thought the Irish football program was on rails, of a sort, too. I'd figured the ride would be bumpy at times, but there'd be a visible path, and a lower bounds, and I expected to keep clattering along in a positive direction. I certainly wasn't expecting a season like this.

We've taken a wrong turn somewhere in the night, and we got lost. We still haven't located us yet.

Odds & Sods - Low-Flying Jets Edition | by Mike

I never actually saw the Navy game. I was traveling during the game and my DVR screwed up the recording, so I missed the game. Sure, I read the articles, perused the stats and watched the clips in Jay's breakdown, but these aren't the same as watching history unfold before your eyes.

Then I watched the Air Force game, and that told me all I needed to know.

A tip of the cap to Trevor Laws and Mike Anello, but other than that...I got nothin'.

Pre-flight Check | by Jay

Let's scramble a quick AFA preview before kickoff today...

• Air Force is 7-3 overall. The're 5-2 in conference (Mountain West). They're currently sitting second behind BYU in the MWC standings.

9/1	South Carolina St. (5-4)	W	34	3
9/8	Utah (6-3)	W	20	12
9/13	TCU (5-4)	W - OT	20	17
9/22	BYU (6-2)	L	6	31
9/29	Navy (5-4)	L	20	31
10/6	UNLV (2-7)	W	31	14
10/13	Colorado St. (1-8)	W	45	21
10/20	Wyoming (2-3)	W	20	12
10/25	New Mexico (6-3)	L	31	34
11/3	Army (3-7)	W	30	10

• The Zoomies' rushing offense is 4th in the nation, at 272 yards per game.

• Contrary to popular belief, Air Forces runs a spread option offense, and not the trademark Fisher DeBerry triple option attack. When first year coach Troy Calhoun came on board he installed the shotgun spread (similar to what West Virginia runs). The Calhoun version is still a ground-based attack, and still incorporates option plays, but the triple option is no longer the foundation. There's a bit more passing involved: the Falcons' QB Shaun Carney has already bested his passing attempts from '04, '05, and '06, and there's still three games to play.

• Chad Hall (#1) is the AFA's most dynamic player, appearing as the "Z-back" in Calhoun's offense, lining up at running back, slot back, receiver, and even sometimes at quarterback. He is the only Division 1A player leading his team in rushing, receiving and all-purpose yards, and he accounts for about half the Falcons' offense:

"I practice with the receivers," Hall said. "I start every game as the z-receiver. Technically, I'm still a receiver."

But how many receivers get 160 carries, though?

"We just call him a hybrid," Air Force teammate and roommate Garrett Rybak said. "It's easier."

Hall hasn't been easy to bring down this season. He's averaged 192.8 yards a game over his last five contests...

It took some time for Falcons coach Troy Calhoun to figure out how to best utilize the diminutive Hall, who stands a generous 5-foot-8 and weighs 180 pounds. For the first five games of the season, Calhoun used him primarily as a receiver, and he caught 25 passes for 281 yards.

The Falcons needed more explosiveness out of their offense, so Calhoun decided give him more carries against UNLV to see what he could do. Hall rushed for 169 yards and two touchdowns on 18 carries. He also caught four passes for 44 yards.

Problem solved. Since taking a more predominant role in the offense, Hall has been Mountain West Conference offensive player of the week three times.

• I took a look to see if I could find something in common in all of Air Force's three losses (to BYU 6-31, to Navy 20-31, and to New Mexico 31-34). One thing jumps out at you immediately: the three losses (and the OT win over TCU) were also the four-lowest rushing totals of the year for Air Force. BYU in particular limited the Air Force offense, clamping down on them for 133 rushing yards (more than -100 under their average) and just six points on a single touchdown all day. The yards per rush average for each game was also significantly lower in these games.

• I'd assumed the lower rushing numbers were a product of Air Force having to pass more to catch up, but that's really only the case against BYU, who jumped out to a big lead early on and force Air Force to throw (AFA had their lowest number of carries all year against BYU). But the other three games were pretty close until the fourth quarter: against TCU, Air Force got a 71 yard touchdown run late in the game to tie it up and send it to overtime; against Navy, it was a 4-point game until the 9:00 mark; and against New Mexico, Air Force actually led 21-10 in the first half.

• On defense, Air Force is ranked pretty well in Pass Effiency Defense, with a 112.65 rating (205 ypg) that puts them 27th nationally. But if you discount the game against South Carolina State -- which sports the 94th passing offense in Div I-AA -- then that ranking drops about 25 slots or so. Several teams have gouged Air Force through the air; BYU completed almost 70% and had 293 yards passing.

• If it were just about any other Irish team in recent memory, this would be a relatively easy win for Notre Dame. Stop the run, pass a little bit, and coast to a victory. This year, as we all know, is a different story: AFA comes into ND today a 3-point favorite. Sounds about right to me...perhaps even a little low.

Cue Lou | by Jay

Right about now, nobody could use a pep talk more than Charlie Weis.

"Charlie, nothing's ever as good as it seems. And nothing's ever as bad as it seems. Somewhere in the middle is where reality falls.

Now it's been a bad year. We just lost to the University of the Navy and it broke one of the biggest streaks in college football history. But we can't worry about Navy, that's in the past. It's not like they can break the streak again.

Charlie you've made some mistakes. With these young guys on the team you needed to teach them to block and tackle and that's all about practice and repetition. A fisherman without tackle dudn't catch any fish, but a linebacker who can't tackle loses football games. You've made some mistakes. But everybody makes mistakes. When Notre Dame burnt to the ground, Father Sorin said his biggest mistake was that he didn't built it big enough. And when this team has been broken down and defeated, you're going to work harder to build the team back bigger and better than ever before, because that's the only way you can achieve greatness.

Never forget you've got a family. I'm not talking about your wife and kids, I'm talking about the Notre Dame family. One of the special things about the University of Notre Dame is that they will pick you up when you've stumbled. Now when you gather 'round the Thanksgiving dinner table, do you kick out the uncle who backed over the family dog? No, you don't. He made a mistake. And poor Rover paid the price. But you stand by your family, even when they make mistakes. Our fans may be disgruntled. Hell, I'm disgruntled, Charlie. But it's because I and everybody else under the Dome want to win just as badly as you. The good thing is football fans have a shorter memory than a goldfish. People may not remember your two BCS trips as well as they should, but the beauty of it is they'll forget these losses as soon as a couple wins start popping up.

The first step in winning the football game tomorrow is believing you can win the football game. Charlie, when the big ball in New York dropped at midnight last January your coaching abilities didn't go out the window. You've had a lifetime of success and that doesn't disappear overnight. Look around you, you're surrounded by a staff that didn't come here to lose, and players that didn't come here to lose. And we know you didn't come here to lose. So look on the bright side. You're all on the same page! That's a foundation for success. You believe you can win, your coaches believe you can win, your players believe you can win. And even when the players are doubting themselves you can inspire them to win. When you squeeze an orange, you get orange juice. But when you squeeze a Notre Dame player, you get a winner, because that's what's inside us all.

Now tomorrow, we've got a challenge. The Air Force Academy is a tough and disciplined group. They execute well and they've got more heart than just about any team I've ever seen. We're gonna get their best. But you can rest easy knowing they don't get to use their jets or sidewinder missiles on the field of play. Tomorrow, they're just another group of guys in pads. And I guarantee you this: they don't have a monopoly on heart. Because if I can bank on anything this year it's that this Notre Dame team does not quit. We have players who believe. They believe in the University of Notre Dame, and they believe in their coaches. They want to win, every second of every game.

When Rockne gave his famous talk he said let's get out there and win one for the Gipper. Well, we're at 1-8 right now, so we got our One. But nobody ever said we had to win just One for the Gipper. We can win a couple more and here's how it's gonna happen.

Tomorrow I want you to find a play that's successful. And then I want you to find another one. You string a couple of those plays together and you get a first down. A couple of those and you've got a touchdown. A couple of those and you've got a win. And a couple of those . . . well that's how you get a championship. But don't forget, it all started with that one successful play.

And always remember this: You're only one win away from starting an undefeated streak. Now get out there and beat Air Force."

Bird-doggin' | by Jay

Quick update on an earlier post. We had invited Mike James of the Navy blog The Birddog to add his thoughts and analysis to our dissection of the Navy attack a couple of posts below, and he graciously accepted. I've updated the post with his notes, which clarify many of the nuances of Paul Johnson's offense and provide quite a bit of insight into how it all works. Take a gander.

Irish Seek Split With Academies | by Brian

Troy Calhoun: the strong, silent type

In the wake of a demoralizing loss to Navy, Notre Dame hopes to rebound when they host the Air Force Falcons this Saturday. It's a new-look Air Force squad, with a new head man on the sideline. After 23 years at the helm, Fisher DeBerry has given way to '50's matinee idol Troy Calhoun.

Calhoun's coaching pedigree includes stints as an assistant to Evil Genius Mike Shanahan with the Denver Broncos, as well as getting David Carr killed as offensive coordinator of the Houston Texans.

For the second straight week, the Irish must deal with an option offense, this time led by Air Force quarterback Shaun Carney. The Falcons average 395.2 yards per game, 272.8 of them on the ground. With 122.4 ypg passing, they are a bigger threat in the air than Navy, with the possible exception of Navy pilot Pete Mitchell. The Academy's ground game is led by 1100-yard rusher Chad Hall, with an impressive 12 rushing touchdowns on the season. Carney is second in rushing with 411 yards and three scores.

The Air Force defense, though better than Navy's, is again below most of the teams Notre Dame faced through the first eight games. They allow just under 142 ypg rushing, but are also susceptible to the pass, allowing over 200 ypg. With Top Jimmy back in the starting lineup this week, this game could be a showcase for talented freshmen Clausen, Duval "The Ugandan Giant" Kamara, and Armando Allen.

Idris Leppla, May I Have Your Attention Please?

The United States Air Force Academy is affiliated with the United States Air Force.

Beau Morgan: A Worthy Foe

Yippee ki yay, Mister Falcon.

In 1996, the Falcons came into Notre Dame Stadium and defeated the Irish 20-17, in Notre Dame's first-ever overtime game. No Irish fan in attendance will ever forget the name of Falcon quarterback Beau Morgan, who practically willed Air Force to victory.

Though Morgan completed only 5 of 11 passes for 51 yards, he rushed 23 times for 183 yards and a touchdown, picking up crucial, spirit-crushing yards seemingly every time he touched the ball. He also conducted the Band of the Fighting Irish in its halftime show The Songs of Billy Joel, performed the Heimlich maneuver on a choking fan sitting in Section 28, and filled in for Officer Tim McCarthy for that day's safe driving announcement:

"May I have your attention please? This is Deputy Beau Morgan of the Indiana State Police. Whether it's driving your car back to Colorado Springs or driving your football team down the field for a winning score, it requires alertness, concentration, and quick reflexes. So remember, if you're headed for the Rocky Mountains, lay off the Busch."

For all this, and so much more, we here at BGS give a tip of the cap, and coveted Worthy Foe Status, to former Air Force quarterback Beau Morgan. He is one of only two Worthy Foes for the 1996 season, joining former Ohio State running back That Damn Pepe Pearson.

When Coach DeBerry's Career Began to Short Circuit

Fisher DeBerry and Steve Guttenberg plead
their case for using robots to the NCAA

In every coach's life, there comes a time when he realizes that the game has passed him by. For Fisher DeBerry, it happened prior to the 2006 season. Hoping to level the playing field, so to speak, with some of the big-time programs in college football, DeBerry realized that he would be hard-pressed to compete with them for the top recruits. So, he hit upon the idea of using robots to fill out his roster.

Ultimately, however, the NCAA ruled against the use of robots, citing the inherent danger involved as well as the fact that such a practice would clearly be offensive to cyborgs. Miles Brand commented as follows: "Robots are everywhere, and they eat old people's medicine for fuel....And when they grab you with those metal claws, you can't break free, because they're made of metal, and robots are strong." I really can't dispute any of that. Chalk it up as a rare sensible decision by the NCAA.

The Government Knows You're Reading This Right Now

Dat's how da AF rolls

The National Security Agency was officially formed in 1952, after an embryonic stage of sorts which dated back to the National Security Act of 1947. The Director of the NSA, by law, must be a commissioned military officer with at least the grade of a three star lieutenant general or vice admiral. From 1999-2005, the Director was Air Force General Michael Hayden. In 2006, President Bush appointed Hayden to the post of Director of the CIA. We recently got Gen. Hayden's thoughts on this week's game, in a Blue-Gray Sky EXCLUSIVE:

"Yeah, Air Force up in dis bitch! We gonna run it down yo throats all day, son. We got luv fo' da flyers and Luvs fo' da liars. Tell Charlie to go eat another donut! You Irish 'bout ta get hit wit a LIGHTNIN BOLT!!! Peace out bitches. Dinkin' flicka."

QB Browns Alert Level Update: BLACK

Since it's been a while since the last update, I figured we'd check in on the progress of QB Browns. There really isn't much to report: the QB Browns Alert Level is ensconced in BLACK (Backup). Behind quarterback Derek Anderson, the Browns have been surprisingly frisky: they are 5-3 and are headed into a matchup with archrival Pittsburgh with first place in the AFC North on the line. They have benefitted from an easy schedule to this point: their five wins have come against teams with a combined record of 10-30, and one of their losses was to 2-6 Oakland. The schedule doesn't exactly get tougher: after this week's game in Pittsburgh, their remaining schedule is as follows (current record of each opponent in parentheses):

11/18 @ Baltimore (4-4)

11/25 HOUSTON (4-5)

12/2 @ Arizona (3-5)

12/9 @ NY Jets (1-8)

12/16 BUFFALO (4-4)

12/23 @ Cincinnati (2-6)

12/30 SAN FRANCISCO (2-6)
Total: 20-38

I'm calling my shot, ladies and gentlemen: the Cleveland Browns will go to the playoffs (where they will be promptly shellacked). But more to the point, QB Browns won't see the field this year in anything other than mop-up duty.

Prediction From the Oracle

With the Irish offense exploding last week for 44 overtime-assisted points, will The Blind Oracle at Bristol still have doubts about their ability to score? Let's find out.

"Having been weakened by one fighting force, reinforcements arrive to finish the job. The ninth plague descends from above. A flash of blue lightning, beautiful but deadly, like Lenin's goatee. Once led by a Fisher of Men, they now blaze their own path. Bottom line, the Irish lack the team speed to keep up with the Falcons. Air Force beats Notre Dame 35-10."

A shocking loss | by Pat

The football game on Saturday was preceded by the horrible news of the sudden death of Ryan Shay, a former Notre Dame All-American in track and cross-country and current Olympic hopeful in the marathon. Shay, 28, died while competing in the U.S. Olympic marathon trials in New York City.

Und.com has a wonderful tribute to Shay, noting his multitude of accomplishments both on the field (9 time All-American, ND's first individual track event national champion since 1952) and off (Academic All-American). It also includes many personal anecdotes about one of the best athletes to ever wear the Blue and Gold.

There is also a touching article in the New York Times about Shay, his family, and his hometown of Central Lake, Michigan.

Please make sure to read both of these tributes to an extremely impressive and inspirational individual and offer up your prayers to the Shay family.

Rest in peace Ryan.

Simple Complexity | by Jay

Instead of breaking down the Irish units from Saturday, we figured we'd look at something that actually worked: the Navy offense. Brian P. sends us this review of the Middies' triple-option attack, and shows us plenty of examples of why Paul Johnson is such a terrific offensive mind. We also invited Mike James of the Navy blog The Birddog to add his thoughts and analysis, which he graciously shared with us. His thoughts are in blue, below.

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A couple of years ago, during the preparation for a bowl game against Colorado State, Paul Johnson was asked by a reporter to describe the Navy offense:

To better understand the concepts behind the Navy football team's top-ranked rushing offense, a newspaper reporter recently asked Navy head coach Paul Johnson how many plays were in his team's playbook.

Johnson, 48, might have told him – if he had one.

"We don't have a playbook," Johnson said. "I found that if you have playbooks, they end up on eBay and everywhere else."

Johnson instead said he gives his players empty notebooks and lets them write down plays in their terms. In tonight's 7:30 San Diego County Credit Union Poinsettia Bowl game against Colorado State, the game plan won't even take up more than a few sheets: Navy probably won't use more than five or six different plays, Johnson said.

It's all part of a system that's so simple, it's complicated – at least for opposing defenses. Conceptually, the offense builds around one basic play – the triple option, a system unto itself that's worked so well that New England Patriots coach Bill Belichick called it "one of the best running offenses of the last decade."...

"We probably run the same play over 3,000 times, and our whole offense is based off of one play," fullback Adam Ballard said. "We rep it every day, so we know what's going on."

This disciplined simplicity was alive and well on Saturday, as Navy's offense rolled down the field en route to an incredible, streak-breaking win over Notre Dame. By my count, Navy ran a total of 10 different plays during the game. They used 3 different formations to run these plays, and they had what looked like 3 different blocking schemes. That's pretty much it.

These five plays were run more than twice:

• Triple Option
• Toss Sweep
• FB Blast (which is the Delaware Wing T play)
• QB designed keeper behind the lead FB / midline option
  
• Reverse Pivot - Counter Option. (The FB option is to one side but the QB and HB option are back to the other side.)

And these five plays appeared just once or twice:

• HB option pass. (Play action pass from Triple Option look)
• FB waggle pass
• 1-yard Hitch/quick pass
• Double Option - blocking all players
• Screen pass (used once late in the second half)
  

Mike's notes: QB keeper usually isn't a designed keeper, except around the goal line or in really short-yardage situations. This is actually the midline option, where the quarterback has the choice of giving to the fullback or keeping the ball. The slotback that goes in tail motion on the play usually becomes a lead blocker for the quarterback if he reads to keep, although he didn’t have to in this game because the linebackers followed him outside. The first man lined up outside of the playside guard is the quarterback's read -- usually a 3 technique, sometimes a 4i or 5 tech. Usually he crashes down on the fullback, which is why it seems like it’s a designed QB keeper.

On the counter option, the fullback is only a decoy and is not an option on this play.

Sometimes when you run the triple option, the backside DE will cheat a little bit on the snap and play the fullback dive. One of the ways that Navy’s coaches take advantage of that is through the counter option. On the counter option, the playside slotback goes into tail motion. This gives the DE lined up across from him the impression that the play will be going the other way. When the ball is snapped, the motion slotback reverses direction and becomes a lead blocker. The quarterback fakes to the fullback in one direction to make it look like a regular triple option play. He then reverses direction and follows the motion slotback. The backside guard pulls to seal off the cheating DE from pursuing outside and stringing out the play. If the formation is balanced and the middle linebacker hesitates at all on the fake to the fullback, this should leave one man to cover both the quarterback and the pitch.

The thing about the counter option is that it allows the offense to attack the outside without reading its way there. On triple option plays, the ball won’t get outside it the quarterback reads to give to the fullback.

So it's basically a 5-play offense, with just a handful of wrinkles. The power of this simplified approach comes in the precise execution, and the sequencing of plays to set up surprises later in the game. Johnson is as wily as any playcaller in mixing and matching and keeping a defense off balance. Let's take a look.

Drive 1:



1. A 1-yard quick hitch pass. ND is geared up for the option but the CB were playing off the WR, so Navy took the easy catch for a 14 yard gain.
2. Triple Option - Blocking Scheme 1 (lineman block down inside). ND has practiced and stop the play easily.
3. Toss Sweep - Blocking Scheme 2 (the lineman loop around the outside of the DE and OLB). The play works but ND causes a fumble.

Drive 2:

First play: Triple Option, but with blocking scheme 2. So now Johnson is mixing together the 2nd play call with the 3rd play's blocking scheme to mess with the defense.

Mike's notes: Acutally, this isn’t the same blocking scheme as the toss sweep, although it looks similar. The sweep is more or less a screen play, with the playside linemen releasing to the outside. On this play, notice how the playside guard actually blocks up the middle, and does not release to the outside? The blocking here is really just a scoop block. The defensive end is lined up over the B gap and becomes the quarterback’s first read. He goes after the fullback. The tackle’s responsibility is to chip the next man lined up outside of the DE (who is the QB’s pitch key), then release to block defenders flowing to the play.

On defense, it looks like getting the MLBs to flow was crucial to Corwin Brown's scheme for getting to the pitchman. He wanted to play cat and mouse with the DE and OLB, and buy time for Crum and/or Brockington to come make the play. That is what looked to be the plan for Notre Dame on defense. Johnson quickly adjusts to this, using the new blocking scheme to make sure he can get the block on the flowing MLB by the 3rd or 4th play of the game. He loops a Guard around the end because Crum could easily beat the OT trying to block down inside on him...that is a very difficult block. No significant adjustment was made by Notre Dame in response. (Also of note: Kuntz is hurt on this first play of the second drive, and will not return for the rest of the game.)

This is correct about the Notre Dame gameplan, but the adjustment is different. The guard does not go around the end; he blocks pretty much north-south. The adjustment that Paul Johnson made was simply to bring the wide receivers in close to the rest of the formation. This allowed them to make crackback blocks on the linebacker covering the pitch. Notre Dame left their corners 6-7 yards off of the line of scrimmage, so the playside slotback had enough time to get upfield and block him. Essentially, the slotbacks and wide receivers switched blocking responsibilities. The wide receiver could take a better angle in blocking the linebacker this way. Notre Dame did adjust to this eventually, but that adjustment led to their demise.



Johnson likes this scheme and sticks with it for much of the first half. The key is that Navy is able to block the NT with just the Center. No double team is required in the middle of the field which frees up the Guard to loop around and block the LB flowing to the play. The Notre Dame DE and OLB are standing very close together and pretty much just standing still. Navy's QB is not getting hit hard. The defense is not committing to any particular option consistently so Navy has a nice mix of FB, QB and HB carries on the option plays.

Also of note, normally the option gets run to the wide side of the field unless the defense commits an extra player to one side. Johnson was faithful to this "field" side convention but added a wrinkle on Navy's first touchdown. Navy had a first and goal from the 5 yard line. Navy ran the Reverse Pivot - Split option. The FB dive option went to the boundary side and the QB reversed direction and ran the rest of the option to the field. This was the first time Navy used that look in the game and it allowed the slower Navy HB to outrun the faster Notre Dame CB to the corner of the end zone. Just a half-second delay that gets induced by getting the defense to flow one way and then coming back the other way. The timing of when that half-second could be used to the maximum effect was brilliant anticipation by Johnson.

Drive 3:



New wrinkle. On the second play of this drive, Navy lines up in a new formation. The WRs are tucked in very close to the OT's in the formation. The WBs are a little deeper in the backfield behind the WRs. Navy runs the reverse pivot - split option again, but with a new blocking scheme on this drive. This time the OT blocks the DE. This is the first time the DE has been blocked all game long, now deep into the 2nd quarter. The WR runs deep taking the CB with him. The far side OG pulls and loops around and blocks the MLB...a rather long run but he makes his block perfectly. The OLB is left unblocked for the option. The FB fake is to the right, the QB and WB reverse and come back to the left. It's a 12 yard gain even though the pitch man read his block wrong and went outside when he should have cut in.

This is a great example of the backside DE (or at least he thinks he is) biting on the FB fake on the counter option. The DE here wasn’t blocked as much as he just took himself out of the play.

The very next play, from the same formation, Navy fakes the toss sweep to the right and give to the FB also to the right. Something looks weird. I watch the play 4 times in slow motion before I see it. There it is. This was just a regular running play. Everybody was blocked by the man in front of them. So on two consecutive plays, Johnson runs at a DE while blocking him for the first time all game long. The DE is so used to standing up and watching the play as nobody touches him. Now he gets blocked straight up by a Navy lineman who weighs 50 lbs less than him, all because of a well-timed use of the play.

Next play, same look, Triple option boundary side.

Next play, same look, fake triple option, drop back pass - dropped in the end zone by the WR. ND actually had this play covered fairly well which is encouraging.

The drive ends in a touchdown to make it 14-14.

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Second Half, Drive 1:



1st Play (didn't make it into the reel for some reason; sorry about that): Triple option, give to the FB. For once, the MLB comes up strong to meet this play at the line of scrimmage. This is a good correction by Corwin Brown at halftime, but really, this should have been the plan all along. Still goes for seven yards.

2nd Play. FB Blast. No option, just a regular running play. The Navy OG crushes Trevor Laws who is nearly twice his size. Again Laws is used to standing up and watching as nobody blocks him. On this play the Guard takes two steps forward like he is blocking down on the LB like he normally does, and then he makes a right turn and basically trap blocks Laws. Again, the blocking scheme is very clever when put into the contect of what has been happening all game long.

3rd play: Toss Sweep

4th Play: Triple Option

5th Play: QB keeps and follows the FB into the dive hole. This was not an option but a designed play. The OT uses a kick out block on the OLB, the first time the OLB has been blocked all game long, and the WB blocks down on the DE, the first time he has been blocked from this angle all game long. Just a simple cross blocking scheme but it is so effective since those players have been so used to not getting blocked and they had not yet been blocked by those players from those angles before.

As I mentioned above, this was that midline option. The first man lined up over the B-gap is the DE; notice how he goes unblocked and crashes down on the fullback. The quarterback read this and just ran into the space that the DE left behind. The playside OT does block the OLB, but the slotback is blocking a middle linebacker here, not the DE.

6th play: FB Blast - everyone blocked

7th play: Triple Option - give to FB

8th play: 4th and 2 Navy gives a weird look. WB motions into backfield like an I formation and stops...normally on the option this is fluid and the ball is snapped while he is moving. Then the other WB motions into the backfield and stops forming a true wishbone. Navy is just trying to draw ND offside with a weird look. ND doesn't fall for it and Navy calls timeout.

This actually serves two purposes. One is to try to draw the defense offside. The other is to show Paul Johnson how the defense is going to line up on the next play.

9th play: 4th and 2. Fake the reverse pivot triple option and the QB keeps the ball. Everyone was blocked. The Guard kicks out the DE. The Tackle kicks out the OLB and the WB loops inside and lead blocks on the isolated MLB. This is the first look at this blocking scheme so far for the defense.

Actually, I think this was just a regular triple option play. It looks like the quarterback made the wrong read on the fullback dive, and when you do that you’re taught to just follow the fullback through the hole.

10th play: Triple option to the boundary instead of the field side for a change of pace.

There’s a numbers advantage here on the right side. To give an idea of what I mean by "numbers advantage," complete with very crude illustrations, take a look at a post from last month, here.

11th play: FB Blast. #74 of Navy takes out Trevor Laws again.

12th play: Toss Sweep. Should have been called for a block in the back but Navy got away with it. Notre Dame defense has not blown up a single play all game.

13th play: 3rd and 1 from the 5. New look. Navy goes unbalanced line with a 3rd lineman covering the tackle on the field side. The defense doesn't respond quite right but the safety sort of cheats over a bit to the formation. FB Blast look but the QB keeps and follows the FB through the hole.

14th play: 1st and goal from the 4. FB Blast. Navy uses the Guard and Tackle to double team the DE. This is the first double team of the game on a player that has been left unblocked most of the time. Dwight Stephenson is plowed back into the end zone ending up on his back. Navy gets to the 1 inch line.

15th play: FB Blast - for a touchdown. Navy misses the kick and it is 21-20.

Drive 2:

See if you can notice how Johnson picks his moments to decide to block the Irish DE and OLB. He knows that they usually aren't expecting a block, so he was able to get 2-3 valuable yards when he needed them inside the tackles by springing this trap. The option is sometimes a risky play: it can get stuffed in the backfield when you really need that 3rd and 3. But the FB wing-T play inside the tackles are much lower risk, and combined with the surprise of blocking the DE and OLB, are actually high probability plays.



1st Play: FB Blast - holding penalty making it 1st and 20

2nd Play: 1 yard hitch pass - minimal gain

3rd play: Triple Option Play Action - deep pass. Pass Interference leads to a 1st down.

4th play: FB Blast

5th play: Triple Option- FB give. This is the first option play in the last 10 plays. Navy has been beating Notre Dame using straight-up Wing T plays from 1950.

6th play: 3rd and 5. FB waggle pass for a 1st down. Great design. The WR runs a seam route. The WB motions to the other side of the field. They give the reverse pivot - split option look but the FB flares out into the empty flat.

Actually, this isn’t the counter option-look, it’s toss sweep-look. The middle linebackers bite on the fake sweep and leave the FB wide open.

7th play: Toss Sweep

9th Play: FB Blast

10th Play: FB Blast

11th play: 2nd and 9. Triple Option - give to the FB. For the first time all game long, the NT beats the single block from the Center and stuffs this play.

12th play: 3rd and 8. Triple option but with no motion by the WB this time for a new look. The give is to the FB which was a poor choice on 3rd and 8. This may be the first bad read Kaipo-Noa has made all game long.

I don't think this was a bad read; it looked like the correct one. The DE on this play is Kaipo’s give key. He kept his shoulders parallel to the line of scrimmage and didn’t go for the fullback. Maybe the play call wasn’t the best, but the read was correct. Although in all honesty, the play wasn’t a bad one. Navy is a very effective passing offense when it passes on its own terms. When a defense is expecting it on 3rd & long is not usually one of those times, and passing when the defense knows it’s coming results in a turnover for Navy way too often.

The FG attempt misses, but on the ensuing drive Navy sacks Sharpley and returns the fumble for a TD.

The two-point conversion play is interesting (sorry, no clip). Navy lines up trips right. They pull a guard away from the formation to kick out the OLB and run a double option with the FB as the pitch man. But the players are blocked at the point of attack. This looks like the Lou Holtz option.

Drive 3:



1st play: Triple Option, FB handoff.

2nd play: Finally, we blow one up. Walls come flying in on a run blitz, kills a toss sweep and forces a fumble which Navy was lucky to recover. You sort of wonder where plays like this were earlier in the game.

Remember when I said that Notre Dame did eventually make an adjustment to Paul Johnson’s new formation? This is the adjustment. Since the WRs are in tight and not blocking the cornerbacks anymore, Corwin Brown finally decided to shoot the corner. Doing so usually means that the CB will get to the ball carrier before the slotback can block him. But Paul Johnson will make an adjustment of his own that will take care of this...

3rd play: Looks like a straight dropback and a screen pass which gains a few yards. Well-covered. Navy has to punt.

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Overtime. 1st OT:



FB Waggle Pass
Triple Option - Pitch
FB Blast
FB Blast, but out of a wide formation - for a touchdown.

2nd OT:



Triple Option - QB keep
Triple option - QB keep

Then a very interesting series of events. On the previous play, the CB crashed the pitch man very hard. This was only the second or third time all game that Walls played the option this way. On the very next play, Navy changed up the blocking scheme. They came triple option but had the Guard kick out the OLB and had the WB loop inside of this block and lead up through the hole. The QB kept the ball and ran up inside of the kicked out OLB. So as soon as ND decided to be aggressive on the perimeter, Johnson simply changed the perimeter and ran the option in between the DE and the OLB. So for those who thought that Brown should have the defense be more aggressive, Johnson already thought about that and had his answer ready.

On the next play, the Triple Option - pitch was stopped for a loss. For the first time all game long, the DE prevented the OT from getting off the line of scrimmage cleanly and it screwed the whole play up. This is what we should have had our ends doing the whole game: don't let Navy get away clean, leaving you unblocked, and getting their blocks on other players. Intercept them and disrupt the play.

It wasn’t the end that blew up this play as much as it was the corner. The slotback whiffed on his cut block and the corner was able to string the pitch man out to the sideline. The OT’s assignment is the one who eventually made the tackle, but if the slotback had made his block then the pitch man would have cut upfield. The safety who made the tackle would have been blocked by the OT on the outside and unable to get back inside to make the play.

3rd OT:



Drop Back Pass - Touchdown to Campbell on a fake toss that's wide open. Navy converts the two pointer, and that's all they needed.

And here’s where firing the corner killed Notre Dame. The corner played the fake toss. The WR ran a post pattern to occupy the safety. That left the right side of the field wide open for a wheel route. No linebacker is going to cover Reggie Campbell one on one, and he ended up wide open with the corner chasing the play 10 yards behind.

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When your offense is this streamlined, not only can the players practice their execution to perfection, but the coach already knows what adjustments he is going to make based on how the defense reacts. It's interesting to note that Johnson doesn't use a call sheet during the game; he's able to keep the entire selection of plays in his head, and that frees him up to call the game by intuition as much as by calculation. Charlie Weis could probably learn something from Paul Johnson's approach, and take to heart the advantages of doing just a few simple things, but doing them very, very well.

Wearing o' the Green | by Pat

It's been open season on Irish recruits all year long, with each mounting loss providing an opportunity for opposing teams (and perhaps a few recruiting websites) to ramp up the heat on the 21 players currently committed to ND. It's still a long way until National Signing Day, and who knows what will happen. One thing I've come to accept is that there is no sure thing in recruiting and things can change in an instant.

Still, if you're looking for a sign that a kid is going to stick with ND, this is a pretty good one:

Coach Kevin Rooney held a meeting with his Sherman Oaks Notre Dame football team on Halloween, and he found that keeping a straight face was extremely difficult. Linebacker Anthony McDonald showed up as Dog the Bounty Hunter. A teammate was Scooby-Doo and another was dressed as Superman.

Then there was 6-foot-5, 230-pound quarterback Dayne Crist, set to join Coach Charlie Weis next fall at the University of Notre Dame. Wearing a green top hat, green coat, green tie, green scarf and socks up to his knees, Crist turned himself into a giant leprechaun.

Very nice. McDonald as Dog the Bounty Hunter isn't bad either. The rest of the LA Times article is a fun read on ND's latest QB recruit. Included are a few quotes from Crist about his relationship with Coach Weis.

Once a week, Crist speaks with Weis on the phone. The conversations usually last 15 to 30 minutes. They also communicate by e-mail. Crist has sensed Weis' emotional ups and downs this season as Notre Dame struggles with a 1-8 record, but he enjoys learning from his future coach.

"It's a real comfortable relationship," he said. "We talk about what's going on with their week and game plan and he's interested in knowing what we're doing. He's a very emotional person. It's tough to talk to him on the phone because you can't get facial reactions. I love his personality."

the Heart of the Matter | by Jay

Mike Frank has a revealing piece today over on Irish Eyes, where he calls up former ND captain Shane Walton to talk about the Irish defensive effort versus Navy and get his take on this year's Irish squad:

Walton remains a loyal son of Notre Dame and never misses a game. He’s hopeful for the future, but says the team needs to change their attitude before they’ll win some games.

“The losses don’t bother me, it’s the way we lose,” [Walton] said. “I’m not even talking about the score. I’m talking about the lack of effort on the field. When we played, our coaches used to tell us that we played for all the people who are here right now, and you played for all those people who wore this jersey before you. I think maybe they need to be reminded of that. That’s a big burden to carry. I never wanted to disappoint anyone who wore that jersey before me. You don’t want to let those guys down. You want to uphold that tradition and be a part of the tradition that’s made Notre Dame so great over the years.”

Flotsam and Jetsam | by Jay

A couple of articles from the national scene about Navy breaking the streak: Jon Saraceno in USA Today:

As midnight approached in Annapolis, Md., a crowd gathered to greet their conquering heroes.

"It was incredible, absolutely electric watching the Midshipmen jump around," said Cmdr. John Fuller, 42, who enjoyed the revelry after returning from Indiana. "Rarely have I seen that much spontaneous enthusiasm. The town was happy, too — nothing like Boston celebrating the Red Sox, but it was special. Everyone was happy for us because the monkey is off our backs."

Jack Stem, a retired Navy lieutenant commander and a 1981 grad, was 1 the last time Navy beat Notre Dame. He watched the game with his father (Class of '61). "I can't explain it — unbelievable," the son said.

If you weren't inspired by the plucky, outmanned band of Midshipmen, or if the hair on the back of your neck didn't stand like a plebe at attention, you don't understand what Notre Dame-Navy is all about.

Vince McBeth, captain of Navy's 1986 team, flew to South Bend on Friday with Fuller, his former teammate with whom he shared a heartbreaking loss to the Irish in 1984. They toured campus wearing Navy attire, and McBeth said they were impressed by the "hospitality, friendliness and sportsmanship" shown by Irish fans.

"Every time we turned a corner, someone said, 'Welcome to Notre Dame,' " McBeth said. "Many people have argued over the years, 'Why does Notre Dame continue to play Navy?' There's a deep-rooted mutual respect. It's validation for both institutions."

If you think those Irish fans were merely happy to see a perceived patsy walk into town, you are wrong. The intersectional rivalry began in '27, but a closer relationship developed when Navy took over Notre Dame's campus to train officers and house midshipmen during World War II. Notre Dame graduates more Navy officers than any school other than the Academy.

For decades, Navy mostly served as cannon fodder for the Irish, who often blew the Midshipmen right out of the water. The Streak had become so ignominious that coaches on both sides cringed. The phrase "winless against Notre Dame since the year JFK was assassinated" had become part of the Navy lexicon.

Now it was gone forever, unlike the undying spirit belonging to those young men who made it vanish.

And then, a hyperbolic John Feinstein in the WaPo:

When the U.S. Olympic hockey team defeated the seemingly unbeatable Soviet Union in Lake Placid in 1980 en route to the gold medal, it was hailed as the most stunning upset in sports history.

It may be difficult for an outsider to understand, but the Navy football team's 46-44 triple-overtime victory over Notre Dame on Saturday may rank, at the very least, a close second to that storied miracle on ice...

The players Coach Paul Johnson recruits are frequently like Campbell and Singleton: too small for big-time programs like Notre Dame to bother with; tough kids who love a challenge and love proving they can do things that "can't" be done.

Like beating Notre Dame in Notre Dame Stadium.

The best description I ever heard of what it is like to play football at Navy, Army and Air Force came from Fred Goldsmith, who coached at Air Force: "At a civilian school the hardest part of a football player's day is football practice," he said. "At an academy, the easiest part of a football player's day is football practice."

Navy can't possibly beat Notre Dame. Except on Saturday a group of youngsters who were too small or too slow (or both) to play big-time college football did just that.

It was an incredible win for Navy, and it broke the longest running streak in division one. And it was an upset. But was it really a big upset? On par with the Miracle on Ice, even [cough]? Let's pick this apart.

In the article Feinstein paints Navy as a team of nerdy, pasty bookworms who get by on heart and effort alone, citing 5'8 Zerbin Singleton and 5'6 Reggie Campbell as representative of your typical Middie. This isn't exactly an honest portrait. Forget about the ND game; if Navy were as Feinstein describes -- a plucky band of Oompa-Loompas -- every game Navy ever won against Division 1 talent would have to be a cataclysmic upset.

Obvously, that's not the case. Feinstein makes no mention of the fact that Navy is actually a pretty good team. Since Paul Johnson took over, the Middies have actually been one of the better teams in college football, posting nearly a .600 winning percentage. If you filter out his first year where he went 2-10, Johnson is .700 over the last four years. That's 20th-best in all of division one. They've played in four straight bowl games, and last year came within a breath of knocking off Boston College (losing 24-25).

And it's not a fluke. Feinstein might want you to believe that Johnson pulls guys out of the library to cobble together a squad each year ("Hey, you with the horn-rims -- ever heard of football?"), but Navy actually does recruit players. And Johnson's option attack is a very effective system that capitalizes on all of those traits that Feinstein admires in the Navy players: heart, effort, discipline, intelligence, and yes, even talent. Frankly, I think Feinstein does a big disservice to Navy. He wants to prop up the upset as second only to the Miracle on Ice, but in order to do so he's gotta portray ND as King Kong and Navy as, well, pygmies. That's a shame.

Ending the streak was certainly a momentous (and joyous) occasion for Navy. And it's definitely a signpost for the sorry state of ND football: the canary in the coal mine just keeled over. But if we're talking strictly about big upsets, Feinstein missed the boat. If he's really looking for a ragtag bunch of amateurs who took down the Soviet Empire, all he has to do is look back to the first week of the season, when a little team from the hills of North Carolina wandered into the Big House and knocked off the 5th-best team in the country. It was the only time a ranked team has ever lost to a Division 1-AA opponent. That's truly miraculous.

Bad Notre Dame Jay | by Jay

Thanks for letting me vent.

Nutshell version: decision to forego the kick to potentially win the game in regulation equals the worst call in Charlie's tenure.

Still angry, but a little less so now. It's been a long season.

P.S. Charlie continues to..well, dissemble is not quite the word, because I think he believes what he says and honestly thinks it was a sound decision. But after being asked again:

Q. You were asked after the game about the field goal. You mentioned into the wind, and you had seen Brandon (Walker) in practice not be able to make that.

COACH WEIS: We're trying to get to the 20-yard line. So what I did is we also wanted, he felt that the best kick was from the right to right middle. So that's why on the play before that I ran stretch to the right, figuring we're on the 24-yard line. If I can get to four yards on the play, I won't get the first down, but I was -- instead of centering it, you know, he really wanted it right right middle.

So running the stretch play to the right was designed if I didn't get the first down, to go ahead and get us four yards and get us to the 20 on the right right middle to come out and kick the field goal. But we had no gain or lost yardage on the play.

And again...

Q. You said that given the yardage going into the wind, that you felt (the field goal) was a long shot. Given the way the game ended up, do you wish you had taken it anyway?

COACH WEIS: What, and missed the field goal? I thought we had a good play to get the first down. We complete the pass for the first down and you're inside the 15-yard line. Now you kick a field goal and you do win the game.

And based off of what we had said we were going to do, we did what we said we were going to do. That's why the previous play, you run the play to put it in position to get where we wanted to be to run the field goal. We didn't get any yards on the play.

That stretch play of the day was a very, very productive play for us. We were getting a lot of yards off that play, just didn't pan out on that play.

and again...

Q. This may be picking at it or something, I don't know. But how close were you to saying 41 seconds left, regardless how long a shot this is, we should just try this and try to make some sort of moment and roll the dice?

COACH WEIS: My intent was to kick the field goal on fourth down. That's why I ran the stretch play to the right on third down. But when we got tackled for a loss, I had made up my mind if we got the ball anywhere close to the 20, we were going to try the field goal. But when you're now still at the 24, 24 and a half, it wasn't a consideration anymore.

...the explanation still doesn't make much sense. Ben Ford is as perplexed as I am, and captures the bewilderment nicely:

Not sending out Brandon Walker to kick to win the game goes against at least three things that we thought we knew about Weis before Saturday:

1. He’s said on a number of occasions that his job, above everything else except graduating players and making good citizens of them, is to put the Irish in a position to win that week’s game. And in my view, Notre Dame was in that position on Saturday and he didn’t go for the win. Frankly, the discussion ends there in my view. His comments about Walker’s range and the wind (I didn’t see the flags flapping that hard against the Irish) shed some light on his decision, and if he said he had the right play called to get the Irish down to the 15-yard line and into range for a shorter kick, I believe him, but you play to win the game. Even Herm Edwards knows that.

2. Weis knows how badly this team needs a win, and how badly it needs something to celebrate, and yet he still didn’t kick when a field goal could have accomplished both of those things. The pressure shifted even more to Notre Dame’s side of the field in overtime and gave the Irish another chance to wonder what was going to go wrong next.

3. The Weis we thought we knew was a gambler, a guy who would go for it on fourth down from his own end of the field in the first quarter. Saturday, a 41-yard field goal against the wind was too much of a risk to take. What happened? I saw Walker miss two 41-yard field goals in practice last week, but I also saw him hit a 48-yarder at UCLA. Walker doesn’t need to be automatic from that distance in practice or pre-game warmups, he just [has] to make it one time on Saturday, and that seems like a gamble worth taking for a 1-7 football team. Was Weis worried about Navy driving down for their own winning field goal? If so, we saw the range the Middies’ kicker had when he came up way short on a kick of his own earlier in the game and we also saw how long it took Navy to get down the field on its other drives. Something tells me Paul Johnson was secretly thrilled about the chance to go to overtime.