Same Old Story

Another year, another win over Navy. The offense was brilliant yet again, as they topped the 40 point mark for the sixth time this season, tying a school record set in 1991. Brady Quinn had a typical day, throwing for 284 yards and 4 touchdowns. Maurice Stovall continues to make huge strides as a receiver, as he had another 100 yard receiving day and 3 touchdowns. Darius Walker had his first 100 yard rushing game since September. The only two negatives for the offense yesterday were Quinn's interception, snapping his streak of 131 passes without a pick (I blame NBC for jinxing him), and Jeff Samardzija's streak of 8 straight games with a touchdown being snapped. These are the kind of negatives that I can deal with.

As for the defense, it continued its bend but don't break style, as it allowed Navy to run for nearly 250 yards and control the ball for nearly 32 minutes, but it only gave up 21 points. While the bend but don't break defensive has worked most of the season, the lack of consistent penetration by the defensive line continues to be a concern, though it may not matter until the bowl game considering that the last two games are against Syracuse and Stanford. Barring some total letdown (highly, highly unlikely), Notre Dame will finish the season 9-2 and be in a BCS Bowl (likely the Fiesta Bowl).

By the way, Charlie Weis showed yet again why he is one of the classiest coaches in Division I-A yesterday when he and his players stood with Navy while Navy sung its alma mater. I doubt you would see something like that from Michigan or USC.