Middies may be cure for ailing Irish offense
The combination has been toxic.
Notre Dame's offense is young, perhaps as inexperienced as any in college football.
And on top of that, the Irish have had to face one experienced and talented defense after another this season. Georgia Tech. Penn State. UCLA. USC.
The break Notre Dame has been waiting for seems to come this week. If the Irish can't move the ball Saturday against Navy, then perhaps they never will.
The Midshipmen come to South Bend on Saturday looking to end over four decades of frustration against Notre Dame, in a season in which the struggling Irish look more vulnerable than they ever have.
But Navy's porous defense may be just the cure for what has ailed the Notre Dame offense.
Through six games, Navy ranked 119th (last) in the country in pass efficiency defense, 102nd in total defense, 97th in scoring defense and 88th in rush defense. And the Midshipmen also rank last in sacks, 113th in tackles for loss and 107th in net punting.
So Navy's defense can't stop anybody. And its punting game isn't doing any favors for the defense in terms of field position, either.
"As a general rule," Navy coach Paul Johnson told the Baltimore Sun earlier this season, "most of the time players want to win and do well. The questions are can we (do) what it takes (to win) and understand what it takes and are we capable of doing it?
"I believe we're capable. We just have to do it. ... I know there is a better team in there. We've just got to get it out."
Navy completed the first seven games of its schedule with a 4-3 record, with only a second-week loss to Big East contender Rutgers and an overtime defeat to surprising Ball State the next week marring its early season. But even the games the Midshipmen have won have mostly been edge-of-your-seat nail biters, mostly because even as the No. 1 rushing offense in the country rolled up yards and points, the Navy defense has been unable to stop anyone.
The Midshipmen surrendered 428 yards passing in a Sept. 22 victory over Duke, a 46-43 game that required a last-second field goal. The following week, Air Force rolled up 474 yards of offense in a 31-20 Midshipmen victory.
Navy's next game, a nationally televised Wednesday night contest against Pittsburgh, was probably one of the year's most exciting college football games. But it also served as a microcosm of what Navy's season has been like.
The Midshipmen won at Pitt, 48-45 in double overtime. And they rushed for 331 yards, including 122 by quarterback Kaipo-Noa Kaheaku-Enhada. But they also couldn't slam the door shut, repeatedly, when given the chance to put the Panthers away. It wasn't Navy's worst defensive performance by a long shot, at least statistically. But it was another performance indicative of a team that's defense has, again and again, put its offense in a tight spot.
And things would probably be even worse if the Midshipmen's ball-control rushing attack wasn't so effective in limiting the opponent's time of possession.
Perhaps most encouraging for the Irish is Navy's difficulties in getting to the opposing quarterback. Through six games, they had just three sacks. Notre Dame, meanwhile, had given up 34, worst in the country.
Whoever starts at quarterback against Navy -- either USC game starter Evan Sharpley or Jimmy Clausen, who had started six previous games for the Irish -- there's a chance he will finally have time to let plays develop as they are naturally designed, rather than trying to escape danger or look for the short, dump-off option.
It's not that Navy hasn't tried to find the right combinations in its defensive rotations. There has been what has amounted to a revolving door at many spots.
"We have the philosophy that if you're in that room and you're on the dress-out squad, you need to be ready to play at any moment," Midshipmen defensive coordinator Buddy Green told the Annapolis (Md.) Capital. "We feel confident the next guy up is ready to play. If the next guy goes in and plays better than the other guy, then he gets a chance to stay."
So perhaps the Notre Dame offense, and in particular the beleaguered offensive line, will get a well-needed breather from relentless defensive pressure. The Irish defense, however, will face one of its largest challenges to date.
Through six games, the Midshipmen led the nation in rushing offense at 345.5 yards per game. They had seven runners rush for 171 or more yards.
Kaheaku-Enhada leads the charge with 536 yards on 98 carries. He had also, through those games, rushed for eight touchdowns. By contrast, Notre Dame as a team through its first six games had three rushing touchdowns as a team, and eight trips to the end zone overall as a team. And although Johnson's offense doesn't require his quarterback to air it out very much, Kaheaku-Enhada had 626 passing yards through six games. That is 8 more yards than ND true freshman Jimmy Clausen had in seven games, including six starts, in more than twice as many attempts.
Not that Johnson is pleased.
"I think we can do better," he told the Baltimore Sun earlier this season. "Until we execute the way we should, we won't be satisfied. We can take better care of the ball. We can execute better deep in the red zone."
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