Familiar Sinking Feeling Strikes Irish

SOUTH BEND, Ind. -- South Bend is suddenly every sailor's favorite port-of-call.

Navy beat Notre Dame for the second time in as many dockings at Notre Dame Stadium, a defeat that left the Fighting Irish (6-3) and their head coach lost at sea with three games remaining. A BCS berth has been torpedoed, as has at least one Heisman candidacy. A second consecutive 7-6 season is not out of the question as inquiries about whether head coach Charlie Weis can properly inspire his team, and whether this team will be his next season, once again arise.

"We kind of felt like we had them in a perfect storm," said Navy coach Ken Niumatalolo, whose team did everything right in the sense that they did nothing wrong. "Just [Notre Dame] looking to the postseason, very, very good Pitt team coming next week, and it's us coming."

This wasn't McHale's Navy. This was Navy, the program that beat the Irish here two years ago, ending a 43-game/year losing streak to the Irish, and came within a Hail Mary pass of beating the Irish last year.

This 23-21 defeat was inconceivable? Hardly.

The better-coached team won. Navy, a team that plays all-out from snap-to-whistle, defeated Notre Dame, a squad that plays with blithe indifference until the straits are dire. You didn't need to know the difference between John Paul Jones and John Paul, pope, to realize that the Irish were in trouble after just six plays. By then Notre Dame had already lost a fumble and Navy quarterback Ricky Dobbs had already gained 24 yards on three carries.

The Irish came out flat. Yet again. And that is on the head coach, Charlie Weis.

"I definitely thought it felt flat, not sure why," said Irish wideout Golden Tate who, like his teammates, played one helluva fourth quarter. Wake up the echoes? Wake up the Irish. It's the same story every Saturday.
That air of indifference preceded the game. Because it was Navy on the schedule, NBC wanted to air the national anthem, which it never does. To accommodate the Peacock, both teams ran out onto the field and then stood around for two extra minutes staring at their shoelaces while NBC sold you soap. The Notre Dame marching band stood on the field in silence, the William Tell Overture playing in their heads twice.

That sense of "What are we waiting for?" permeated the Irish the entire first half. Navy, a team of consummate discipline and effort, paid the delay no attention.

You heard it all week around here, from every player or coach who spoke: Navy never takes a play off. "Navy is the type of team that is going to come in here and not be intimidated," safety Kyle McCarthy said Wednesday, "and play hard and play for 60 minutes and probably more if it needs to be."

What type of team are the Irish? Notre Dame is the type of team whose offense can go an entire game without punting, whose Heisman candidate quarterback can set new career-highs for both passing yardage (452) and completions (37), whose two future NFL wideouts can each catch at least nine balls and a touchdown ... and still lose.

In fact, the Irish played catch-up all afternoon. Navy pitched a first-half shutout for the first time against the Irish in 35 years and led at intermission 14-0. There were, to quote the title of Weis' tome, no excuses. Navy did everything on offense that the Irish had prepared for. As for talent, there is likely not one player on the Midshipman's two-deep chart whom the Irish would recruit. So how do you explain it?

"It's our mantra," said quarterback Ricky Dobbs. "The three H's: Stay hungry, stay humble and stay healthy."

Notre Dame's three H's might be hospitality, hubris and heart. Hospitality, because the Irish have now allowed the last three service academies who have visited to win here. Hubris, because on too many plays their arrogance outshined their ambition (more on that in a moment). And heart because, say this much for them, they never do give up.

It is the hubris, though, that could be both their downfall and their coach's. It was apparent before kickoff that Notre Dame's passing attack, with Floyd returning from his broken collarbone hiatus, was unstoppable. It was also apparent, as Weis had said during the week, that the Irish would have to "maximize possessions."

What happened? Clausen connected on his first 10 passes. Still, with Notre Dame in this wonderful groove, Weis inserted a Wildcat play on the first possession and ran a toss sweep to slow-footed Robert Hughes on first-and-goal at the 2 on the second possession. Both plays lost yardage. The Irish scored not a point on either possession.

In fact, Notre Dame advanced into the red zone six times on Saturday and came away empty four times. Twice, freshman kicker Nick Tausch, who entered the game having converted 14 field goals in a row, missed. And twice Clausen turned the ball over, each time on bizarre plays.

The Irish committed just enough errors to throw the game-and their season-away. Clausen's fumble at the one-yard-line when he was knocked senseless at the end of a nifty 8-yard scamper ("I'm not going to get into the details," he said, "just that he made a good play, caused a fumble") was the first. The second involved the QB who completed 73% of his passes hitting favorite target Michael Floyd in the numbers -- except that it was the number on his back.

That errant pass bounced off Floyd's spine and into the arms of Navy's Ram Vela, the same player whose superman leap at Evan Sharpley led to a sack on the infamous 4th-and-8 here two years ago. At the end of the play Clausen, the same guy who'd been knocked silly just minutes earlier, was called for a late hit.

Another mistake. The kind that Navy does not make.

Less forgivable than any of that was the Irish defense. Navy junior fullback Vince Murray, who looks like an extra from "Pleasantville," steamrolled the Irish for 158 yards on just 14 carries. The fullback. Running up the gut.

"When you're playing against Navy ... everyone has to do their jobs," said Weis. "And I think that it starts inside out. And inside out means the first thing you'd better do is take care of that fullback and not let him get some easy yards."

Which is exactly what Murray did. If Vince Murray can gallop for 158 yards against Notre Dame, what will Pitt's Dion Lewis and Stanford's Toby Gerhart (223 yards on Saturday) do? And if the Irish cannot beat at least one of those opponents -- and why even assume Connecticut is a lock? -- where might a 7-5 Irish squad be spending the holidays?

Weis is nothing less than advertised: A brilliant offensive strategist whose passing attack hums. There was never a doubt that the Irish would devour yards against the Midshipmen this afternoon -- they never punted in 2007, either. But when the yards got tough, Navy's "want to" was simply more apparent.

As Weis left the field, the Notre Dame band struck up the "1812 Overture," the tune that has come to be associated with the Irish head coach dating back to the days of Lou Holtz. The boos from the student section were audible and afterward Weis was asked about his future.

"That comes with the territory," he replied. "It comes with the territory. You know, the sad thing about it is that that's this job every week. It's a week-to-week deal."

As Weis said that, a man seated in the back of the room with a bottle of Gatorade tried to suppress a cough. Probably the beverage had just gone down the wrong pipe. Still ... it was athletic director Jack Swarbrick.