In the Navy ... Where Film Study Works

SOUTH BEND, Ind. -- Have you ever seen the film Patton? There's a terrific moment in which the controversial U.S. World War II general, played by George C. Scott, is surveying a battlefield in north Africa. Patton peers through his field glasses, observes the German tanks getting in formation, and laughs knowingly.

"Rommel, you magnificent bastard," Patton chuckles. "I read your book!"

Patton was U.S. Army. Ken Niumatalolo is U.S. Navy, but he had that same moment of satisfaction Saturday. "I think the one thing that helped us, and I really hope this doesn't come across wrong," Niumatalolo said, "but I think the thing that helped us this year was last year because we knew that they'd line up the same way."

Which they did. Irish defensive tackle Ian Williams talked about getting "out-schemed" in the aftermath of Navy's rushing for 348 yards on 57 carries (6.1 yards per carry). Somebody named Vince Murray, a junior Midshipman who never even had a carry before this season, rushed for 158 yards on 14 carries. That's more than 11 yards per rush for someone who, were he playing for Notre Dame, would not be playing for Notre Dame ... if you know what I mean.


They lost to Navy twice at home. That will likely be the epitaph of this era of Notre Dame football. Of the players and of the head coach. What on-field event defines them better or comes more quickly to mind?

Notre Dame has played 155 games since Lou Holtz resigned following the 1996 season. In that time they are 91-64 for a .587 win percentage. Bob Davie was 35-25 (.583), Tyrone Willingham was 21-15 (also .583) and Charlie Weis is 35-24 (.593). You don't need to be Will Hunting to discern that a loss next week will give Weis the same record as Davie, which would give him the same win percentage, in his fifth season, as both Davie and Willingham.


If you support the Fighting Irish, you had to be rooting for Navy to some degree. On Saturday the Mids exuded all the traits that one would hope to see in their favorite team: discipline, determination, intelligence and opportunism. This was classic tortoise vs. hare stuff on display, and it undermined every debate as to five-star verbal commitments, etc., you'll ever partake in or be subject to.

Football is the ultimate team sport because it demands synergy more than any other. The Midshipmen never wasted a down. On every play, offensively and defensively, they worked as a cohesive unit. How many times was Golden Tate gang-tackled, like a wildebeest being brought down by hyenas? How many times did quarterback Ricky Dobbs frustrate the Irish defense by making the correct reads?

One classic example: middle linebacker Ram Vela, who had nine tackles, a fumble recovery, and the pressure on Jimmy Clausen on that early 4th-and-goal from the 3 that forced a hurried and incomplete pass, also made that fourth quarter interception. After Vela made the pick, he ran upfield and, as two Irish tacklers were closing in on him, the 5-9, 193-pound Vela wisely slid to the ground. Avoided contact. Did not allow the Irish to cause him to fumble. Navy just refused to beat themselves, and that frustrated the holy hell out of the Irish.

Playing Navy is not as physically taxing -- although the Mids do hit, just ask Clausen or Kyle Rudolph -- as it is mentally taxing. This Irish team, on this day, lacked the maturity to match the Mids on every play. In fact, until the fourth quarter, the Midshipmen won most of the plays. And isn't that what a football game can be distilled into, after all? The sum of its plays?


There are quite a few media pundits (I can name names if you like) who owe Lou Holtz an apology. When Holtz, who never lost to Navy (11-0), was the coach in South Bend, he would be ridiculed in print for saying before each meeting with the Midshipmen, "I'm scared to death of Navy." Maybe now the myopic idiots in the media (pardon the redundancy) finally get it.

Holtz was not saying that he was scared to death of Navy because the Midshipmen were better than his team. Holtz was expressing concern as a signal to every one of his players that they needed to take this game seriously. Also, perhaps, Holtz understood what the ramifications of losing to Navy were. His anxiety about Navy had nothing to do with the talent at Annapolis. It has everything to do with what a loss to the Mids would instigate.

For the record, Holtz's teams never beat Navy by fewer than 15 points. The average margin of victory was 27.3 points. Since Holtz the Irish are 11-2 against the Mids and the average margin of victory is 12.4 points.

Finally, Holtz was a master of manipulation and psychology. Among Notre Dame coaches, only Rockne had as deep an appreciation for the role that intensity plays in college football. If you were actually surprised that Stanford beat Oregon on Saturday, for example, then you haven't been following this sport very long.

Same uniforms, different team. Every week. That's college football.


On page 170 of the Notre Dame media guide, the final score of last season's game is listed as 27-7. That's somewhat ironic, since that was the score when the Irish stopped playing. The actual final score was 27-21.


If you have the Irish finishing 9-3, you are probably in the minority. In fact, 6-6 is more likely. Think of the trio of teams lining up to face the Irish and all the underpinnings of each foe.

Begin with Pitt. This is where it all began for Weis, who made his Irish debut at Heinz Field in 2005 and had his Irish up 35-7 at halftime against Dave Wannstedt, who also made his collegiate coaching debut that night. This will be Notre Dame's first time back. The Irish never looked more indomitable under Weis than at halftime of that opener. Heading into next week, Weis' future never appeared more in doubt.

Will next Saturday be a repeat of last year's Boston College game, in which the Irish showed absolutely no heart? A loss more embarrassing than either defeat to Navy, I'd contend? Or will they finally display a sense of resoluteness? Will they defeat a team ranked among the top 12 for the first time under Weis?

Next up, Connecticut. If you saw the Huskies' primetime game at undefeated Cincinnati, you realize they won't at all be trembling when they arrive in South Bend. UConn always trailed but never surrendered, losing 47-45 to a top-5 foe on the road. Besides, quarterback Zach Fraser has a score to settle with Weis (after being named fourth-string QB during the spring '07 QB derby) and he has an innate knowledge of Notre Dame's offense.

Can't you already see the story lines if UConn wins? Fraser's redemption? That gratifying moment for a Huskies team that has been racked first by tragedy (the murder of Jasper Howard) and then by a skein of tough last-minute losses? This is exactly the type of outfit that undoes the emotionally void Irish during the Weis era.

Finally, Stanford. The Cardinal, minus leading tackler Clinton Snyder, who is lost for the season, still beat top-10 Oregon on Saturday. Will you be at all surprised if they take down USC next weekend?

The Cardinal have only lost one home game since the Irish beat them in Palo Alto at the end of 2007. Andrew Luck is playing as well as any frosh QB in the nation (and you know how Notre Dame's defense fares against freshmen passers) and Toby Gerhart is the best running back Notre Dame will face this season.

Then there's coach Jim Harbaugh, the biggest red-ass in the profession. Nothing would please him more than to apply the coup de grace to the coaching career of Weis. And if the Irish are reeling at 6-5 heading in -- if so, the question of Weis's status will be moot -- well, Harbaugh will smell the blood in the water.

In short, and surely you've read this sentence before, next week is the most important game of Charlie Weis's career. A road win at top-10 Pitt will display character and courage that have heretofore not been witnessed since the 2005 USC loss.

A loss? We are in the minority, but a few of us writers (myself, as well as Pete Fiutak at College Football News) have shown more patience with Weis than our colleagues. After Saturday's loss, it's time to admit that it just isn't working. A loss at Heinz Field will be the final nail in the coffin.

And when the post-mortem is conducted, let it be said that Charlie Weis was a better guy than most in the media ever gave him credit for being. He just never was able to properly inspire a team of young men yearning for leadership.


Odd that in consecutive years the losing team attempted two onside kicks in the game's final two minutes. A year ago the Mids recovered both of their attempts, but only scored one touchdown. After they recovered the second the Irish stopped them on downs.

Yesterday the Irish actually attempted both their kicks in the final minute. They recovered the first at 1:00 remaining and scored within 36 seconds. The second attempt, at 0:24 on the clock, was batted out of bounds and Navy was given possession.


I love watching how Navy's gameplan exploited Notre Dame's hubris. There was never a play in which the Mids' defensive backs proved that they could cover Michael Floyd (a career-high 10 catches) or Golden Tate (nine catches) on a short route. But that was not their mission. Their mission was to never get beaten deep, and they never were.

The Irish were rarely patient enough, though, to take what was available to them. And it cost them dearly. Take the penultimate offensive series. On first down Clausen throws a deep ball to Floyd, which was well-covered and not caught. On second down Clausen checked off two receivers who were wide open for five-to-10 yard gains, insisting instead to try to thread the needle to a well-covered Floyd on a crossing route 15 yards downfield.

Incomplete.

Suddenly it was 3rd-and-10. Sack. And then a sack for the safety.

They discussed the sacks on SportsCenter. Me, I felt that the Irish squandered that possession on first and second down.


Weis's tenure was the subject of the "Final Verdict" segment on ESPN's eminently watchable College Football Final. Holtz, channeling Clarence Darrow, gave an impassioned plea for, if not Weis' job, then at least for the autonomy that Notre Dame's administration and board of trustees have for making this decision (it really is something to see a septuagenarian speak extemporaneously that easily; try it some time ... being a septuagenarian, that is).

Mark May was more succinct and more convincing. He simply noted that the Irish are 3-16 versus teams with winning records under Weis.

Judge Rece Davis had the best line in assessing Holtz's line of reasoning. "When the law is on your side, argue the law," Davis told Holtz. "When the facts are on your side, argue the facts. When neither the facts nor the law are on your side, just argue."

By the way, is there any surer bet than as to who Holtz and May (a Panther alum) will take in next Saturday's game?