Notre Dame was firing on all cylinders Saturday as the Irish routed the Air Force Falcons 59-33. The Irish put up 560 total yards of offense, with almost half coming in the air and half on the ground. There were three huge statistical stats that came from the game.
1. The 59 points scored by the Irish were the most any Notre Dame has put up since 1996.
2. The 92 combined points by Notre Dame and Air Force were the most ever at Notre Dame Stadium.
3. Freshman quarterback Andrew Hendrix ran for more than 100 yards. The first Irish quarterback to do since 2001.
The most impressive is definitely the first one. It’s bizarre to think no Notre Dame team has scored that much in more than 10 years. Putting up 59 against a quality team like Air Force takes a complete team effort by the offense, defense, and special teams.
At halftime, Notre Dame led 42-16. This is when I decided that the game was pretty much over so I decided to go eat at Five Guys (which was INCREDIBLE!). That said, I did not watch any of the second half of the game. With that said, I am basing everything I’m about to write on what I saw in the first half. Let’s be serious, I doubt the Irish were playing 100% in the second half anyway.
3 things I liked
Running Game- Air Force had no answer for any of the Irish offense, but running backs Cierre Wood and Jonas Gray had another terrific day rushing the ball. Wood had 10 carries for 66 yards and a touchdown while Gray had 7 carries for 69 yards and 2 touchdowns.
- I was just checking out the box score of the game on ESPN.com and 14 players for Air Force ran the ball! That has to be some kind of record.
Distribution of passes- Irish quarterback Tommy Rees threw to just about every wide receiver that’s on the roster. He completed passes to seven different players (two running backs, one tight end, and four wide receivers) and threw four touchdowns to four different players. Plus, Rees had no interceptions and completed 71% of his passes.
Theo Riddick- Notre Dame’s no. 2 receiver had another great game as he hauled in 8 catches for 88 yards. Although Riddick did not have any touchdown receptions, he provides an incredible complement to fellow receiver Michael Floyd. With Riddick playing the way he has the past two games it’s going to force defenses to stop double-teaming Floyd. If that happens, then watch out. One-on-one coverage on either of these receivers is an almost guaranteed touchdown. Riddick did however record a rushing touchdown when he was part of a reverse play in the second half.
3 (2 this week) things I didn’t like
Rushing defense- By the end of the game, the Irish gave up 565 total yards, 363 of those came on the ground. Part of me is thinking, “Who cares how many yards we gave up? We won the game!” The other half of me is thinking “I don’t care if we’re playing the Coast Guard and up by 100 point, the defense has to play better”. Judging by how well the defense has played before this game, I don’t believe giving up 300 yards is a major cause for concern. However, you know Navy is looking at this and thinking about how many yards they’ll be able to get with their option attack in a couple of weeks.
Rankings- This is the second consecutive week I’ve mentioned this. Every Sunday afternoon the “Top 25 rankings" are released. There are two of these rankings that most people pay attention to, the “USA Today rankings” and the “Associated Press Top 25" . Notre Dame made neither of these lists, however Michigan State did. The same Michigan State we soundly defeated in Week 3. Here are four teams that I do not believe are better than Notre Dame:
Houston Cougars (6-0) - Their best victory is against UCLA. That sounds good but UCLA is 3-3 and only lost to Houston by four points.
Penn State Nittany Lions (5-1) - Don’t get me started. If you recall, I said this team is ALWAYS overhyped in the preseason, plays a couple of weak teams, then gets beat down by a real opponent. They were demolished by Alabama in Week 2. Their best win is against Iowa at home. Ohhhh I’m so impressed!
Baylor Bears (4-1)- I can live with this, kind of. The Bears only loss came at Kansas State by one point and they beat TCU in Week 1.
Michigan State Spartans (4-1) - Give me a break. This is why I hate the “rankings system” in college football. Not only did Notre Dame beat this team, but they didn’t even play on Saturday! So the Irish win, while these guys sit at home, and they still are ahead of the Irish.
This is why I hate the ranking system in college football and how it partially decided who plays for the national championship. People’s opinions should not decide who the best team is; especially people who don’t know what they’re talking about.
So besides the defense what else wasn’t there to like? I thought the Irish played their best game of the season last week against Purdue. No, this was their best game so far and they seem to be getting better and better each game. I truly believe that Notre Dame is destined for great things the rest of the season and the future. Head coach Brian Kelly knows what it takes to win and is determined to make that happen.
Notre Dame has a bye week so there is no game until October 22nd. That’s when the USC Trojans come to South Bend for what is my favorite game of the year.
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