Game Recap: Notre Dame 27 Army 3

...or the Fairytale of New York.

I'm really not sure things could have gone much better on Saturday for the Irish.  Notre Dame fans took over every part of Manhattan, from Grand Central Station to Times Square and all the way up the subway to the Bronx.  There were Army fans, sure, but Yankee Stadium was a home away from home, complete with Mike Collins, Tim McCarthy and the marching band.  The Irish football team had a dominating win as word of a sweep of Michigan State in hockey and a trouncing of perennial antagonist North Carolina in women's soccer swept through The House George Built.  Then after it was all over, Mike Bloomberg and the rest of the fine folks of New York were kind enough to keep their bars open until 4am so we could all celebrate.  We can only hope future barnstorming efforts go as well.

On defense, the Irish suffocated the Army offense after an opening drive that made it seem like we'd be seeing a repeat of Navy.  Instead of getting gashed up the middle, the Irish sold out to take away the fullback, leaving the pitch man to sprint up the sideline untouched.  After a goal line stop, Bob Diaco and his boys adjusted, allowing fewer than a hundred offensive yards over the rest of the game.  In addition to stymieing the Army rushing attack, Notre Dame had as many interceptions as the Black Knights did completions, including a Darrin Walls pick six that served as a third quarter dagger.

Things were a little creaky on offense, but effective enough to get a comfortable lead by halftime.  Tommy Rees shook off an early pick to connect on two long passes to Tyler Eifert, one for a touchdown and the other putting the ball on the cusp of the goal line for Robert Hughes to finish off.  Cierre Wood was waiting too long to get vertical at times, but he had some very nice runs, while Michael Floyd continued to do Michael Floyd things and Roby Toma came up with some very nice catches.  The offense is far from a work of art, but the ground game is effective enough and Rees is throwing a very nice medium-to-deep ball when the opportunities present themselves.  Probably the low points for the offense, after the pick after an otherwise promising opening drive, were the plays when either confusion between Rees and the sideline or Rees and his running back resulted in some sort of blown option read.  Those were all well and good against an Army defense that was giving up over six yards a play, but it will need to be cleaned up against the Trojans.

Other highlights?  David Ruffer connected on another two field goals and found himself as a Groza finalist as his perfect season continues.  Of freshman Rees' thirteen completions, nine we made by sophomores (four each by Toma and Eifert, one by Wood).  Eifert was particularly impressive, and if Kyle Rudolph returns next season, I find it hard to believe that Notre Dame wouldn't have the best one-two tight end punch in the country.  Seven tackles by Kapron Lewis-Moore were behind only Manti Te'o for Irish defenders on the day, tied with Walls, who led a fantastic effort by the secondary in cutting off the edges while making any sort of passing offense impossible.  With the two wins so far this month, Notre Dame already has more wins in November than they did in September of the last two Novembers combined.  I realize Army is not a great football team, but the Irish did what good football teams need to do when facing an inferior opponent.    

Now it's on to Southern Cal, a team coming off a blowout loss at Oregon State, Corvalis now firmly established as the Trojans' personal house of horrors.  With Matt Barkley gimpy and other injuries starting to accumulate on an already thin roster, it seems like Lane Kiffin's crew would be an ideal candidate to help the Irish extend their winning streak and all but clinch a trip to the Champ Sports Bowl, but it is not going to be easy.  The Trojans have been up and down all season, which is what you would expect from a team playing for nothing, but that doesn't mean one of the ups can't come on Saturday night in the Coliseum.  It's been nine years since the Irish won in this rivalry, quickly approaching one of the longer droughts in the series, and unseating the champ is never easy.  (Notre Dame holds the record, winning eleven straight from '83 to 93'.)  The Trojans still have talent, and as has been the case with so many games this season, there isn't a single result that would surprise me.

A few more notes from the weekend that was:

• I hadn't been to New Yankee Stadium yet, but it really was an impressive building.  Some pregaming in the Bronx bars ate up the time I planned on spending in Monument Park and football games are not quite as conducive to wandering around and exploring stadiums as baseball games are, but a very impressive venue.  The giant HD screen in the outfield was beautiful, and if the powers that be wanted to put in a good showing of how they'd run a jumbotron at Notre Dame Stadium, color me impressed.  It wasn't intrusive in any way, there were plenty of replays and it generally added to the experience at the Stadium.
• One of the things that annoys me most about Sunday, holiday and playoff baseball games is the singing of "God Bless America" during the seventh inning stretch.  It started after 9/11, which was fine, but I think it is fine to get all of our America songs and "USA!" chants out of the way before the game starts and spend the stretch focusing on "Take Me Out To The Ballgame."  And of course, just to spite me, "God Bless America" was sung between the third and fourth quarters.  Listen, I love America.  You love America.  But it's unnecessary, unless it's Tony Bennett.  Another mild music annoyance was cutting off "New York, New York" but at least it was to start the playing of the alma maters.
• I hope everyone who complained about Brian Kelly's sideline demeanor early in the season got to see Bo Pelini in action on Saturday night.  If looks and screaming could kill, Taylor Martinez and that officiating crew would be dead a thousand times over.
• Apologies for no game thread on Saturday night.  I thought I had it set to go up, but obviously did not.  As the kids say, "My bad."  (The kids say that, right?)  There will be one up for Southern Cal, fear not.
• I mentioned that Notre Dame knocked off North Carolina in women's soccer.  If you're interested, they play at Oklahoma State in the Elite Eight on Friday night.  Nothing says Black Friday like a little postseason soccer in Stillwater on Bedlam Eve, am I right?
• I'm going to do a full post on the Irish bowl options, but if you're unsure, it's going to go something like this: If Notre Dame wins on Saturday, it would be a surprise to seem them anywhere but the Champs Sports Bowl against someone in the Florida State/Miami range.  If they lose, they could pretty much end up in any of a half dozen destinations, likely filling in for a PAC 10 team.  Sun Bowl and Kraft Fight Hunger Bowl are possibilities, but there's also a chance the Irish could make the Holiday Bowl if things break a certain way.  The Las Vegas Bowl also has a PAC 10 tie-in, but its early date (December 22^nd), make me think it's unlikely the Irish go there.  Another possibility might be a little Boxing Day trip to Detroit for the Little Caesars Pizza Bowl, which I would probably just refer to as the Motor City Bowl if I had to write about it extensively.
• As soon as I exited the subway, one of the streets running along the Stadium was cleared off by police.  The reason?  The Cadets marching in to fill the Army student section in their grays.  Very, very cool.
• Justice Hayes, one of the more vocal Irish commits, voiced some complaints about coaching stability (?) and then committed to Michigan (??).  Yet another reason I try not to follow recruiting that closely until signing days when these guys are locked in.  Simply too many variables when you try to anticipate the decisions of seventeen-year-olds, and too often these kids get demonized just for being confused and making a decision too early.
• Basketball preview will be going up on Wednesday morning in anticipation of the tip off of the Old Spice Classic tournament.  The Irish have been fairly dominant through the soft part of their non-conference slate
• Again, the game was just a great experience all around.  I'm sure most big-time football schools would have a similar effect in taking over the city, but it was great bumping into old classmates wandering through the concourses of the Stadium and random Big Apple bars.  I've seen a few people post that Notre Dame needs to play in New York every other year, and I'd be fully in favor of that.  A special thanks to the Pinnick family for hooking me up with a ticket.