Navy scuttles Irish, 35-17

Brian Kelly left Cincinnati for the big bucks and high profile at Notre Dame with the promise of fixing all that went wrong under predecessor Charlie Weis. But if the Irish looked clueless to a crowd of 75,614 Saturday at New Meadowlands Stadium when it came to stopping Navy's running game and, especially, unsung fullback Alexander Teich, Kelly admitted it's because he and his staff were out-coached.

Navy (5-2) rushed for 367 yards, including 210 by Teich on 26 carries, and the Midshipmen dominated both sides of the ball on their way to a 35-17 victory. It was the third win over the Irish (4-4) in three seasons for the Class of 2011, a feat accomplished only twice before by the Midshipmen in the 84-game series. Before Navy's recent run, the Middies lost an NCAA record 43 straight to Notre Dame.

Kelly said Navy coach Ken Nuimatalolo altered his triple-option attack to something resembling the old "Veer" offense, and the Irish had trouble adjusting. "I give them credit for executing a scheme they hadn't run," Kelly said. "My hat's off to coach Ken and his staff."

As for his own coaching staff, Kelly said, "The basic fundamental is to stop the fullback. Well, he had 200 yards today, and I don't have a bunch of dummies on my staff. You can write what you want. My guys didn't have the plan today. If we have to change the plan moving forward, we're going to change the plan. We're going to get it right."

The tone for this loss was set from the outset as the Irish drove inside the Navy 1-yard line before a fourth-down sneak by quarterback Dayne Crist was stopped. "We outman them by an average of 70 pounds up front," Kelly said. "If you can't punch it in from the one-foot line with the guys we have up front and a 230-pound quarterback, that says a lot right there."

What followed was more shocking. Teich took a third-and-1 handoff from quarterback Ricky Dobbs and burst 54 yards up the middle. The 99-yard drive ended with Teich leaping to pull down a Dobbs screen pass with one hand and carrying it 31 yards for a touchdown.

By halftime, Navy had a 21-10 lead after a 77-yard drive for a 3-yard run by Dobbs and a 9-yard scoring run by Gee Gee Greene. The Midshipmen put the hammer down in the third quarter when Dobbs completed the second of two passes he threw all game for a 40-yard gain to receiver Greg Jones to set up a 9-yard TD run by Dobbs.

Navy then scored on a 1-yard plunge by Dobbs for a 35-10 lead. Teich (which rhymes with "teach") carried seven times for 63 yards on that drive. Teich insisted Navy changed little from the previous two games but executed better.

"We knew the fullback would have a big day if we could get them blocked up front," Teich said.

So, the Middies just whipped Notre Dame physically? "Yes, sir," future Ensign Teich said.