Weekly Picks
November 14th, 2008 | Uncategorized | Posted by Mike Hoffman
Navy 17 Notre Dame 13
Last year’s squad proved it’s possible ending a 43 game losing streak to Notre Dame.
Charlie Weis will take over play calling duties and Notre Dame’s players will not overlook Navy after last year’s overtime upset, but in the end it won’t matter. After Saturday, the Fighting Irish will be the ones having to worry about ending a losing streak.
Here’s why.
Senior Navy quarterback Kaipo-Noa Kaheaku-Enhada won’t play due to a sore hamstring that forced him out again against Temple. But, Navy’s depth at qb will be on display as senior captain Jarod Bryant will return under center and coach Ken Niumatalolo has highly touted sophomore Ricky Dobbs waiting in the wings. All Dobbs did against Southern Methodist was run for 224 yards and 4 touchdowns and lead Navy back from a 20-point deficit with 10 minutes to go against Temple.
Notre Dame has already proven it can be soft against the run. Last week the Irish defense relinquished 120 yards to freshman Boston College RB Montel Harris, who had started the season strong but gained an average of 33 yards the previous four games. The defense all gave up 201 yards to Javon Ringer against Michigan State, 169 yards to LeSean McCoy against Pittsburgh and Sam McGuffie against Michigan.
Notre Dame sophomore quarterback Jimmy Clausen is still learning the offense and suffered his worst performance of the season last week throwing a season high four interceptions. Navy’s defensive backfield has shown the ability to cause turnovers after intercepting Riley Skinner four times when the Middies upset then No. 16 Wake Forest.
However, the key player in Saturday’s game could be senior fullback Eric Kettani. He exploded against Rutgers and Wake Forest earlier this year running for 308 yards. Kettani again ran wild last week amassing 118 yards against Temple. Getting him on track early will be important to helping take the weight off Bryant and/or Dobbs’ shoulders.
Vegas is still favoring the Fighting Irish by 3.5 points and the Midshipmen will undoubtedly play the role of David again on Saturday, but I think Navy will pull the upset again. Hopefully, the Midshipmen back in Annapolis will be lucky enough to get the day off Monday like they did last year.
Army: Off until Rutgers Nov. 22
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