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SOUTH BEND, Ind. -- I know why you're here. You're here to revel in rock bottom for the Notre Dame football team. What a coincidence. That's kind of why I'm here, too.
The bosses would never say such a thing, but it's safe to assume I wasn't sent to South Bend on Saturday in anticipation of another Notre Dame victory against Navy.
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| Charlie Weis and his son look on stoically as the Midshipmen celebrate. (US Presswire) |
For Notre Dame (1-8), heading toward the worst season in program history, this was rock bottom. Not its 38-0 loss to region-rival Michigan or its 38-0 loss to national-rival Southern California. This one.
This was different, and by different I mean worse. Navy should never, and I mean ever, beat Notre Dame.
Navy isn't as good as it has been under sixth-year head coach Paul Johnson, but Johnson has an excuse. He's been trying to recruit players to the Naval Academy with the country at war. Playing football for Navy today means fighting in a war tomorrow. Playing football for Navy is literally a matter of life and death.
Playing for Notre Dame only seems that way.
The Irish got their own taste of life and death -- the real kind -- one day earlier when more than half the team helped freshman running back Robert Hughes bury his brother in Chicago. Earl "Tony" Hughes, 24, was shot and killed on Tuesday. The funeral was Friday. With Touchdown Jesus looking on, life went on Saturday at Notre Dame Stadium.
"Obviously they're very disappointed," Notre Dame coach Charlie Weis said of his players. "It's been a very emotional week. They'd (hoped) to win a game for Robert."
This whole thing is somber. The whole thing bums me out. So if you came here to read a gleeful obituary of the Notre Dame football program, you came to the wrong place. This is the wrong day, and Notre Dame was playing the wrong team.
What you will read, though, is an appreciation of Navy, which plays a remarkable brand of football despite its inherent disadvantages in college football's highest classification. And you'll read an appreciation of Weis, who pulled two classy, classy moves.
Weis was so classy early and then late that it doesn't seem right to dwell on how incompetent he seemed in the middle, when he repeatedly put the game in the hands of his game-if-incapable quarterback, Evan Sharpley. So I won't spend any more time on that.
What I will highlight instead are two of Weis' decisions that literally gave me goose bumps up in the press box.
First, Weis gave his mourning running back, Robert Hughes -- a deep reserve, it should be noted -- a crack at the game's first touchdown. On second-and-goal from the 3, Hughes got his only carry of the day and powered in for a touchdown. The ball was hurried into the locker room. Hughes walked back to the sideline where he was mobbed by teammates. Fabulous moment.
Second, in the immediate moments after the game ended and the Midshipmen were celebrating in a corner of the stadium with the 500 Navy students and band members who made the trip, Weis led his players to the rear of that celebration as a sign of respect for the service academy. The Irish stood silently until the Navy band finished its fight song, then turned and walked to the locker room. Another fabulous moment.
Most of the other moments belonged to Navy.
There was Shun White, the sprinter on the Navy track team, consistently beating the Irish defense to the corner. There was fullback Eric Kettani, a bruising junior who has NFL measurables if he's still able to play football after his armed service is finished, battering the heart of the Notre Dame defense.
There was spunky quarterback Kaipo-Noa Hiwahiwa Akahi Kaheaku-Enhada -- called Kaipo by the stadium announcer -- running the triple option with a magician's sleight-of-hand and a boxer's moxie. When the crowd of 80,795 got loud, Kaipo flapped his arms and urged them to get louder. Before one fourth-quarter drive, Kaipo was so fired up that he left his huddle and walked over to the Notre Dame defense, bobbing his head and slapping palms with Notre Dame defenders.
There was Navy safety Ram Vela atoning for a missed sack with 6½ minutes left -- a whiff that came on fourth down and probably would have sealed a 28-21 Navy win -- by literally flying over a Notre Dame blocker to sack Sharpley in the final seconds of regulation to force overtime.
There was Navy kicker Joey Bullen atoning for a missed extra point and a missed field goal in regulation by drilling the 32-yarder in double overtime.
And there was the sight of Navy players collapsing all over the field after Notre Dame's final 2-point attempt fell short. That allowed the Navy sideline to rush the field for the second time, this time for good. Seconds earlier Navy's Blake Carter had knocked down Sharpley's 2-point conversion -- only to get whistled for the most bogus, home-cooked, crowd-intimidated pass interference call you could ever hope (not) to see. Given a second chance at tying the score at 46, Notre Dame's running play was stopped behind the line of scrimmage, and Navy defenders fell to their knees while their teammates came pouring off the sideline and onto the field.
At midfield, Navy's coach told Weis how impressed he was with some of Weis' gutsy calls on fourth down. Afterward, Paul Johnson told the media he was happy he'd "never have to answer another question again about the streak."
Questions could be worse. Police are still looking for Tony Hughes' murderer. And the U.S. government is still trying to find a way out of Iraq before Kettani, Kaipo and another wave of Navy graduates have to go there.