Football: Irish trounce Air Force 39-17

  • Published
  • By Wayne Amann
  • U.S. Air Force Academy Public Affairs
U.S. AIR FORCE ACADEMY, Colo. (AFPN) --  Forget about the luck of the Irish -- Notre Dame didn't need any. The No. 9 and 8 ranked team in the land (depending on poll preference) let their superior playmaking ability take over.

Heisman Trophy candidate Brady Quinn threw four touchdown passes to four different receivers, including one on the second play of the game, leading the Fighting Irish to a 39-17 romp over Air Force before an overflow Veteran's Day crowd of 49,367 at Falcon Stadium.

Ironically, the score was the only significant statistic that didn't go the bluesuiters way.

The Falcons out-gained Notre Dame 405 total yards to 383, had 24 first downs to the Irish's 19 and controlled the time of possession 38:35 to 21:25, including a whopping 13:51 to 1:09 in the second quarter. Air Force ran 79 offensive plays to Notre Dame's 46. During one stretch the Falcons ran 49 plays to the Irish's 12, including 35 straight snaps.

Notre Dame head coach Charlie Weis knew Air Force's signature ball-control option offense would be trouble.

"We planned on getting a quick score on top (passing)," he said. "When Air Force plays their game to shorten the number of possessions you have, it's critical to score early. I emphasized this all week because you don't know how many possessions you'll get."

The Irish (9-1) scored on their first three possessions, to forge a 20-3 lead after one quarter as Quinn threw scoring strikes of 51 yards to Jeff Samardzija, one-yard to John Carlson and 24 yards to Rhema McKnight.

Thoughts of an Air Force rally before halftime were shot down when Notre Dame's Terrail Lambert returned Zach Sasser's blocked 32-yard field goal attempt for a 76-yard touchdown and a 27-3 bulge at intermission.

"When you put yourself in a hole against the  number 8 team in the country, those are pretty steep odds to overcome," Air Force head coach Fisher DeBerry said. "You cannot swap touchdowns for field goals when you're playing a nationally ranked team. We were in position to make plays and didn't. They had too many weapons for us."

One was running back Darius Walker who rushed 15 times for 153 yards and a touchdown.

Quinn meanwhile, completed 14 of 19 passes for 207 yards, the four scores and had no interceptions. The senior, one of 28 on the Fighting Irish roster, has thrown 29 touchdowns and just four picks for the year.

Meanwhile, Falcon quarterback Shaun Carney was nearly as productive. The junior signal caller completed 14-of-17 passes for a season-high 205 yards and two touchdowns, a 12-yarder to Beau Suder in the third quarter and a 7-yarder to Jacobe Kendrick in the fourth.

"It was frustrating coming off the field without more points," Carney said. "We weren't capitalizing on all our opportunities. That's football."

Carney's favorite target was wide receiver Mark Root who caught five balls for a game- and career-high 110 yards. Root had just four receptions for 60 yards in his career entering the game.

"If we can get a spark throwing, we'll do that," Root said. "But, we're still going to do what we do well, run the ball."

The win gives Notre Dame a 22-5 all-time record against Air Force (4-5, 3-2 in the Mountain West Conference).

The game was dedicated to the memory of the 12 Airmen who died in the 1998 mid-air collision of two HH-60 helicopters on a training mission near Nellis Air Force Base, Nev. One of the Airmen was Captain Gregg Lewis, a '92 Air Force Academy graduate and son of Notre Dame assistant coach Bill Lewis. Each players' helmet sported the six-toe Jolly Green feet decal logo of Nellis' 66th Rescue Squadron, the unit which suffered the mishap.

Weis put the game into perspective at the post-game news conference when, before fielding questions, he read the names of all 12 who perished in the accident.

"In the grand scheme of things we just played a game," Weis told the room jammed with reporters. "But, those events (in 1998) are a heck of a lot more important than a football game. Twelve Airmen lost their lives preparing to defend our country."