Notre Dame Football: Irish special teams, Brian Kelly hand game to Navy

Notre Dame football is now staring down the barrel of a possible losing season if they don’t win out after dropping a winnable game against the Navy Midshipmen in Jacksonville, Fl.

Woulda, coulda, shoulda…seems like a familiar chorus for the Notre Dame Fighting Irish this year, and it was repeated once again against Navy this week.

In a game where it seemed neither defense was able to stop the opposing offense, Notre Dame head coach Brian Kelly gambled on his defense in the fourth quarter, and lost. Scared money never wins, coach.

Of course, Kelly may not have been put in a position to make the field goal vs go-for-it decision in the fourth quarter had special teams once again not put Notre Dame in a bad position. After finally stopping Navy and forcing the first punt of the game, the Irish were caught with 12 men on the field, shortening the Navy 4th and 6 to just 4th and 1, and allowing them to bang ahead for the first down.

It was this series that led to the go-ahead touchdown for the Midshipmen, and on the next Irish possession, the fatal decision was made.

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On 4th and 4 at the Navy 14 yard line, Brian Kelly called the field goal unit out for the chip shot, cutting the Navy lead to just one. But given the timbre of the entire game and ND’s inability to stop the Navy option attack, fortune would have favored the bold to at least try for the first down.

Either way – field goal or turnover on downs – the Irish probably aren’t getting the ball back. Go for it and put regret in the rear view mirror.

More the shame is the wasted effort by Notre Dame quarterback DeShone Kizer, who tossed the ball for 223 yards, three touchdowns and ran for another 52 yards in a pretty solid performance.

Second guessing the head coach may not be the best approach, but it would seem that some of the Fighting Irish fan base (and the media) is in complete agreement with this take.

Great win for @NavyFB, but Brian Kelly going for the 4th quarter field goal was absolutely inexcusable. #NDvsNAVY
— Rob 🚀 (@RJSzczerba) November 5, 2016

Brian Kelly kicked a field goal on 4th & 4 putting more faith in his defense than offense. Can't make it up. #NDvsNAVY
— Tom Byrne (@1TomByrne) November 5, 2016

Navy coach understands when to go, some day @CoachBrianKelly will figure it out, keep playing by the book and losing #NDvsNAVY
— Blue (@Yankee_1780) November 5, 2016

Notre Dame might not get the ball back. Field goal is very risky here.
— Kevin McGuire (@KevinOnCFB) November 5, 2016

I think we have a quorum here folks. Bottom line, 3-6 Notre Dame must now win out their remaining games against Army, Virginia Tech and USC to avoid a losing season.

If the vote of confidence from Notre Dame Jack Swarbrick is to be believed, then Brian Kelly will be back in 2017, so a losing season isn’t going to change that, regardless of the growing movement among fans to have him replaced.

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