Notre Dame nearly unstoppable in 59-33 win over Air Force

SOUTH BEND, Ind. • The fire alarm didn’t go off at Air Force’s hotel in the middle of the night. The team bus didn’t crash on the way to Notre Dame Stadium. The visiting locker room wasn’t infested with bugs.

Those are the most positive things that happened to the Falcons through the first half of their game at Notre Dame, when the worst scenario Air Force could have imagined wasn’t as bad as what actually happened.

Air Force had run just one offensive play, a fumble by running back Asher Clark, by the time the score was 14-3. The defense allowed 42 points in the first half — the most against Air Force in a half since 2001 and the most the Irish have scored in a half since 1990.

Notre Dame won 59-33, setting a record for the most total points scored in a game at Notre Dame Stadium, which opened in 1930. That’s not a record Air Force’s defense wanted to be a part of.

“It’s embarrassing. It hurts,” outside linebacker Alex Means said. “We’ve been preparing all week for this, it’s a big game and we’ve been looking forward to it before the season even started. The Notre Dame game, I thought it should be a good game. To come in like this and not perform the way we want to — we got beat. We beat ourselves a little bit, but we flat out got beat.”

Air Force appeared to get a stop on the first drive of the game, but a replay review didn’t go its way, and it didn’t get a stop the rest of the first half.

On third-and-10 on Notre Dame’s first drive, Irish receiver Michael Floyd jumped over Falcons safety Jon Davis and hauled in a 34-yard touchdown. Replays seemed to show Floyd landed out of bounds, but officials upheld the touchdown call on replay. There is no video board in Notre Dame Stadium, so the Falcons hadn’t seen the replay.

“When I saw it on the sideline, I thought it was out,” Calhoun said. “But as far as the actual visual, I didn’t see it.”

The rest of the half was a nightmare for the Falcons. The Irish scored touchdowns on all six possessions.

The surprising part of the Irish’s domination was it didn’t come from the large offensive line pounding the Falcons, who were without their top three defensive linemen. Notre Dame quarterback Tommy Rees completed 19-of-25 passes for 208 yards and four touchdowns in the first half alone, as the Irish always seemed to have a receiver open. There was very little pass rush to disrupt Rees’ rhythm.

“We kept them doing what they wanted to do,” Davis said. “We have weaknesses on the defense, and they were hitting those weaknesses.”

The Irish dominated, and the Falcons couldn’t catch a break. An onside kick in the second quarter traveled 9½ yards before skipping back. Linebacker Jamil Cooks was all alone to recover the kick, but knew the ball had to travel 10 yards before he touched it, or it would be a penalty. The Irish went on a short touchdown drive after they recovered the onside kick.

“We took some chances,” Calhoun said. “And when it doesn’t work out, you make it very, very difficult on yourself.”

The Irish’s 59 points were the most since Nov. 23, 1996 — Lou Holtz’s last game as head coach at Notre Dame Stadium.

“Embarrassment, just overall unhappy with the way we played today,” inside linebacker Jordan Waiwaiole said. “It’s just a failure to execute all around, on everybody. This is an organizational failure.”