Driver Sparks Irish Win
UHND.com - Frank Vitovitch
October 14, 2000
Orlando, FL - Tony Driver's two fumblereturns for touchdowns were the turning point in the game this afternoon. Take awaythose returns and the score is only 7-0 after the first quarter and 10-0 after the firsthalf, and you have a whole new ball game. Driver's returns however gave Notre Dame acomfortable 21-0 lead after the first quarter which was simply too much for an option teamto come back from.
The first return came early in the first quarter. The ball popped out of Raheem Lambert's grasp, shot through a pile of defenders,and fell right in front of Driver. Driver picked it up, made an offensive linemanmiss, and took it into the end zone for six. The return gave Notre Dame a touchdownby run, pass, kick return, punt return, and interception return.
After Notre Dame made it 14-0 on a Julius Jones one yardtouchdown run, Navy took over deep in their own territory. Quarterback Ed Malinowskirolled left on the option and gave Terence Coleman a somewhat bad pitch that Colemanbobbled. Driver came in and snatched the ball out of the air and sailed into the endzone.
The second touchdown was pretty much the back breaker forNavy. There was no way that the Midshipmen were going to come back from 21-0 afteronly averaging 7.8 points per game coming into the contest.
Driver is very comfortable running with the ball since hehas been a running back at Notre Dame for tow years (1997 and 1999). He was also arunning back in high school. The returns against Navy however were the firstdefensive touchdowns of his career.
Early in the game, on Navy's first offensive series, Navyhad moved the ball somewhat. After the fumbles however, Navy failed to do much ofanything with the ball until late in the game when they had no chance at all of comingback.
Driver's fumble recoveries were also exactly what NotreDame needed. The offense was shut down on its first drive and Notre Dame neededsomething to get themselves going. That's where Driver steps in. His firsttouchdown gave Notre Dame all the momentum and got the Irish fired up.
The win was very important for Notre Dame, as are all ofthe remaining games. Winning out should give the Irish a BCS Bowl bid so every gamecounts. It was also important because Notre Dame usually has trouble with teams likeNavy as they did last year when the Middies were within inches of ending a then 36 gamelosing streak to the Irish. With this win today however, the streak is up to 38.
The game was put into perspective however, when there wasa moment of silence for the six fallen navy sailors who were killed and the others whowere wounded earlier this week on the USS Cole. The Navy coaches also wore blackribbons for support as well.
Even the Navy players were quoted as saying the game wasa lot bigger to them on Wednesday night before the tragedy occurred. Many timespeople forget that the same players we see playing against Notre Dame every year will beputting their lives on the line in a few years. While we all talk about how Navy isan easy win, we all have to remember that football is only a game and that the young menon the field will not be in the NFL in a couple of years but rather on a battle shipdefending our country.