Irish look Pretty in Pink

The Fightin' Irish looked pretty in pink this Saturday, honoring breast cancer awareness with bright accents to the traditional Blue and Gold garb.  On a picture perfect Midwestern fall afternoon, Kelly's offense had its way with the Flying Falcons of Air Force, while Diaco's defense shut down one of the top rushing offenses in the nation.

Jamoris Slaughter highlighted the defensive play as he flew all over the field from what was essentially an outside linebacker position.  He turned the tide early by forcing a fumble at the tail end of the first play Air Force ran from scrimmage, added a textbook pass breakup on a deep pass, and had an acrobatic interception by tipping the ball to himself as he dove.  He also finished the day with 6 tackles.

On the other side of the ball, Kelly fully showcased just how dangerous his squad can be when his full arsenal of playmakers get their hands on the ball.  Touchdowns came from Floyd, Eifert, Toma (first in his career - respect), Gray (2), Wood, Riddick, and even freshman George Atkinson III got in on the action with his second trip to the endzone this season.

The most impressive part of Saturday's dominating performance, however, had to be the offensive coaching.  Kelly expertly picked apart the outmanned Air Force defense by using multiple looks, new formations, utilizing the screen game more effectively, finding creative ways to get Riddick the ball early, and unleashing the secret weapon that is Andrew Hendrix.

I suspect that Kelly knew exactly what he was doing when he waited until the final game before the rivalry showdown against $C to give everyone a glimpse of the extra section of the playbook reserved for his dual-threat quarterback.  He gave the Kiffins just enough of a taste to keep them awake at night trying to come up with ways to defend what has truly become one of the most versatile offenses I have ever seen.  As our boys get a few days of well-deserved rest over fall break, then extra time to gear up for the first night game in a couple decades against the once-mighty men of troy, the $C squad still has to take care of business against Cal before having only a few days to try to figure out how to deal with our multifaceted attack.  Luckily for us, Air Force failed to show them any good ways to stop us.

Since starting 0-2, we couldn't have asked for a better bounce-back than the one we just witnessed. We won a tough game against MSU, we won an ugly game against Pitt, we dominated an inferior Purdue, and we unleashed our big guns against Air Force.  Winning in all of those different ways has given this team character that it will need to depend on if it is going to finish out the final 6 games of the season strong.

Now, we sit in the driver's seat with a chance to extend our winning streak against our rivals.  As we wait in anticipation for that day, let me leave you with some final words from Kelly's pregame speech to the boys in Blue and Gold before they took the field against Air Force:

"… You put in a lot of time, a lot of effort.  Here's your pay day.
Here's why you get the opportunity...
...to be a Notre Dame football player...
...'cause you can play the game in front of 81,000 people...
...you can play it on national television.
You put in so much hard work.  You sacrifice so much.
Don't let these opportunities pass you by....
...or why is it worth it then?
It's not worth all that work you put in... enjoy yourself today.
Take it in.
You know how to play.  This isn't our first talk.
You know what our level is and what's expected.
Ya gotta be disciplined.
Ya gotta be tough.
Ya gotta have your eyes on your technique.
You know that... but you also know this... ya gotta go play.
Ya gotta go enjoy yourself in this game...
...and if you can't do that, then why do all the other stuff?
Let's go play football today.
Today is a football day.
It's Saturday.
Let's make it a great Saturday."

It was a great Saturday in Sunny South Bend, Indiana