John Walters Posts

Have you ever seen the film Patton? There's a terrific moment in which the controversial U.S. World War II general, played by George C. Scott, is surveying a battlefield in north Africa. Patton peers through his field glasses, observes the German tanks getting in formation, and laughs knowingly.

"Rommel, you magnificent bastard," Patton chuckles. "I read your book!"

Patton was U.S. Army. Ken Niumatalolo is U.S. Navy, but he had that same moment of satisfaction Saturday. "I think the one thing that helped us, and I really hope this doesn't come across wrong," Niumatalolo said, "but I think the thing that helped us this year was last year because we knew that they'd line up the same way."

SOUTH BEND, Ind. -- South Bend is suddenly every sailor's favorite port-of-call.

Navy beat Notre Dame for the second time in as many dockings at Notre Dame Stadium, a defeat that left the Fighting Irish (6-3) and their head coach lost at sea with three games remaining. A BCS berth has been torpedoed, as has at least one Heisman candidacy. A second consecutive 7-6 season is not out of the question as inquiries about whether head coach Charlie Weis can properly inspire his team, and whether this team will be his next season, once again arise.

"We kind of felt like we had them in a perfect storm," said Navy coach Ken Niumatalolo, whose team did everything right in the sense that they did nothing wrong. "Just [Notre Dame] looking to the postseason, very, very good Pitt team coming next week, and it's us coming."

SOUTH BEND, Ind -- Sunshine and Flowers. Two words not normally associated with South Bend in November are primary elements in today's game between Navy and the Fighting Irish. Outside the weather is sublime--and unseasonal--as an Indian Summer sky looms overhead with temperatures in the mid-sixties. This is the kind of weather you'd hope to have in a bowl game much less the first week of November in the Midwest.

SOUTH BEND, Ind.-- Six months before Ram Vela's notorious sack of Evan Sharpley in the 2007 Navy-Notre Dame game, the Midshipmen linebacker was sacked himself ... by the Secret Service. At the White House.

Each spring the team that wins the Commander-in-Chief's trophy (the unofficial round-robin tourney between the Air Force Academy, Army and Navy) is invited to the White House for a reception. In the spring of 2007, Vela (No. 34 above) was a freshman who had not seen any varsity action the previous season.

"I hung near the back of the line as we approached the security gate," Vela, a 5-foot-9, 193-pound outside linebacker, recalled on Thursday. "I hadn't played so I didn't feel as much like I deserved to be up near the front. I was back with some of the higher-ranking officers, the Commandant and even the dean."

When Vela made it to the gate, a female agent looked him over and spoke into a radio, "He's here."

FanHouse writer John Walters is living in South Bend, Ind., during one of the most pivotal seasons in Notre Dame history. Check back daily for his dispatches on the Irish.

SOUTH BEND, Ind. -- When it comes to team bonding, victory is the greatest adhesive. These Irish are a tight bunch, and Charlie Weis conceded on Tuesday that "going through all those tight games at the end of the game has bonded the team even more."

The Irish have won five of their past six, and that one loss came down to one play. Or four. Or a mismanaged final 35 seconds (cue Glenn Frey's "Get Over It"). Whatever. The 6-2 record and the Alcoa "Fantastic Finishes" have certainly done more to unite this team than a trust-fall exercise. However, there is something else at work here: character at the top of the roster.

FanHouse writer John Walters is living in South Bend, Ind., during one of the most pivotal seasons in Notre Dame history. Check back daily for his dispatches on the Irish.

SOUTH BEND, Ind. -- While scouring the Navy roster on Wednesday afternoon, I came across the name Aaron Santiago, a sophomore slotback from Hawaii.

Santiago? The Navy? A tropical island?

"Did you order the Code Red?!?"

"You're goddamned right I did!"

As it turns out, Aaron Santiago is one of more than just a few good men on the Midshipmen roster. For example, how many other Irish opponents have a pair of high school valedictorians on their two-deep chart? Inside linebacker Tyler Simmons (54), who is second on the team in tackles with 53, was the valedictorian at Washington High School in Goldsby, Okla. Sophomore reserve right tackle John Dowd (68) also graduated No. 1 in his class from St. Peter's Boys High School in Staten Island.

SOUTH BEND, Ind. -- Crist will come again ... in four to six months.

Notre Dame learned the fates of both back-up quarterback Dayne Crist and wide receiver Michael Floyd on Monday and the results were mixed.

Crist, a sophomore who went down in the fourth quarter of Notre Dame's 40-14 win against Washington State, learned on Monday that he had torn the anterior cruciate ligament of his right knee. Floyd, who broke his left collarbone against Michigan State in the season's third game, was cleared to play.

On Tuesday, Notre Dame coach Charlie Weis confirmed that Crist, who had an MRI on Monday, had torn his ACL and that he would have surgery on Friday. Weis said that the Irish staff consulted "the guru in Alabama" (Dr. James Andrews) and that the prognosis was for a four-to-six month rehab. That likely keeps Crist out of spring football.

"I know one thing," Weis said, concerning Crist's return. "We'll be conservative."

Halloween in Eugene began with Oregon coach Chip Kelly disguised as the Duck mascot and ended with USC masquerading as Cal. Pete Carroll's Trojans are not exactly immune from defeat in the Beaver State (0-4 since 2006) but they never lose to a fellow highly ranked Pac-10 foe and they most certainly never get waxed.

That's Jeff Tedford's domain.

Hands continue to wring in the Southland -- the Orange County Register declared that "USC's complete dominance of the league, a dominance unmatched in conference history, is over" -- but I believe that Pete Carroll, much like Michael Myers, will haunt the Pac-10 for many Halloweens to come.

Also, I'd like to suggest a more salient reason for Troy's desultory play of late, one that has nothing to do with the freshman QB, the eight defensive starters lost, or the two new coordinators: jet lag (and that's not a Mark Sanchez reference).

The first words out of the mouth of Charlie Weis at his Sunday evening presser concerned the injury status of sophomore quarterback Dayne Crist. "Well, Dayne is going to get an MRI tomorrow," Weis said of the second-string QB who was 2-of-6 versus Washington State, but who did toss a 64-yard TD pass, his first, to classmate John Goodman. "We're cautiously optimistic that it's not as bad as we originally thought it was. But, you know, we're keeping our fingers crossed on that one."

Although his surname is pronounced with a short "i" (as in Ruth's Chris Steakhouse ... because that was the simplest example, right), the combination of that spelling and the Catholic identity of the school that he attends has scribes and editors alike anxiously awaiting Crist's return. So to speak. One witty wag on the beat texted me Sunday as to whether the presser should begin with the query, "Body of Crist?"

EUGENE, Ore. -- Fright on!

Autzen Stadium became a chamber of horrors on Halloween night for USC as the Trojans suffered their worst loss by far under Pete Carroll at the hands of Oregon, 47-20. As for the slim chance that USC, which entered Saturday No. 5 in the BCS rankings, could still advance to the BCS championship game in Pasadena, much less extend their streak of seven straight Pac-10 titles to eight, I see dead people.

Fans arrived at Autzen clad in black shirts that read "USC, R.I.P." And that was only one ominous sign. The Trojans found themselves deep in the woods, far from home, on a dark and stormy night ... facing creatures who were outfitted, incidentally, by a bright and sunny Knight (Phil). And yet, to judge from the manner in which USC attempted to defend itself from Oregon's simple yet deadly belly option, the Trojans appeared lost. Blair Witch Project-lost.