2009 CFN Independent Week 10 Roundup

2009 CFN Independent Week 10 Staff Picks, Roundup, & More

2009 Independents ... Week 10

Army | Navy | Notre Dame 

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Independent Standings
	Conf.	Overall
Navy	7	3
Notre Dame	6	3
Army	3	6
Players of the Week 11/7 Vince Murray, FB Navy 10/31 Jim Clausen, QB ND 10/24 Golden Tate, WR ND 10/17 Vince Murray, RB Nv 10/10 Ricky Dobbs, QB Nv 10/3 Jimmy Clausen, QB ND 9/26 Jimmy Clausen, QB ND 9/19 Jimmy Clausen, QB  ND 9/13 Marcus Curry, RB Navy 9/5 Malcolm Floyd, WR ND Games of the Week 11/7 Navy 23, ND 21 10/31 Temple, 27, Navy 24 10/24 ND 20, BC 16 10/17 USC 34, ND 27 10/10 Army 16, Vandy 13 OT 10/3 ND 37, Wash 30 9/26 ND 24, Purdue 21 9/19 ND 33, Mich St 30 9/13 Mich 38, ND 34 9/5 Ohio St 31, Navy 27 Scoreboard at Air Force 35 Army 7  Army offense can't score in loss to Falcons  CFN Prediction: Air Force 27-16 Line: Air Force -17 Navy 23 at Notre Dame 21  Navy runs over Notre Dame in shocking win   Notre Dame suffers stunning loss to Navy  CFN Prediction: Notre Dame 37-20 Line Notre Dame -11

GAME OF THE WEEK

Navy 23 … at Notre Dame 21
Navy couldn’t beat Notre Dame for over 40 years, and now it has won two of the last three in the series. The Midshipmen rumbled for 348 yards on the ground with Vince Murray running for a 25-yard touchdown in the second and Ricky Dobbs scoring from one-yard away in the first, but it was a 52-yard pass play to Greg Jones that helped them pull away. But Jimmy Clausen and the Irish kept bombing away with 452 yards through the air including a 12-yard scoring pass to Michael Floyd. A 31-yarder to Golden Tate in the final seconds came after Clausen was sacked for a safety less than a minute earlier. Notre Dame turned it over three times, including a Clausen fumble at the goal line, while Navy was nearly perfect with no giveaways.

PLAYER OF THE WEEK
Navy RB Vince Murray ran 14 times for 158 yards and a score in the win over Notre Dame.

CONFERENCE ROUNDUP

Army … at Air Force 35 ... Army 7 ... The offense has hit a wall. It hasn’t scored more than 16 points since mid-September (six games) and the passing offense continues to be non-existent. The defense is playing well, it kept Air Force under 300 yards of offense and Stephen Anderson made 16 tackles, but without any help from the offense, it’s too tough a burden to carry. The next two games have to be slam dunks against VMI and a trip to North Texas, and Army will be in a position to get bowl eligible with a win over Navy. That’s easier said than done for a team that can’t score.

Navy … Navy 23 ... at Notre Dame 21 ... The formula worked exactly like it was supposed to. Run the ball well, control the clock, win the turnover margin big, and take advantage of every opportunity. The Midshipman defense got gouged through the air, but Ricky Dobbs ran the option to near-perfection and Vince Murray had a whopper of a game with 158 rushing yards. The big key was the +3. Navy didn’t turn the ball over, Notre Dame did, and gave up a safety, and Navy got the huge win to make its season. Next up is Delaware. Navy can’t let down now with a ten-win season in sight.

Notre Dame … Navy 23 ... at Notre Dame 21 ... Thanks so much for playing. The BCS is gone now and it might take a three-game winning streak, with battles at Pitt and Stanford still ahead, for Charlie Weis to keep his job. The passing game was brilliant, but the run defense wasn’t even close to slowing down the Navy running game with the linebackers always making plays 6-to-10 yards down the field. The turnovers were also an issue with the three losses and the zero takeaways playing into Navy’s hands. Yes, with one bad loss to Navy, all the good things that happened earlier this year have been erased.