Among the well-worn cliches of sports is that records are made to be broken and streaks meant to be ended. One of those held true Saturday as Notre Dame quarterback Brady Quinn had a record-setting day in helping the seventh-ranked Irish to a 42-21 victory that extended their winning streak over Navy to 42 games.
Quinn finished with four touchdown passes, the last one giving him 53 for his career and breaking Ron Powlus’ school record, set from 1994-97.
Although the Midshipmen (5-4) fall short compared to other Irish opponents when it comes to size, speed and high school All-Americans, they have taken Notre Dame (7-2) to the wire before. That didn’t happen Saturday.
“I felt like our kids competed and played hard,” Navy coach Paul Johnson said. “[But] for us to be successful today, we knew we needed to play a close-to-perfect game.”
The best the Midshipmen could manage was a close-to-perfect quarter.
Notre Dame struck first, taking the opening kickoff 73 yards in eight plays. Maurice Stovall’s 31-yard reception gave the Irish a 7-0 lead.
Navy responded, stringing 15 runs around one incomplete pass to march 68 yards for the tying touchdown on fullback Adam Ballard’s 9-yard run.
After Irish running back Travis Thomas’ 12-yard touchdown run with 5 minutes 29 seconds remaining in the second quarter put Notre Dame up 14-7, Navy was moving the ball downfield when, on first-and-10 at the Notre Dame 43-yard line, quarterback Lamar Owens fumbled an option pitch to Ballard.
The Irish recovered and converted the turnover 21 seconds later into Darius Walker’s 13-yard touchdown run to go up 21-7.
“That was a big momentum shift,” Owens said.
Navy moved the ball well, especially on the ground, rolling up 239 yards on 58 carries and holding the ball for 31:35.
“We knew . . . they were going to eat up a ton of the clock,” Quinn said. “Not only when we get out there do we have to score and be efficient, we also need to have some of the long drives and give our defense a little bit of a break.”
The Irish did just that, rushing for 221 yards–the most they have managed since they ran for 233 in their 36-17 victory at Washington.
Walker led the way with 118 yards on 19 carries.
Not that the passing game took the day off.
Quinn finished 22 of 31 for 284 yards and extended his school-record streak of passes completed without an interception to 130 before throwing one in the fourth quarter.
Quinn brushed off questions about his 53 career TD passes.
“It’s something I’m not going to focus on and really look at it until I’m all done here,” Quinn said. “There’s still a lot of room for improvement.”
And a lot of records to be broken.
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On your marks
Quarterback Brady Quinn (22 of 31, 284 yards, 4 TDs, 1 INT) broke two more Notre Dame records and approached a third in Saturday’s win.
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MOST TD PASSES, CAREER
RK NO. PLAYER SEASONS
1 53 Brady Quinn 2003-present
2 52 Ron Powlus 1994-97
3 41 Rick Mirer 1989-92
MOST PASSING YARDS, SEASON
RK YDS. PLAYER SEASON
1 2,931 Brady Quinn 2005
2 2,753 Jarious Jackson 1999
3 2,429 Joe Theismann 1970
MOST PASSING YARDS, CAREER
RK YDS. PLAYER SEASONS
1 7,602 Ron Powlus 1994-97
2 7,348 Brady Quinn 2003-present
3 6,527 Steve Beuerlein 1983-86
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apatel@tribune.com %%
