![\"\"](\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/army-vs-notre-dame.jpg.jpg\")
Notre Dame wide receiver Kevin Stepherson, left, is brought down by Army’s Elijah Riley after scoring a touchdown during the first half of an NCAA college football game Saturday, Nov. 12, 2016, in San Antonio. <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n Photo Credit: Darren Abate\/AP<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n The Black Knights (5-5) began the day ranked in the top 25 nationally in several defensive categories, but the Irish (4-6) were in complete control right from the start.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Sanders returned the opening kickoff 92 yards, and Kizer tossed a 37-yard touchdown pass to freshman Kevin Stepherson with 10 minutes left in the first quarter. Adams had a 2-yard touchdown run with 3:44 remaining, and the rout was on.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Irish led 38-6 at halftime. Tight end Durham Smythe had second-quarter touchdown receptions of 10 and 31 yards.<\/p>\n\n\n\n “I really don’t know what to say after a tail-whipping like that,” Army coach Jeff Monken said. “We couldn’t stop the ball and couldn’t run the ball effectively enough to keep drives going. Credit Notre Dame. They played like a championship team.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n Notre Dame had dropped three of four. But Kizer and company got a chance to enjoy their first runaway victory in a while.<\/p>\n\n\n\n “We kind of challenge ourselves to build off each other, both offensively and defensively, to sustain success,” Kizer said. “Today was the perfect example of us feeding off the defense, and the defense feeding off the offense, and one big special teams play.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n THE TAKEAWAY<\/b><\/p>\n\n\n\n Army: The Black Knights have only two winning seasons since the mid-1990s – 10-2 in 1996 and 7-6 in 2010. After beginning this year with three straight wins, Army is in jeopardy of falling short of a winning season again. The Black Knights have games left against Morgan State and Navy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Notre Dame: The Irish stayed in the running for bowl eligibility. \u00a0They have won 15 straight against Army.<\/p>\n\n\n\n NO GOOD TIME<\/b><\/p>\n\n\n\n Army began the game ranked second nationally in time of possession with a 10-minute edge per game. Notre Dame had an advantage of nearly nine minutes on Saturday. Monken said the Irish are too big and strong.<\/p>\n\n\n\n “There is no comparison physically,” Monken said. “They just lined up and blocked us, and they are hard to tackle.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n FAST START<\/b><\/p>\n\n\n\n Sanders’ TD return on the opening kickoff was his second of the season and third of his career.<\/p>\n\n\n\n “That gave us a great deal of energy and momentum,” Kelly said. “Any time you can steal a possession like that … it gave us a great deal of confidence.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n UP NEXT<\/b><\/p>\n\n\n\n Army: The Black Knights host Morgan State. They have met once before, with Army winning 28-12 in 2013.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Notre Dame: The Irish host Virginia Tech on Saturday in the first-ever meeting between the schools.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Notre Dame quarterback DeShone Kizer loosened up the Army defense with his arm. Then the Irish took advantage with their legs.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":78716,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-noindex":"","_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-nofollow":"","_yoast_wpseo_canonical":"","_acf":"","_yoast_wpseo_primary_category":13,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","_smg_distribution_targets":{"2":{"categories":["off-duty"],"primary_category":"off-duty"}}},"categories":[12,13,70],"tags":[],"coauthors":[179],"class_list":["post-41376","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","category-off-duty","category-your-army"],"acf":{"subheadline":"","legacy_arc_id":"NG7HIYYF55HNTFJNOX2LUWE4RY","arc_canonical_url":"\/off-duty\/2016\/11\/13\/notre-dame-defeats-army-44-6\/","remove_feature_photo":false,"is_sponsored":false,"subtype":"","redirect_url":"","disable_inline_ads":false,"native_logo_pretext":"Presented By:"},"yoast_head":"\n