Notre Dame sinks Navy with a lot of Manti Te’o

Manti Te’o, Notre Dame’s starting senior linebacker, had a big day as the Fighting Irish routed Navy in Dublin, Ireland.

Te’o had six tackles, an interception and a recovered a fumble as Notre Dame opened with a 50-10 victory.

That just goes to show that USC could be better. The Trojans, who open at 4:30 p.m. Saturday as the No. 1-ranked team in the Associated Press media poll and No. 3 in the USA Today coaches’ poll, heavily recruited Te’o and reportedly barely lost out to the Fighting Irish.

USC fans can only dream, though, about how their defense would look with Te’o in the middle. Probably similar to how the offense looks with Matt Barkley taking snaps.

However, Te’o didn’t provide the biggest play of the game on defense. The props for that go to one of the biggest players on the field, period.

Late in the second quarter, Stephon Tuitt, Notre Dame’s 6-foot-6, 303-pound sophomore defensive end, scooped up a fumble and rambled 77 yards for a touchdown. (We’re not sure whether Navy couldn’t catch him, or didn’t want to catch him.)

Redshirt sophomore Everett Golson completed 12 of 18 passes for 144 yards and a touchdown with one interception in his debut as Notre Dame’s starting quarterback. Senior Theo Riddick rushed for 107 yards and two touchdowns in 19 carries as the Fighting Irish ran for 293 yards.

Navy moved the ball at times, but was sunk by four turnovers. Quarterback Trey Miller completed 14 of 19 passes for 192 yards and a touchdown with one interception.

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