NCAAF: AIR FORCE at NOTRE DAME <div class="pre">** CONFIRMED ** NCAAF AIR FORCE 41 NOTRE DAME 24 FINAL</div>
NCAAF: AIR FORCE at NOTRE DAME <div class="pre">NCAAF FINAL 1ST 2ND 3RD 4TH TOTAL --- --- --- --- ----- AIR FORCE 10 7 14 10 41 NOTRE DAME 0 10 0 14 24 FINAL AIR FORCE-FG, R Harrison 19 YD 6:29 1st Qtr AIR FORCE-TD, J Rabold 19 YD FUMBLE RETURN (R Harrison KICK) 14:20 1st Qtr NOTRE DAME-FG, B Walker 28 YD 6:31 2nd Qtr NOTRE DAME-TD, J Carlson 2 YD PASS FROM J Clausen (B Walker KICK) 12:28 2nd Qtr AIR FORCE-TD, S Armstrong 8 YD RUN (R Harrison KICK) 13:51 2nd Qtr AIR FORCE-TD, S Quintana 7 YD PASS FROM S Carney (R Harrison KICK) 2:11 3rd Qtr AIR FORCE-TD, K Madsen 10 YD PASS FROM S Carney (R Harrison KICK) 13:29 3rd Qtr NOTRE DAME-TD, D Grimes 21 YD PASS FROM J Clausen (B Walker KICK) 1:29 4th Qtr AIR FORCE-FG, R Harrison 37 YD 4:53 4th Qtr NOTRE DAME-TD, A Allen Jr. 9 YD PASS FROM J Clausen (B Walker KICK) 7:04 4th Qtr AIR FORCE-TD, S Carney 1 YD RUN (R Harrison KICK) 13:05 4th Qtr AIR FORCE NOTRE DAME First downs 23 19 Rushed-yards 63-285 38-58 Passing yards 120 246 Sacked-yards lost 0-0 6-47 Return yards 19 2 Passes 10-16-0 22-40-0 Punts 4-44.8 5-43 Fumbles-lost 2-2 2-2 Penalties-yards 3-40 2-30 Time of possession 34:06 25:54 Individual Statistics RUSHING: AIR FORCE-Chad Hall 32-142, Jim Ollis 7-53, Shaun Carney 9-41, Spencer Armstrong 2-20, Todd Newell 4-16, Ryan Williams 6-14, Chad Smith 2-1, - Team 1-MINUS 2. NOTRE DAME-James Aldridge 14-62, Armando Allen Jr. 9-27, Junior Jabbie 1-4, Robert Hughes 1-3, Asaph Schwapp 3-1, Jimmy Clausen 10-MINUS 39. PASSING: AIR FORCE-Shaun Carney 10-16-120- 0. NOTRE DAME-Jimmy Clausen 22-40-246- 0. RECEIVING: AIR FORCE-Mark Root 2-36, Chad Hall 2-31, Keith Madsen 2-20, Sean Quintana 2-15, Spencer Armstrong 1-12, Todd Newell 1-6. NOTRE DAME-David Grimes 6-67, John Carlson 4-57, Junior Jabbie 4-51, Robby Parris 5-49, Armando Allen Jr. 2-17, George West Jr. 1-5. Att: 80,795</div>
SOUTH BEND, Indiana (Ticker) -- Air Force authored the latestchapter to Notre Dame's nightmare. Shaun Carney threw two touchdown passes Saturday as the Falconsrolled to an easy 41-24 triumph over hapless Notre Dame. It was the fifth victory in the last six games for Air Force(8-3), which ended a three-game losing streak against theFighting Irish and improved to 6-22 all-time in this series. "It's special for this program and this football team,especially the senior class, to come in here and win," Carneysaid. "It is something we will always remember." Conversely, Notre Dame (1-9) continued the worst season in itsstoried history, dropping its fourth straight contest whilelosing to Air Force for the first time since 1996. "My correlation to the team was, 'OK, you have to take one stepat a time,'" Notre Dame coach Charlie Weis said. "But as ateam, the first step is winning a football game. "You can't sit there and isolate 50 things in a game - 'Hey,that was a good play, that was a good play, that's a good play.'The bottom line, the final score was 41 24. That's still thebottom line." The Fighting Irish failed to rebound from last week's 46-44triple-overtime loss to Navy, their first loss in that historicseries since 1963. Notre Dame had not lost to two service academies in the sameseason since 1944, when it dropped decisions to Navy andthen-No. 1 Army. "As a team, we're at that low point, basically the lowest oflows," Fighting Irish safety David Bruton said. "But we've gotto keep plugging." Carney helped etch yet another dubious distinction into NotreDame's record book Saturday, completing 10-of-16 passes for 120yards and running for a fourth-quarter TD to lead Air Force toits most lopsided win in the 44-year history of this rivalry. Chad Hall rushed for 142 yards on 32 carries and also chipped in31 receiving yards on two catches for Air Force, which bridgedthe second and third quarters with 21 straight points to turn atight contest into a laugher. "I feel like the later you get into the year, you know it's(Hall's) senior year and there are not a whole lot left," AirForce coach Troy Calhoun said. "He's wearing a little heavierharness and we are going to ride him a little. That's somethingthat we are aware of." Spencer Armstrong gave Air Force the lead for good with 1:12remaining in the first half, scoring on an eight-yard run tomake it 17-10. Carney tossed TD passes of 7 and 10 yards in thethird quarter to give the Falcons a 31-10 edge. Notre Dame has never finished a season with less than twovictories. The Fighting Irish close out their home schedulenext week against Duke before visiting Stanford in their seasonfinale November 24. "We've got two more games that I'm going to make sure that wewin, especially the last home game," Notre Dame senior safetyTom Zbikowski said. "We want to get that win. There's no partof me that doesn't want to be out there." One of the only bright spots for the Fighting Irish was theperformance of freshman quarterback Jimmy Clausen, who completed22-of-40 passes for 246 yards and three TDs. "(Clausen) shows very good composure for a young guy, for afreshman in college," Weis said. "He's just into that drive. "Usually with a young quarterback, you see them gettingflustered as the game goes on. But I don't see that with him,which is a very encouraging thing."
