Long before the Notre Dame Stadium crowd temporarily solved its happy tedium by doing the wave, before reserves from both teams turned the 29th meeting between Air Force and Notre Dame into a Playstation copyright infringement, there was an unmistakable bolt of progress.

In a game flush with historical footnotes, it was the here and now of the Irish offense that buoyed the postgame mood of second-year ND coach Brian Kelly.

No, it wasn’t a statement game, but Notre Dame’s 59-33 bludgeoning of Air Force Saturday had the feel of an ultimatum to it.

Against an admittedly overmatched Falcon defense, wide receiver Theo Riddick re-emerged, running back Jonas Gray continued his renaissance, starting quarterback Tommy Rees distanced himself from his turnover-prone days and the concept of the change-up QB finally showed up.

Not only did sophomore quarterback Andrew Hendrix make his collegiate debut Saturday, he made a splash in the highest-scoring game (combined by both teams) in Notre Dame Stadium history and the most prolific output by an Irish team since Lou Holtz hung 62 on Rutgers 15 years ago in his final home game as ND’s head coach.

Full story at South Bend Tribune