Notre Dame played its worst game in the short tenure of Brian Kelly being head coach and one of its worst games in many years last Saturday at the new Meadowlands in East Rutherford, N.J.

The Irish were so dominated by Navy that it was embarrassing to watch. ND was not prepared, did not play with any enthusiasm, were not tough and appeared indifferent to the game itself. That all falls on Kelly and his staff.At Cincinnati Kelly had a team that scored a lot of points and needed to because his defense gave up a lot of points. At ND the situation is not quite the same. ND gives up a lot of points but because the Irish are still learning the spread offense installed by Kelly, they are not scoring a lot of points. Obvious conclusion, ND is 4-4.The Irish offense is not moving forward as Quarterback Dayne Crist does not improve each week but appears to get worst as the weeks go by. Crist started the season looking pretty good and despite the close losses to Michigan and Michigan State, appeared to handle the new offense. But as the games go by he continues to make mistake after mistake.Kelly must address the defense, or lack of it, and he must seriously consider bringing in a defensive coordinator with the experience and expertise to handle the demanding schedule ND will face in the years to come. The present staff is not up to the task and look to be "out -of-their-league".More on last week and notes later.Today the Irish face a new foe in Tulsa. The two teams have never met on the gridiron. Tulsa enters at 4-3 with wins over Bowling Green, 33-20, Central Arkansas, 41-14, Memphis, 48-7, and Tulane, 52-24. The three losses were to East Carolina, 51-49, Oklahoma State, 62-28, and SMU, 21-18. As you probably noticed in the scores, Tulsa can score points.The Golden Hurricanes like to throw the ball and have a fine QB in G.J. Kinne. So far this year he has completed 152 of 254 attempts with six interceptions, 1,855 yards gained and 15 touchdown thows. His main receivers are Charles Clay, Damaris Johnson and Trae Johnson. Rushing learders are Alex Singleton, Damaris Johnson and Ja'Terian Douglas. The rushing totals for the three is just over 700 yards for the season. That is not a lot for seven games so passing is Tulsa's offense.The game wil be televised nationally by NBC-TV with a 2:40 p.m. kickoff.IRISH NOTES:The lackluster effort by the Irish last week disappointed all ND fans. The lack of any defensive adjustments at halftime for the Navy option offense was another disappointment. Kelly claimed he had spent time at each practice this fall working on the Navy offense. This is unbelievable considering how Navy ran at will. When I checked the Navy website for my column last week to get some stats on the Middies, fullback Alexander Teich was not worth mentioning because of his total yards gained to date. Last week he was an All-American with 210 yards gained on 26 carries. QB Ricky Dobbs should have been well-known to the Irish staff having played against ND the past three years. Yet he got 90 yards on 20 carries and three TDS. I'm not taking anything away from Teich and Dobbs, but the Irish coaching staff at least knew what to expect from Dobbs, but made no adjustments. Navy made a change in its attack to feature Teich and the changes apparently completely fooled the ND coaching staff. Teich's total is the most any Navy player ever gained against a ND team. The 35-17 score was the biggest margin of victory since 1963 for Navy. Navy has won three of the last four against ND....ND was without some key receivers on offense as I mentioned in last week's column. Michael Floyd was unable to play last week and is a game decision for today. The other top ND receiver, Theo Riddick won't be back for another three weeks, Kelly said. Also, freshman TJ Jones is brothered with, what else, a hamstring pull but can play today. The Irish got some more bad news this week as nose guard Ian Williams will miss four to six weeks with a knee injury. Williams has been the most consistent defensive player for the Irish this year. That is a big loss, considering how poor the Irish defense has been playing. Tulsa's high-powered offensive attack real be a challenged for the Irish defense today....Some game stats. Crist finished the day with 19 completions on 31 attempts for 178 yards and one TD, plus two interceptions. There isn't a stat for miss throws and overlooked receivers, but if there was, Crist would be leading the nation. Armando Allen had 66 yards on 11 rushes and Crist 25 on 10. Top receiver was Duval Kamara with six catches for 56 yards. Defensively, Manti Te'o had 13 tackles to lead the team. Poor tackling by the Irish secondary, especially the cornerbacks, was another key factor in the game. Many times the Irish had Navy's backs trapped on a sweep but missed the tackle....Many Irish fans keep reminding me that Lou Holtz started slow and had a losing first year at ND. I agree, except I see one difference between Holtz's first year and Kelly's. Holtz's team showed improvement each week and his team was NEVER not prepared for an opponent and always had plenty of fight in them....ND lost a recruit this week. Clay Burton, a 6-3 and 230-pound linebacker from Venice High School in Florida, has decommitted and instead has now committed to Florida....The South Bend Tribune beat writer Al Lesar said the Irish lack "attitude, intensity and toughness". I agree....Navy did not commit a penalty last week despite the blocking scheme used in the option attack by the Middies. Many times the blocking scheme results in penalties for "chop blocks" but amazingly, Navy didn't get any penalties....As you probably read or saw on TV a tragedy occurred at ND's practice on Wednesday. Student Declan Sullivan, 20, of Long Grove, Ill, a junior, who was working for the athletic department as a video operator, died when the tower he was on was apparently blown down by extremely high winds. The ND administration decided late Thursday to play the game today but Kelly canceled his weekly radio show and the univerisity canceled the Friday pregame luncheon and the Friday night pep rally. A Mass was held on campus Thursday night for Sullivan....In my preseason picks I figured today's matchup would be a cake walk for the Irish. Not any more. The Irish appear to have lost direction and along with the injuries to some top flight receivers and the play on both sides of the ball, this could end up loss number five today. If Kelly can't get a win today, the Irish only real chance at a win the remainder of the season is Army, and that would mean a 5-7 record. A loss today is a real possibility.