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Notre Dame's Oct. 26 game at Air Force will kick off at 3 p.m. MDT (5 p.m. EDT), the Mountain West Conference announced Friday.

The game will be played at Falcon Stadium in Colorado Springs, Colo. CBS Sports Network will broadcast the contest.

The Irish now have start times for eight of their 12 contests, as the program announced earlier this week that its Oct. 19 home game against USC will start at 7:30 p.m. EDT, while its other five games at Notre Dame Stadium will air at 3:30 p.m. EDT.

The Oct. 5 Shamrock Series tilt with Arizona State at Cowboys Stadium in Arlington, Texas will kick off at 6:30 p.m. CT.

That contest, and all six Notre Dame home games, will air on NBC. Start times have yet to be announced for Irish road dates at Michigan, Purdue, Pitt and Stanford. The Stanford game will air on Fox, while the other three will air on an ABC or ESPN affiliate.

1. Winning is the best medicine of all: This week will be a lot easier for everyone associated with the Notre Dame football program following a 42-point win against a team that beat it three times in the previous four years. The USC loss is in the rearview mirror and, at least at the moment, the fallout from Brian Kelly's comments Thursday seems to have come and gone, with the Irish responding in convincing fashion Saturday. Now comes the ACC portion of the schedule, with Wake Forest, Maryland and Boston College up next.

2. The Irish have done a solid job against the option: Notre Dame's defense put on a very impressive performance against the nation's third-ranked rushing team Saturday, holding Navy to 196 yards on the ground. To put that in perspective, the Midshipmen averaged 325.14 rushing yards per game entering Saturday. The defense's performance forced a pair of turnovers against an Air Force offense that chunked up plenty of yards but had little to show for it against the Irish's first-team. Notre Dame has come a long way from its eighth game of last year, a 35-17 loss to Navy that featured 367 rushing yards from the Midshipmen.

3. Floyd will get his: Games 7 and 8 looked an awful lot like Games 4 and 5, didn't they? At Pitt five weeks ago, Michael Floyd was held to four catches for 27 yards before tallying 12 catches for 137 yards a week later at Purdue. Last week Floyd had four catches for 28 yards, responding Saturday with a six-catch, 121-yard performance in which he scored a rushing and a receiving touchdown. Floyd can be held in check every now and then, but there is no key to stopping him on a consistent basis.

4. Jonas Gray is having himself quite the farewell tour: Seriously, Gray didn't have a single career touchdown before Week 4 at Pitt. He's scored in every game since, including three Saturday, giving him eight touchdowns for the season to tie Cierre Wood for the lead among Irish backs and receivers. Gray's 12-carry, 69-yard effort Saturday actually lowered his yards per carry average from 8.5 to 8, though the senior likely isn't complaining.

SOUTH BEND, Ind. -- Last year, Notre Dame surrendered 367 rushing yards to Navy in a 35-17 loss, its third in four years to the Midshipmen.

Nearly three weeks ago, the Irish gave up 363 yards to Air Force in a 59-33 win.

This year Air Force boasts the nation's No. 2 rushing attack, with Navy right behind at No. 3.

"Big plays; keep the points down," Brian Kelly said. "Big plays, minimize, take away the big play, and keep the points down. Don't care about yardage. When you play an option team, you're going to give up yardage. You can't give up the big play, because you've got somebody with their eyes in the backfield and now here comes the slot on an arc release and he's running free down the middle of the field.

"So when you play option teams, the yardage is irrelevant. It's all about minimizing big plays and keeping the points down."

Navy is more of a traditional option team than Air Force, which just happens to really like to run the option, along with several other formations, throughout the course of a game.

Before this year's Air Force game, Kelly had said his team got away from who it was in the loss to Navy before it returned to its physical nature four weeks later in a win over Army.

"We obviously have bigger guys, faster guys across the board," safety Harrison Smith said. "So really like we say, whenever we play an option team, it just comes down to doing your assignment, and then when you get there, kind of imposing your will against them. If you have the physical advantage, if you can match them mentally, then you can really kind of capitalize on that physical advantage."

Despite having the third-best rushing offense and third-worst passing offense in the nation, Navy is just 38th in time of possession, though that is still 44 spots ahead of Air Force.

The Falcons turned the ball over twice in the second half against Notre Dame and allowed touchdowns on their first six defensive possessions. They were never able to keep up.

Navy has just nine turnovers this season. Its defense ranks 95th nationally.

"Well, you obviously don't want to give up yards, but at the end of the day, it's points versus points. That's the game," Smith said. "So if you can keep the points down, that's how you win the game. You know, especially against a team like Navy who, you know, average so many rushing yards and they make big plays through the air.

"So really, if you can cut out those big plays through the air, don't let them pop the long runs and kind of get them off track and get them into second-and-long, third-and-long, that's kind of where you can capitalize, and it's almost like they are going to get their yards. You just have to keep them off the board."

SOUTH BEND, Ind. -- Ethan Johnson doesn't talk about practice.

He doesn't talk about odds, either, though he admitted Tuesday that his sprained right ankle was improving.

"I'm not into doing probabilities, but I'm definitely better than I was yesterday and the day before yesterday," Johnson said after practice Tuesday. "So I'm just improving every day and just taking it a day at a time."

Brian Kelly said during his noon news conference Tuesday that Johnson would practice that afternoon for the first time since he injured his ankle in an Oct. 1 win at Purdue.

Johnson would not divulge practice details but his return, which remains up in the air, is now all the more important given the season-ending knee injury to fellow senior starting end Kapron Lewis-Moore.

"The young guys are playing roles they really shouldn't have to be playing right now," defensive coordinator Bob Diaco said. "They're really not ready to play the amount of reps that they're having to play each week. So getting them ready for this type of offense definitely doesn't suit that -- assignment football, play after play, the discipline and the mental focus necessary to play four quarters against a team like this and be assignment correct on every play. So it becomes a challenge."

Lewis-Moore marks the third of three injuries to Notre Dame's season-opening starting defensive linemen, as he will miss the final five games and a potential bowl game.

Nose guard Sean Cwynar, who is now at full strenghth, missed Week 2 at Michigan with a broken hand. He was also held out against Air Force in Week 6 because of a broken right hand, which caused him to play with a club for a hand.

Johnson missed the majority of the past three games after being hurt on the first play at Purdue three weeks ago, and he tried to help freshmen ends Aaron Lynch and Stephon Tuitt along the way while he was sidelined.

"You have to," Johnson said. "If I'm not out there, [if] I see someone do something that they shouldn't be doing, I'm gonna let them know; I'll let them know in a reasonable way. I mean, it's game day. You can't be trying to coach up everything; you got to let them play and not worry about too many other things because it's just game day. You're out there having fun."

Johnson's injury -- along with that of Cwynar's -- made Lynch and Tuitt have to grow up fast.

With Lewis-Moore now out for the season., the spotlight will be on the freshmen even more.

"Both of them are playing more than we really want them to play, and more than they're ready to play," defensive line coach Mike Elston said. "So sometimes that can hurt their growth, it can stunt their growth. So that's kind of the process we're going through with Aaron and making sure you don't put too much on his plate right now but more than he's ready for."

And you thought Notre Dame was the victim of so many bad breaks.

Navy, the Irish's opponent this Saturday, is 2-5. It is in the middle of a five-game losing streak that has featured four games decided by three points or less -- a total of eight points covering four defeats.

The latest wrong turn in a Midshipmen season that has seen so many came in Saturday's 38-35 home loss to East Carolina, which ended with Jon Teague's 42-yard field goal bouncing off the right upright when time expired … which came two plays after Matt Aiken's seemingly good 33-yard touchdown catch was ruled incomplete and upheld … which came two quarters after starting quarterback Kriss Proctor left the game with a left-elbow injury -- and yes, he's a southpaw.

That loss came one week after blowing a 10-point second-half lead at Rutgers, which won by one point thanks in large part to a blocked field goal attempt with less than five minutes to play.

Two weeks earlier, Navy came back from an 18-point second-half deficit against Air Force to force overtime … where the Midshipmen lost by one thanks, again, in large part to a blocked extra point in overtime. That one came from the 35-yard line after Proctor received an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty after his one-yard touchdown run.

In Navy's game before that, in an attempt to go 3-0 and beat a top-10 team for the first time since 1984, the Midshipmen had a pass picked off in the fourth quarter, sealing a 24-21 loss at then-No. 10 South Carolina.

The losing continued from then on.

Proctor is a longshot to return Saturday, meaning sophomore Trey Miller will likely make his first career start. Miller completed 5 of 12 passes for 126 yards and two touchdowns Saturday.

For two teams ready to take out the frustrations of seemingly mounting bad breaks, this Saturday probably cannot come soon enough.

SOUTH BEND, Ind. -- Despite not seeing any game action for nearly a year and a half, quarterback Andrew Hendrix never felt like he wasn't part of the Notre Dame program.

The Irish, he said, make everyone feel integral, from Player A all the way down to Player Z.

So with extra pep in his step this week following an eye-opening debut Saturday, Hendrix can now at least feel he is slowly moving up the ladder, closer to Player A.

"Maybe a little bit," he conceded with a laugh.

With 111 rushing yards and a 4-for-4 showing against Air Force came validation for the sophomore, who brought the crowd to its feet with a 78-yard run in the fourth quarter.

"Definitely," Hendrix said. "I was really excited to get in to be able to show what I had, let everyone else know, because I felt like I was confident in my abilities. Just to let everyone else see that I can do this really felt good."

Brian Kelly hinted on his Thursday radio show that Hendrix could debut against Air Force, one week before the bye. But no one figured the change-of-pace quarterback would see so much time.

On Tuesday, Kelly explained he wanted Hendrix to get a taste of action before stepping into a raucous environment for the Irish's prime-time rivalry game against USC on Oct. 22.

Jumping out to a 21-3 first-quarter lead en route to a 59-point showing had something to do with Hendrix's number of snaps as well.

"I didn't want Andrew Hendrix's first college experience to be the USC game," Kelly said. "And then I wanted to insert him when we were having success, because I didn't wanna open it up to, 'All right, we had a couple of bad plays. We got a quarterback situation going on here.'

"So he went in every time we had success with plays and things were moving positively, and he's ready to play against USC. I don't have to be concerned about what his makeup and demeanor would be inserting him into the USC game."

Hendrix admitted to being surprised by the amount of plays and ensuing success he was able to have his first time stepping onto the field.

"Definitely," he said. "I thought that initially I was just gonna be able to get my feet wet. But as we started to get a little lead I was obviously able to get in the game a little bit more throughout the third and fourth quarter. So the lead that we were able to get because of the offensive success we had throughout the game allowed me to play a little bit more and I think that opened up things for me."

Hendrix said his preparation each game week won't change, and he has tried to not let that approach be affected now that he has seen the results it can yield.

But even Kelly said he could see a little more confidence in Hendrix this week after showing what he was capable of.

"I think my main thing is I can't control what I can't control, so really just keeping my head down, plowing through, working to be the best me that I can possibly be and whatever falls I just let fall," Hendrix said. "Coach Kelly gave me the opportunity; that's something I can't control. But what I could control is making the best of it and I think I did that."

It turns out 47 catches, 561 yards, three touchdowns and seemingly every receiving record in Notre Dame history wasn't enough for Michael Floyd.

Floyd was back deep twice to return punts in Saturday's 59-33 win over Air Force, the senior receiver's first action there in his college career. And it was something that, upon seeing his teammates through five weeks, he decided to take upon himself.

"I think we've talked about wanting to get a playmaker out there and John [Goodman] certainly can handle the ball for us but lacks that big-play ability," Brian Kelly said during his weekly Sunday teleconference. "Mike actually came to me, said, 'Coach, I'll do it. Give me a shot at it.' We worked hard and this is the great thing about Mike, he stayed after practice -- here's a guy who's one of the best receivers in the country and spent probably more time than I can remember a guy staying after practice just fielding punts so he could go in there and do it."

Floyd had one fair catch and let another punt bounce out of bounds in front of him.

Goodman was out twice in the first half to return punts but the Fighting Irish called a timeout before one and Air Force decided to go for it on fourth down. The second time, the Falcons ran a fake.

Goodman has eight of Notre Dame's 10 punt returns and, combined with Theo Riddick, has netted 3 total punt-return yards on the season, with each fumbling it away once as well.

Notre Dame ranks 117th in the nation in returning punts, averaging 0.30 yards per return.

"A lot of this has been precipitated by our need to jump-start that unit," Kelly said of the decision to put Floyd on punt returns. "And Mike saw that. As we talked about it in every special teams meeting, which he's part of, I think he finally said, 'You know, I can do this. I've never done it before. ' And we weren't looking down that road with Mike because he had never done it before, but he's such an exceptional athlete, he was committed to doing it and I think that's obviously a game-changer when it comes to that."

Notes: Kelly said Manti Te'o slightly sprained his ankle Wednesday in practice and was limited Saturday. The Irish will protect him this week with a bye. ... Regarding the immediate future of freshman quarterback Everett Golson, who has yet to play, Kelly said: "I think you guys can figure out what the rotation's gonna be at this point."Golson was also a standout basketball player in high school, and Kelly said the two made an agreement on certain things he needs to take care of before he could play hoops at Notre Dame. ... Asked if his team will wear green jerseys for its Oct. 22 game against USC, Kelly said: "I didn't know we had green jerseys. If we did we'd think about it."

1. Notre Dame knows how to strike early: You could add "and often" after the last two weeks as well. The Fighting Irish jumped out to a 14-0 lead Saturday and never looked back, scoring 42 points in the first half. In first quarters this season, Notre Dame is outscoring its opponents 73-22. An early lead made all the difference against an Air Force team that simply could not keep up with the Irish, who scored touchdowns on their first six possessions.

2. The kid can play: Andrew Hendrix's debut was a smashing success, as the sophomore quarterback was inserted early and often for a Notre Dame offense that never slowed down. Hendrix finished with 111 rushing yards on six carries and completed all four of his passes for 33 yards. Brian Kelly made it clear afterward that Dayne Crist is still his No. 2 signal-caller behind Tommy Rees, but the threat Hendrix provided Saturday with his legs makes him a great change-of-pace option to have the rest of the season.

3. No turnovers = efficiency: Again, not a big lesson to be learned here. But the importance of protecting the ball really stood out Saturday when looking at Air Force, which actually outgained the Irish 565-560 but could never keep up because of two first-half turnovers. Notre Dame knows the feeling after struggling with ball protection through the season's first two weeks, but those problems have been nothing but a distant memory the past two weeks.

4. Theo Riddick can make a difference: The running back-turned-receiver lined up all over the field Saturday and finally had a breakout game, catching eight passes for 83 yards and a touchdown. He added a 14-yard run on his lone carry as well. Riddick is as versatile a threat as the Irish's offense has and makes the unit all the more dangerous when he's clicking the way he did against Air Force.

SOUTH BEND, Ind. -- Andrew Hendrix was running for the end zone, no question about it. He had completed every pass he threw Saturday, had just burst through the line and was seeing nothing but six points in front of him.

But he couldn't help but look back.

"If there was a video board I probably would've seen who was behind me," Hendrix said with a laugh. "But I was checking behind me to see who was behind me, whether I had to make a move on somebody or not, and I ended up losing my balance just at the right time to not get in.

"So it was a little embarrassing, but I'm all right with it."

The humble Hendrix had nothing to be ashamed of, as at that point -- up 33 in the fourth quarter -- the biggest question remaining in Notre Dame's 59-33 rout of Air Force was whether or not the sophomore quarterback would run out of gas during his 78-yard run.

He did, falling forward at the 2, before George Atkinson III punched it in three plays later for the Fighting Irish's final points during a historic day for Notre Dame's offense.

For much of the day, it was tough to figure out who was having the hardest time inside Notre Dame Stadium:

Air Force's defense, which gave up 560 total yards and 59 points, including touchdowns on Notre Dame's first six drives?

The group of high school prospects on hand, who had to wonder if this place was as beautiful every October as the 80-degree temperatures and day-long sunshine would have one believe?

Or Notre Dame's media relations staff, which issued historical reference after historical reference over the press box loudspeaker throughout the offensive showcase?

No Irish team had scored so many points since a 62-0 win over Rutgers in 1996, Lou Holtz's final game at Notre Dame Stadium. The same stadium had never seen as many as 92 total points scored, which the Irish and Falcons combined for Saturday.

And no Notre Dame quarterback had rushed for more than 100 yards since Carlyle Holiday did so in 2001 against Boston College.

Hendrix, seeing his first action this season after not playing his freshman season, entered the game in the first quarter and hit Michael Floyd for what amounted to minus-3 yards.

It was smooth sailing from there.

Hendrix finished the day 4-for-4 passing for 33 yards and, more importantly, rushed it six times for 111 yards.

Most of the heavy lifting came on that 78-yard run mid-way through the fourth quarter, the game no longer in doubt and everyone inside the stadium holding their collective breath before Hendrix finally gave out at the 2.

How sudden did that happen? The public address announcer inside the press box had to reiterate the "no cheering" rule, as reporters couldn't help but be stunned by what they saw.

The reaction on the home sideline was far more exciting.

"I did not see that happening," running back Jonas Gray confessed. "He did kind of break away from the guy, but I think he just kind of ran out of gas."

Gray, a senior, had a message for Hendrix as he came back to the sideline following the Irish's touchdown to end the drive.

"I told him to not get caught ever again," Gray quipped. "I've been through that situation. I told him to never look back, just believe in his speed."

This was supposed to be about how Notre Dame's defense would handle Air Force's vaunted attack, especially with starting end Ethan Johnson sidelined and two freshmen seeing extended playing time in Aaron Lynch and Stephon Tuitt.

Another freshman end, Chase Hounshell, made his Irish debut as well, but it was a moot point after Jamoris Slaughter forced a fumble on the Falcons' first play.

If Air Force was going to have any chance of hanging with Notre Dame, it could not afford to cough it up and play catch-up, because there was just nothing it could do defensively.

"We got two key turnovers by our defense that we were able to set up, and any time you get a chance to turn over Air Force and put points on the board, it allows you to extend away from them," Brian Kelly said. "And you need some extension from them sometimes in terms of points because they are so difficult to defend, and I think we saw that today."

The fact Air Force actually outgained Notre Dame, 565-560, shows the potential that was there on the other side.

But Kelly and Notre Dame know that means nothing if they cannot protect the ball, something the Irish accomplished by going a second straight week with no turnovers.

They have now put up better than 500 yards of total offense in four of their first six games, winning the last two of them. And they have now won four in a row after two straight defeats.

As Hendrix came out to line up in victory formation with 33 seconds to go Saturday, the student section couldn't help but look ahead.

"Beat-S-C," it chanted, referencing the Irish's battle with the Trojans in the two weeks.

Funny how things play out. Notre Dame kept beating itself to start the season. Now with the momentum going in the Irish's favor, their toughest opponent may be the bye week that comes a week from now.

SOUTH BEND, Ind. — Lots of praise to go around after this one, particularly on the offensive side of the ball. Let's get right to it.

Theo Riddick: The much-maligned receiver stepped up in a big way Saturday, catching eight passes for 83 yards and a touchdown and rushing for 14 yards on his only carry. Riddick finally showed what he is capable of and quieted concerns around his early-season performance.

Tyler Eifert: When will defenses figure him out? The tight end once again was a favorite target of Tommy Rees, especially on third downs. Eifert finished with eight catches for 81 yards and a touchdown.

Michael Floyd: Another typical day for the senior receiver, who has already re-written the Notre Dame record books. His spectacular 34-yard touchdown catch on the opening drive got the Irish on the board early, and he finished with six catches for 78 yards. He even was back to return a pair of punts as well.

Jonas Gray: Saturday's Irish game captain chipped in with another strong performance, scoring two touchdowns and finishing with 69 yards on just seven carries. Gray, a senior, had no career touchdowns going into Pitt two weeks ago and now has four.

Andrew Hendrix: Most figured he'd see his first game action after Brian Kelly's hint during the coach's radio show Thursday, but few saw this kind of performance coming. Hendrix, a sophomore, rushed for 111 yards on six carries, going 78 yards on one fourth-quarter run before being tripped up and falling at the 2-yard line. Hendrix also completed all four of his pass attempts for 33 yards.

Tommy Rees: We can't forget the man who directed this offensive onslaught. The sophomore quarterback built off his big performance last week at Purdue by directing Notre Dame touchdown drives on the Irish's first six possessions. He finished 23-of-32 for 261 yards with four touchdowns and no interceptions.

Manti Te'o: The junior linebacker was once again his usual self, which is good news for Notre Dame. Te'o finished with 10 tackles, 2.5 for loss, and nearly came up with a pick as well.

Jamoris Slaughter: The safety made his presence felt on Air Force's first offensive play, forcing Jonathan Warzeka to fumble and later picking off Tim Jefferson in the second quarter. Slaughter added six tackles and a pass break-up as well. Neither defense was very productive statistically, but forcing key turnovers early helped spring this game open.

SOUTH BEND, Ind. — Everyone expected a lot of offense Saturday, but few thought it would be Notre Dame putting up the big numbers.

The Fighting Irish scored touchdowns on their first six possessions, received more than 100 rushing yards from their second quarterback and ended up with a 59-33 win over Air Force before 80,795 fans at Notre Dame Stadium.

Sophomore quarterback Andrew Hendrix saw his first career action, and his debut drew a large ovation from the crowd, especially with his 79-yard fourth-quarter rush that ended just one yard shy of the goal line.

In improving to 4-2, Notre Dame eclipsed the 500-yard mark for the second straight week and fourth time this season. The Irish, who started 0-2, will go into their bye week on a four-game winning streak before hosting USC in their first home night game in 21 years.

Don't go anywhere, as I'll have much more reaction from downstairs.