Notre Dame beat Navy for the fifth-straight time on Saturday afternoon, sprinting away from the Midshipmen after a strong third quarter and cruising to a 41-24 win. Against one of Ken Niumatalolo’s best teams, the Irish handed Navy their first loss of the season, winning the turnover battle 3-1 while also holding the Midshipmen to just 102 yards in the second half.
As an annual opponent, Notre Dame’s yearly dates against Navy usually fit into one of four categories: The program-rattling loss, the white knuckle, pray-you-get-out-alive close victory, the frisky battle where the Irish pull away, and the occasional boat race. Expect Brian Kelly to place this one in the third bucket, and then be thankful that Notre Dame can go about their business for the rest of the season.
“Thank gosh,” Kelly said after the game, when told he was done preparing for the option until next season.
No, it wasn’t pretty. Led by Keenan Reynolds and a powerful pair of fullbacks, Navy ran for 238 yards in the first half. But after Justin Yoon kicked a 52-yard field goal to close the first half, the Irish forced a turnover on the opening kickoff of the third quarter and scored touchdowns on their first two drives. That was essentially that.
Navy knew they needed to play perfect to beat Brian Kelly’s most talented team. And with two personal foul penalties, three turnovers and some missed opportunities, Navy coach Ken Niumatalolo was frustrated the Midshipmen didn’t bring their best to South Bend.
“We knew we need to play perfect against these guys and this was probably our worst game of the season,” Niumatalolo said. “Against a good team like Notre Dame, that spells disaster.”
Let’s find out what we learned during the Irish’s 17-point win.
Georgia Tech and Navy are behind Notre Dame and the Irish went 2-0. But more importantly, a system has been established inside the program on how to defend and practice against the option.
Brian Kelly gave the game ball to scout-team quarterback Rob Regan, the recruited walk-on who came to Notre Dame to most likely never step on the field and get beaten up by the starting defense at practice. But Regan did his job well this season, providing a critical service as the quarterback of the triple-option scout team known as the SWAG team.
While there were some struggles early getting to the fullback dive and keeping Keenan Reynolds contained, Kelly talked about how happy he was with the week of practice the Irish had, focused solely on the task at hand, not the devastating loss from a week earlier or the date with USC next weekend.
“We beat a very good team by 17 points. That’s validation,” Kelly said. “I thought we had a great week of practice. I thought we prepared very well. I don’t know what else to do... I was so pleased with the way they were focused during the week, preparing for Navy.”
Credit for this victory starts nine months ago, with senior advisor Bob Elliott taking a deep dive into the option. And as Notre Dame devised a game plan to keep the option a consistent part of every week’s preparation—not just a crash course the week of Navy or Georgia Tech—from a program-building perspective, Kelly feels confident that he and his coaches have devised a way to successfully defend one of the most schematically challenging games of each season.
“There’s always things we can work on to get better,” Kelly said, after being asked about his team’s job against the option this season. “But I think we’ve established something that I wanted to establish: A base way to play option teams. “
C.J. Prosise has emerged as Notre Dame’s leading man on offense. And he continues to get better and better as he learns on the job.
Leading Notre Dame’s offense with 129 yards and three touchdowns, C.J. Prosise put together his fourth 100-yard day of the season on the ground. His three touchdowns mark the second time Prosise has scored a hat trick this season, the first time that’s happened at Notre Dame since Reggie Brooks pulled the same feat in 1992.
Prosise was deadly on the perimeter of the defense, breaking off big-chunk runs, including a 22-yard touchdown. (He had another long touchdown run called back for a questionable hold.) Adding 56 receiving yards to his stat-line—glorified runs that required DeShone Kizer to quick flip the ball to Prosise—and Notre Dame’s game plan was to get Prosise on the perimeter and let him utilize his unique blend of size and speed.
“We were trying to find different ways to get him on the perimeter,” Kelly explained postgame. “Just trying to get one of our skilled players on the edge of our defense was part of our plan.”
The plan worked, with Prosise once again serving as the engine of the Irish offense. But even more impressive is the senior’s evolution. Just five games into his career as a running back, he’s become the identity of Notre Dame’s offense.
Kelly credits that to a balanced offensive attack, acknowledging that the run game will be their secret to success. But he also praised Prosise’s preparation, a senior digging into his job like a freshman just learning the ropes.
“I think what I like most about him is that he’s in that learning curve and he’s excited every single day, working to become a better running back,” Kelly said.
Notre Dame’s ability to force turnovers and disrupt Navy’s offense turned this into a relatively easy Irish victory.
You couldn’t have asked for a tougher start. After returning the opening kickoff, Notre Dame went three-and-out. It took the Midshipmen just three plays to go 70 yards, scoring in just 74 seconds. But after weathering the storm, the Irish actually became the team that forced the mistakes, usually the other way around when these two teams play each other.
Two fumble recoveries and a very nice interception by Elijah Shumate gave Notre Dame an extra handful of possessions against Navy, one of the keys to beating the Midshipmen. And while Notre Dame’s offensive efficiency wasn’t through the roof, having a few extra possessions more than nullified the two punts and DeShone Kizer’s lone interception.
“Huge possessions. We were able to gain more possessions in this game than any other game we’ve played against Navy,” Kelly said postgame.
While the defense certainly didn’t lock down Navy’s option like they did Georgia Tech’s, they do deserve some credit for the struggles the Midshipmen had converting drives. Even after going four of four on fourth-down conversions, the Irish got Navy off the field six of ten times without scoring points, forcing two punts, two fumbles, an interception and a missed field goal.
Pair the defensive effort with Notre Dame’s offense controlling the clock in the second half after scoring two early touchdowns, and it’s a perfect recipe for victory against Navy.
Sheldon Day is playing the type of dominant football Notre Dame fans have been expecting for three seasons.
From the moment Sheldon Day stepped onto campus, Notre Dame coaches thought they had something special. And during his senior season, Day is showing why.
The senior captain tied for the team lead with nine tackles on Saturday, adding two more TFLs in the process. Tasked with what he called the easiest job of anybody on the defense against the option, Day managed to wreak havoc in the trenches against consistent double teams, making up for some of the early troubles the Irish defense had slowing down Navy’s stout fullbacks and Keenan Reynolds to open the game.
Day played nearly the entire snap, shifting outside and in, taking on multiple Navy blockers as he went toe-to-toe. And after Jerry Tillery sat most of the second half with what looked like an elbow injury, Day’s consistency and work volume proved vital, with really no backup behind him.
Debating a departure to the NFL after last season, Brian Kelly and Jack Swarbrick pitched Day on the many reasons why coming back to South Bend and earning his degree would be important. Now Day’s also showing NFL scouts what the Irish staff knew all along.
The Irish once again went to their depth chart to lock down a victory.
With the Irish defense struggling with some scheme tweaks and in need of a fix against Navy’s option, Brian Kelly once again called on his depth chart to help secure the victory. Kelly made two very big moves to help slow down Navy, and both paid dividends.
Starter Max Redfield had the first shot at playing safety. But after over-running his assignment on Keenan Reynolds, Matthias Farley entered the game and didn’t come off the field until tallied seven tackles and sang the alma mater.
Kelly also went bigger with his linebacking corps. Already starting Greer Martini at one linebacker spot, the Irish swapped former wide receiver James Onwualu out of the game and inserted senior Jarrett Grace. The 255-pounder helped plug the leak that Navy’s fullbacks exploited in the first half, part of the reason Notre Dame held Chris Swain and Quenin Ezell to just 3.8 yards a touch in the second half.
“We went with Grace in the second half and he was able to get himself down onto the fullback in the second half,” Kelly said. “It was a little bit of scheme and a little bit of execution. They keep prodding and looking for opporutnities to run their offense and they did effectively until we made some adjustments at halftime.”
The opportunity for Grace had to be a cherished one and you could see the veteran’s confidence grow as the game continued. After two seasons recovering from a severely broken leg, Grace earned his first extensive playing time on defense this afternoon. While he tapped his chest and acknowledged he was late to his assignment on his first snap in after replacing Onwualu, Grace was in and around the pile nonstop, putting a big stick on quarterback Keenan Reynolds on a fake then making five tackles as he showed that the Irish have another weapon at their disposal as they get back to their winning ways.