The big data story coming out of Notre Dame’s 51-14 blowout of Navy.
The Irish beat the Midshipmen 51-14 in MetlLife Stadium and tacked on another big victory to their now 6-game win streak. It was bad news from the onset for Navy and things never even got close to being on track for the service academy.
Scoring Overview
Notre Dame shutout Navy 14-0 in the first quarter. A much welcome change from the slow first quarters we’ve gotten used to watching. The Midshipmen scored for the first time in the second quarter and the last time in the third quarter. But even though they found some success across those two quarters, the Irish still outscored them 30-14. It was all ND in the fourth quarter they closed out the game by outscoring Navy 7-0.
Scoring Details
Notre Dame’s offense put on a real show against Navy. The unit recorded five rushing touchdowns, two passing touchdowns. The special teams claimed a successful field goal. The defense contributed in a massive way to how and why the Irish were able to put up so many points. But they had one turnover for a touchdown when it came to direct scoring contributions.
More on the defense in a special follow-up article.
Drive Summaries
The Irish ended six of their ten major drives with touchdowns this past weekend. You can see glimpses of how Navy’s turnover issues aided ND’s offensive success from this angle but you don’t quite get the full detail. Even without those turnovers, the Irish offense put together some long and successful drives. When they didn’t find the end zone they recorded one missed field goal, two punts and a field goal. A big improvement from what felt like a regression against Georgia Tech,
Offensive Benchmarks
Notre Dame was above its 2023 per-game benchmarks in all of the major categories except for passing yards and accuracy. But they more than made up for it with 265 rushing yards, pushing the total yardage stat over the 2023 benchmark.
Receiving Details
Jordan Faison reemerged as a big part of the receiving corps against Navy. He pulled in four carries for 52 yards, leading the team in catches and production. Tight end Mitchell Evans had two receptions for 25 yards. Fellow TE Davis Sherwood had one catch for 19 yards.
The wide receiver transfer duo of Beaux Collins and Kris Mitchell also had major contributions. Collins was tied for #2 in production with 42 yards and also claimed a touchdown. Mitchell only had two catches for ten yards but was responsible for one of the team’s two receiving touchdowns.
And Jaden Greathouse recorded a big 42-yard reception.
Rushing Details
Notre Dame’s primary rushing pair of Jeremiyah Love and Riley Leonard had solid games. Love got 12 attempts that he turned into 102 yards and two touchdowns. Leonard recorded ten attempts for 83 yards and one touchdown.
Kedren Young is probably the biggest story to come out of the Irish’s rushing stats against Navy. The freshman running back finished the game with ten carries, 52 yards and one rushing touchdown.
Defensive Summary
The defense relied heavily on its sophomores and seniors to contain the Midshipmen’s offense. Coming into the game they had been really prolific but the Irish defense didn’t make it close for even a second. Sophomore linebacker Jaylen Sneed and senior linebacker Jack Kiser both had nine total tackles. Junior Tuihalamaka (junior) and Adon Shuler (sophomore) also had big games from a total tackling perspective.
Again, more on the defense in a follow-up.
Final Thoughts
It was pretty fun to see how good this Irish team can play and look when both sides of the ball are working well. I don’t think that Navy is a bad football team. But I think that when you pair the competition step-up along with the worst series of offensive events to happen to a team in a long time, you get Saturday’s outcome.
But Notre Dame’s offense proved capable of turning defensive gifts into points as well as executing strong drives of their own.
Am I doing the thing where I start getting my hopes up and feelings foolishly entangled in Notre Dame’s future prospects?
Yep.
Cheers and Go Irish!!