Navy (7-1) at No. 10 Notre Dame (6-2)
Notre Dame Stadium | 7:30 PM ET | NBC | Line: Notre Dame -27.5 | Total: 55.5
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Five Players To Watch
Notre Dame DT Jared Dawson
With Donovan Hinish and Gabriel Rubio out for this game, the Irish are thin at defensive tackle. They'll need Dawson to have a heavier workload and he's earned it. In his last two games he's had six pressures and 2.5 tackles for loss. Notre Dame needs him to keep it rolling and be a disruptive player against a strong Navy running game.
Navy SB Eli Heidenrich
Heidenrich has been a huge weapon for the Navy offense in the last two seasons as both a runner and passer. He's a legitimate NFL prospect and has seven receptions of 30+ yards (top-10 in the country). Notre Dame shut him down last year when he had only two catches for 10 yards.
Notre Dame RB Jadarian Price
North Texas RB Caleb Hawkins just went off against Navy's defense. They had 21 missed tackles in the game and he forced 11 of them. Price and Jeremiyah Love could both go off as well. Price fumbled in the red zone last week, but Marcus Freeman has said they are still going to get Price the ball. He has a chance to bounce back in a big way on Saturday.
Navy QB Blake Horvath
Horvath is having a big season again as a runner and a passer, but he's dropped from sixth in QBR to 59th because he has more interceptions and has fumbled nine times. He fumbled five times and threw an interception against the Irish last season. He's a dangerous player if he can avoid costly mistakes, but he couldn't do that when they lost to North Texas last week.
Notre Dame K Eric Schmidt
With Notre Dame's kicking woes, whoever would be kicking for them is going to be a player to watch by default. Before they can worry about field goals, the Irish need someone who can be automatic on extra points. They are desperate for someone to succeed at it and the gig belongs to Schmidt, at least for this week.
Quotes of the Week
Notre Dame head coach Marcus Freeman:
“We're going to go with Erik Schmidt. A lot of things went into those decisions. How we feel about the health of Noah (Burnette) and what's best for the team. I think at the end of the day, the ultimate decision maker, what is best for the team? What do we feel like is going to be best for the team to have the confidence to make the field goals? We asked our field goal to unit to make it and that's probably the best answer I can give you for that.
Notre Dame DL coach Al Washington:
“If you don't have the right plan or if things aren't structured the right way, you can get gassed, and the bleeding won't stop. You will bleed out.”
Notre Dame CB Leonard Moore:
“It’s what you want at the end of the day. You want your coach to say, ‘Go out there and guard that man. Don’t let him touch the ball.’ That’s something I take a lot of pride in and not letting my man catch the ball.”
Notre Dame DE Joshua Burnham
“The hardest thing, I especially tell those young guys, your first time around it’s going to be so much faster than what you can imagine. This is what they do, day in and day out. Having those past couple years has definitely helped slow it down and made things easier.”
Notre Dame S Adon Shuler:
“Your 1/11 is the most you can do. The minute you try and step out of that and do something more, they get big plays and they are able to create big plays. Just kind of honing in and focusing on what we have to do on each play.”
For Your Nerves
Notre Dame Fighting Irish Under Armour All Day Full-Zip Jacket
