For a half on Saturday, Notre Dame looked like a team still stuck in its bye week.
Navy scored on each of its three first-half possessions, owned the ball for more than 23 minutes and somehow walked off the field at Gillette Stadium trailing #5 Notre Dame by just a point.
Still, the Irish needed just one quarter and one play to put the game away in the second half.
Notre Dame scored on its first three possessions after the break, its defense finally got off the field and a touchdown pass from CJ Carr to Jerome Bettis Jr. on the first play of the fourth quarter turned the rest of the afternoon into a formality as the Irish ran away for a 35-13 victory.
Carr was 19 of 29 for 210 yards and two touchdowns without an interception and completed his first 10 passes of the second half.
James Jr. needed just nine carries to pile up 107 yards and two touchdowns, while Walton added 51 yards and a touchdown on 12 carries.
Bettis Jr. led the Irish with six catches for 78 yards and a touchdown and nine different Notre Dame players caught at least one pass.
Gutierrez carried 28 times for 110 yards and a touchdown for Navy, but the Midshipmen threw for just 33 yards as a team.
The win moved Notre Dame to 7-1 on the season while Navy fell to 2-6.
Leading just 14-13 following an uninspiring first half, Notre Dame quickly took command of the game in the third quarter.
The Irish took the second-half kickoff and marched 78 yards in 11 plays.
A face mask penalty against Navy on the drive's first play moved the Irish to their own 41 and Carr completed all five of his passes for 46 yards, including three straight to Jerome Bettis Jr. to get the Irish inside the 10. Jonaz Walton, who carried six times on the drive, finished it with a 3-yard touchdown run on 3rd & 3 with 9:15 left in the third quarter.
Spencer Porath's extra point made it 21-13.
The defense responded with its first stop on Navy's opening possession of the half. A holding penalty put the Midshipmen behind the chains and the Irish held on 3rd & 7 when Jackson Gutierrez's short pass came up three yards short, forcing the first Navy punt of the game.
Notre Dame answered with a 69-yard touchdown drive.
Nolan James Jr. converted a 3rd & 1 and later broke a 12-yard run to move the Irish into Navy territory. A 15-yard personal foul against Navy put the ball inside the 25 and James Jr. scored on the next play, taking it 23 yards around the left side with 3:09 left in the third quarter. Porath's extra point extended the lead to 28-13.
The Irish defense came up with another stop on Navy's next possession as Notre Dame held up in short yardage, stopping the Midshipmen on 3rd & 2 and 4th & 2 at the Navy 43 to force a turnover on downs with six seconds left in the third quarter.
The Irish wasted no time cashing in. Walton ran for 12 yards on the final play of the third quarter and Carr hit Bettis Jr. for a 31-yard touchdown on the first play of the fourth. Porath's extra point made it 35-13.
Navy's struggles continued on its next possession. A first-down fumble cost the Midshipmen two yards even though they recovered it and Jaylen Sneed stopped a short Gutierrez completion on 3rd & 7 to force another punt backing Notre Dame up to its own 12.
The Irish drove 65 yards from there and ate more than seven minutes, but came away with nothing.
Carr threw to his reserves, with Matt Jeffery, Jack Larsen and Ty Washington all catching passes on the drive, and a 29-yard completion to Elijah Burress was wiped out when a review ruled him out of bounds.
Carr kept the drive alive with a 14-yard completion to Walton on 4th & 5, but his last two passes, to Mylan Graham and Jeffery, fell incomplete and Notre Dame turned it over on downs with 5:58 to play.
Notre Dame outgained Navy 426 to 245 and averaged 7.2 yards per play to Navy's 4.3, yet still lost the time of possession battle by more than five minutes, a margin built entirely in the first half. Neither team committed a turnover.
Navy did more than just hang with the Irish in the first half. The Midshipmen scored on each of their three first-half possessions while Notre Dame spent most of the half chasing the game despite taking a 14-13 lead into the locker room.
Notre Dame won the toss and deferred, but the game could not have started much worse. Micah Drescher's opening kickoff went out of bounds, giving Navy the ball at its own 35 and the Midshipmen marched 44 yards in 14 plays, eating 8:17 off the clock before Nolan Bartley opened the scoring with a 38-yard field goal.
The Irish answered with what would be their best drive of the half.
Carr hit Jordan Faison for 24 yards on the first play, James Jr. converted a 4th & 1 inside the Navy 30 and Carr capped the 11-play, 75-yard drive with an 11-yard touchdown pass to Micah Gilbert with 1:47 left in the first quarter.
Navy's second possession carried into the second quarter and nearly produced a touchdown.
Gutierrez broke free for a 64-yard touchdown run on the first play of the second, only to have it nullified by a holding penalty. The Midshipmen kept coming anyway, helped by a pass interference penalty against Adon Shuler that gave them a first down at the 20. The Irish did manage to hold inside the 10 and Bartley's 26-yard field goal cut the lead to 7-6.
Notre Dame's offense could not stay on the field on the ensuing possession with Carr throwing three straight incompletions and Navy took over at its own 37 after the punt.
Navy responded with an 11-play, 63-yard touchdown drive. Gutierrez found Luke Hutchison for 17 yards on 3rd & 6 to get inside the 5 and the quarterback kept it himself for a 2-yard touchdown with 1:52 left in the half.
The Irish finally found an explosive play when they needed it though and retook the lead less than a minute later.
Carr completed passes to Gilbert and Faison to get the ball to the Navy 48 and James Jr. took it from there, breaking through the middle for a 52-yard touchdown that sent Notre Dame into the locker room ahead 14-13.
Navy ran 41 first-half plays to Notre Dame's 19, outrushed the Irish 163 to 67 and held the ball for 23:33 of the first 30 minutes.
Gutierrez carried 24 times for 96 yards and the touchdown, while James Jr. accounted for all 67 of Notre Dame's rushing yards on just five carries. Carr finished the half 7 of 14 for 80 yards and a touchdown.
Notre Dame returns to South Bend for next week's primetime showdown against #1 Miami.
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