Triple-Option Week For Notre Dame
With the bye week in the rearview mirror, No. 3 Notre Dame is set to travel to San Diego County Credit Union Stadium to take on Navy at 8 p.m. ET on Saturday night.
Eyes will be on the Irish, one week removed from Purdue’s upset over Ohio State last Saturday, as they take on the Midshipmen. A level-head and an eye on the prize mentality is a must.
“Look, it's a one-week deal for us,” Notre Dame head coach Brian Kelly explained about talks about a possible upset. “We're one day at a time, one practice at a time. They know where they are. They have to stay focused, stick with their process.
“I know you all hear that all the time. If you don't have a process you can stick with, then you're going to listen to all that stuff. But if you just stick with, you know, your preparation, what your process is, and then you can focus on the moment and not worry about all that other stuff.”
Last’s year matchup ended in Notre Dame’s favor, but it was a dogfight. It finished 24-17 and was tight until the end. The Irish know they have their work cut out for them despite, Navy’s 2-5 record.
“These are battles,” Kelly explained. “They play extremely well against us. We'll have to be at our best playing a complete football team that plays hard for four quarters. That's my piece as it relates to Navy. The respect we have for the Academy, for Ken, their football team.
Navy’s dynamic run-heavy, option offense will be a handful, but preparation and the extra week due to the bye has Notre Dame prepared. It is a primary focus, but young players are stepping up in preparation.
“We have three different quarterbacks that are running that offense right now,” Kelly explained about Navy’s trio of quarterbacks. “Lawrence Keys is Malcolm Perry. We have a walk-on that is Garrett Lewis that is doing a really good job for us. Then I think Zach Abey, who is big, physical, we've moved a couple of guys in there to give us more of a quarterback sweep load kind of look. Phil Jurkovec has been in there. We've had three quarterbacks in there.
“We've done a really good job. We spent a lot of time with that scout team outside of this week just working on the mechanics of it in the spring, pre-season, so when we get into this, it's run effectively, to the level it can be. It's never going to be as effective. You're never going to play with the kind of speed that you need to.”
Navy’s defense has some experience at all levels, and they do a good job tackling in open field. It will not be easy to execute explosive plays, so Notre Dame’s offense will have to be working on all cylinders and execute all the little things to be successful.
“Defensively up the middle really solid,” praised Kelly. “(Jackson) Pittman at the nose guard is doing a great job for them. (Nizaire) Cromartie, (Taylor) Heflin, solid inside. The safety, (Sean) Williams, a three-year starter.
“They've done a really nice job. They complement what they do defensively. They don't give up big plays. They keep the ball in front of them. It's a really standard Navy defense in terms of what they're looking to do.”