Instant Reaction | Notre Dame 44 Navy 22
The order of how the scoring went wasn’t exactly as expected, but the end result seemed about right.
The Irish came way with a three score win against Navy that could have been a lot easier if not for a couple of turnovers. Notre Dame threw for 330, ran for 254, and averaged 7.7 yards per play against a overmatched Navy defense. That and a dominant first half performance by the the Irish defense were the reason why no one had to sweat too much at any point in this game.
While Navy made some good adjustments in the second half to create some big plays, there was no way they were going to come back from a 27-0 deficit. I’d prefer if they didn’t have to play Navy, but having this kind of game against them isn’t the worst thing to happen.
- The win is what ultimately matters, but losing Drue Tranquill early to a high ankle sprain is concerning for the weeks to come. It was a bit of a surprise that Drew White came in to replace him when he went down, but my guess as to why is that he probably had the most experience working against the triple option from his days at St. Thomas Aquinas in high school. Or maybe he’s been slowly making some noise now that he is healthy in practices?
Whatever the reason, I thought he did a solid job inside. Will he be the long term replacement if Tranquill is out for an extended period? I guess we’ll find out soon enough.
- Navy’s two best players played like their best players. Malcolm Perry ran for 133 yards and and safety Sean Williams had 10 solo tackles while adding that forced fumble on Miles Boykin to start the game.
They played well and Navy still didn’t come close to winning the game.
- Navy only had two first downs in the first half. They finished 2 of 12 on 3rd down and 2 of 3 on 4th down, with those conversions coming in garbage time. As a whole, the defense exactly what they needed to do.
- I say as a whole because there were some lapses outside of the adjustments on the second drive of the second half that had Notre Dame a bit confused for a short period.
Those Troy Pride missed tackles on the opening drive of the second half were...bad. Very bad. Like he didn’t want to be on the field kind of bad. Like he wanted no part of contact bad.
Unsurprisingly, he was replaced after that. I don’t even know what to say about it other than I’m sure he’s not going to enjoy watching film tomorrow.
- Te’von Coney was a beast in this game. Full stop. Alohi Gilman made such a big impact early that they had to motion that slot back to take the safety out of the equation. I know Jalen Elliott took a couple of poor angles, but him and Gilman at safety made it so that they didn’t have to move Julian Love there in this game.
- It’s Navy so the grade for the offensive line is on a bit of a curve, but everyone had to like what the left side did. The combination of Liam Eichenberg and Aaron Banks was moving people off the ball. Banks was driving dudes in a way that would have made Quenton Nelson proud.
We’ve got to see Banks against better competition, but he helped spark the Notre Dame run game.
- I’m so impressed by how tough Dexter Williams is running. I don’t know how many of his 142 yards came after contact, but I’d guess a fair amount did. There is so much going well with his game right now. He’s showing toughness, patience, that burst to get around the edge on one of his touchdown runs, and his blocking continues to improve.
The effort he showed on an early blitz pickup where he made the block, was knocked off his feet, then got back up to spring Ian Book for positive gain was his best play of the night in my opinion.
- It’s a shame Book threw that one pick on the slant on that 3rd down in the 4th quarter because he was pretty darn great outside of that decision. He was gashing Navy’s defense on RPOs in the first half.
The patience he showed to find Jafar Armstrong on that one big third down play and those back shoulder throws to Miles Boykin were also ridiculous. I know this defense wasn’t his toughest challenge, but he threw for 330 and ran for 50. The accuracy was again at another level too.
- Having Armstrong and Williams together adds another element to the offense. He tied for the team lead in receptions with five on six targets and that sixth throw was a play where he was wide open down the seam for a touchdown where Book missed him.
He’s so valuable because he can truly be a hybrid where he can start in the backfield and then line up in the slot. Together him and Williams combined for 194 yards rushing and 91 yards receiving.
- Yes, that first extra point miss was ugly. The second extra point miss was a bit ugly too. I was happy for Jon Doerer to bounce back and not only look much better making his extra points, but also make a field goal.
I don’t think anyone is going to feel confident without Justin Yoon kicking for the Irish, but if Doerer can just do that for however long Yoon is out, I think most Notre Dame fans would be fine with it.
- It's now only Notre Dame, Alabama, and Clemson as power programs that are undefeated. I would say that's not too shabby.