Notre Dame slams door on Navy in snowy South Bend for seventh straight win

It snowed in South Bend on Saturday night but it didn’t stick. Notre Dame’s performance against Navy, meanwhile? You could classify it as sticking it to the Midshipmen.

The Fighting Irish absolutely boat raced ’em, 49-10.

“It’s always a great challenge when you get ready to play Navy just because of the uniqueness of their schemes on both sides of the ball,” Notre Dame head coach Marcus Freeman said. “It is difficult to prepare for because it’s not something you see every week, and it’s a good team.

“I just thought our guys truly prepared the right way, had difficult practices, which is important, and really bought into what we were trying to get them to do, and went out there and performed well.”

Navy (7-2) hung around for a while, taking a 7-7 tie deep into the second quarter, but the Irish opened it up with touchdowns from juniors Jadarian Price and Jordan Faison to go along with Jeremiyah Love‘s from the opening frame. Up by 11 at halftime, it was all No. 10 Notre Dame (7-2) in a third quarter that served as a slamming of the door on the Irish’s longtime rival.

Notre Dame scored three touchdowns in a span of seven minutes of game time. The first of those was of the you-have-to-see-it-to-believe-it variety from Love. He fended off two unblocked would-be tacklers in the backfield then rolled over the body of a Midshipman without ever hitting the turf. He popped out of the pile and took off down the sideline 48 yards to the end zone. Love finished with 94 yards on 13 carries plus a catch for 27 yards to continue his Heisman Trophy candidacy.

Redshirt freshman quarterback CJ Carr, meanwhile, accounted for the next two Notre Dame touchdowns. He threw a 34-yard strike to redshirt sophomore wide receiver KK Smith on a deep post. Then connected with tight end Ty Washington on a drag through the backfield that leaked out into the flat. His first touchdown of the night was a similar instance of short pitch and catch with Faison. Carr completed 13 of 16 pass attempts for 218 yards with 3 touchdowns and 0 interceptions.

“I thought there were a lot of looks Navy could give you,” Carr said. “They’re a good defense. They bring a lot of different pressures behind a lot of different coverages. So the preparation coming in was a lot. I think it was good for us. We went out there and knew the looks, saw the looks and executed.”

Navy played without starting quarterback Blake Horvath to counter Carr’s passing prowess, and the Midshipmen’s aerial effort suffered as a result. Rather, it was almost nonexistent. Backup Braxton Woodson completed 3 of 8 pass attempts for 22 yards without any touchdowns or interceptions. He ran 23 times for 101 yards and a touchdown.

It tends to be a hold-your-breath type of game going against Navy. If the Midshipmen get their option offense going, it can snowball on the defense. But again — the snow wasn’t sticking. Notre Dame forced Navy to punt on its first two possessions, and even in giving up points on two of the next three drives the Irish defense settled in and played confidently. Played so well, in fact, that Navy went to its third string quarterback Jackson Gutierrez midway through the third quarter. Navy head coach Brian Newberry waved the white flag early.

“All week as a defense we talked about how they were going to show us a lot of window dressing, make us communicate, move around a lot,” Notre Dame junior linebacker Jaiden Ausberry said. “But once the ball is snapped, it’s football. You got to play fast, play violent.”

In three games against Notre Dame since taking over for longtime Midshipmen head coach Ken Niumatalolo, Newberry has lost 42-3, 51-14 and now 49-10. His Mids have been pretty good overall during his tenure; they’re still in the running for a double-digit win season, which would mark the first time in program history they’ve ever done it in consecutive campaigns.

Against Notre Dame, though? Just not up to the tall task.