Advertisement
football Edit

BGI Staff Predictions: Notre Dame vs. Navy

Notre Dame scored a big win over Miami last weekend, and now the Irish are looking to put together their first winning streak of the season by beating Navy.

The Blue & Gold Illustrated staff has broken down this weekend's matchup, and now it is time to make some predictions:

LOU SOMOGYI, SENIOR EDITOR

Advertisement

NOTRE DAME 42, NAVY 35: A potential red flag here is the winner in all eight games during Notre Dame’s 3-5 season ended up with more rushing yards. Don’t look now, but Navy is 5th nationally in rushing yards per game (296.6) while the Irish are 94th (149.8).

Nevertheless, while much of the pregame focus here usually is on whether Notre Dame can stop the triple-option, the reality is head coach Brian Kelly’s troops have averaged 46.8 points the past five years against the Midshipmen, whose defense is not nearly as strong as last season when the Irish won 41-24.

Unless the Irish suffer a rash of turnovers, they should be able to out-score Navy in another shootout. Notre Dame did very well last year to limit Navy to 24 points and Georgia Tech to 22.

BRYAN DRISKELL, FOOTBALL ANALYST

NOTRE DAME 44, NAVY 27: My tune has changed since last week, when I had Notre Dame winning 31-27 in the latest edition of the Blue & Gold Illustrated print edition. Watching Navy get steamrolled by South Florida to the tune of 52 points and 412 rushing yards (629 total yards) was part of it. Watching the Notre Dame defensive line dismantle the Miami line on its way to 12 tackles for loss and 5 sacks was another key part of it.

Notre Dame has a big and talented starting defensive line, which is now playing a 3-4 alignment that better suits the personnel strengths. It also has a unit that goes two deep at every position, even with the loss of Daniel Cage. The key for the Notre Dame defense will be whether or not its young secondary can handle the triple option. It would not be surprising to see Notre Dame go to more of a four linebacker alignment in order to get a bigger and more experienced defender on the field and one of the freshmen defensive backs off the field at times.

Even with Notre Dame's improvements on defense, Navy should be able to move the ball and score some points. The issue for the Midshipmen is their defense isn't nearly as good as it was a season ago, and it's banged up. Its secondary has given up 295 yards per game against not triple option opponents. Notre Dame should be able to hammer Navy with its ground game and then create big plays in the pass game, which will allow the Irish to jump out to an early lead it won't give up.

MATT JONES, STAFF WRITER

NAVY 33, NOTRE DAME 30: Even without four-year starter Keenan Reynolds at quarterback, this Navy team will give Notre Dame all it can handle. Will Worth has had success at quarterback since being thrust into duty in Week 1 against Fordham, and with Notre Dame playing a number of young players on defense, he will be even more effective with his power running.

Notre Dame’s offense should find some success, but if the Irish defense wears down too much in the second half, possessions will be extremely limited. After breaking through and making a fourth-quarter comeback against Miami, it would be easy to expect Notre Dame to do the same week-after-week. But against a disciplined team like Navy that minimizes mistakes, any Irish miscue could be magnified.

I look for this game to be tight in the fourth quarter, and Navy’s grind-it-out style to produce an upset win over the Irish.

COREY BODDEN, RECRUITING REPORTER

NOTRE DAME 37, NAVY 30: Preparing for the triple option is a difficult task to do whether you have one week to do so or several. Notre Dame hasn’t been consistent at stopping the run this year and will have to be on its ‘A’ game in order to slow down the Navy rushing attack.

Do not sleep on Navy quarterback Will Worth however. He has two games this season of 200-plus passing yards and is completing close to 60 percent of his passes. While of course Navy will run and run some more, they can move the ball through the air if need.

One thing that can help the Irish is Navy struggles to defend the pass with their pass defense ranking in the bottom third in the country. If the Irish offense can regain the play it had in the first several games of the year, DeShone Kizer could have a field day much like South Florida quarterback Quinton Flowers did with his arm and legs gaining 395 yards of total offense. The Midshipmen also have struggled to slow down the run giving up over 180 yards per game, so Notre Dame may be able to establish an early running game if they desire.

The Irish will struggle to consistently stop the Navy rushing attack to begin the game, but will eventually settle in and continue its solid play to propel Notre Dame to 4-5 on the year.

DAVID MCKINNEY, RECRUITING REPORTER

NOTRE DAME 35, NAVY 30: Notre Dame is certainly riding some momentum going into this game, which they have had very little of so far in 2016. After almost blowing a 20-0 lead to Miami at home, the Irish were finally able to close out an opponent and get a win. However, Navy is a whole different animal than Miami.

Its offense presents some unique challenges, and this improving Irish defense hasn’t seen much like it so far this season. That being said, I think Notre Dame’s offense will be able to keep up with them, and points will come at will in Jacksonville. In the end, I’ll take Notre Dame to go on a two-game winning streak.

----

Talk about it inside Rockne's Roundtable

Subscribe to our podcast on iTunes

• Learn more about our print and digital publication, Blue & Gold Illustrated.

• Follow us on Twitter: @BGINews, @BGI_LouSomogyi, @BGI_CoachD, @BGI_MattJones and @BGI_CoreyBodden.

• Like us on Facebook.

Advertisement