Notre Dame-Navy Notebook: Top Five Topics

For the first time since 1978, No. 16 Notre Dame (7-2) and No. 21 Navy (7-1) will meet with both ranked in the Associated Press poll.

The Fighting Irish easily cruised to a 44-22 victory over the 3-10 Midshipmen last year. Thus, under 12th-year head coach Ken Niumatalolo, similar sweeping changes were made within the infrastructure like the ones at Notre Dame after the 4-8 fiasco in 2016. This included the hiring of seven new assistants at Navy.

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Navy’s vaunted triple-option attack has defeated Notre Dame four times since 2007, and come close several other occasions. It once again leads the nation in rushing with a 357.9 average, but the defense under a new regime has especially improved, highlighted by ranking No. 15 in scoring defense (18.1 points per game) and No. 17 in rushing defense (109.4 yards per game).

Here were some of the prime topics from Notre Dame head coach Brian Kelly’s Monday conference:

Not a lot of teams could absorb season-ending injuries to two defensive ends like Daelin Hayes and, just this past weekend, Julian Okwara as Notre Dame has, yet still feel confident with the situation.

Fortunately that position is still senior laden and highly productive with captain Khalid Kareem, Ade Ogundeji and Jamir Jones — whose six tackles for loss with four sacks matched Okwara’s numbers through eight games.

Ogundeji has the versatility to play either on the strong side behind Kareem or can help at drop end, where Jones aligns. With regard to trust and past performance, Kelly said Jones grades out superbly.

“Trust in assignment and doing what he’s asked to do and performance, he’s about as good as we have on our football team,” Kelly said of Jones. “Just a really smart football player. Assignment sound.”

Assignment consciousness and discipline are especially crucial against the Midshipmen, whose triple-option attack easily leads the nation in rushing by nearly 35 yards a game.

Sophomore Ovie Oghoufo, who played a career-high 14 snaps at Duke, is listed as the backup to Jones. The former linebacker made a positive impression this spring with his aggressiveness, and continues to do so.

“A young player that we have great deal of confidence in,” Kelly said of Oghoufo.

Because of the uniqueness of the triple-option attack, Kelly said that freshman end Isaiah Foskey will likely not play at all against the Midshipmen. He can appear in one more game this season without burning his eligibility, but it likely would be against a conventional offense.

Safeties also have a highly important role against the option, especially guarding the alleys, so in addition to the trio of seniors Jalen Elliott and Alohi Gilman plus freshman Kyle Hamilton, sophomore Houston Griffith might factor in more as well.

“This is a week where you'll see a little bit more of him,” Kelly said. “The safeties are really stressed in this offense. You can’t just get by on two. We tried to do that last year … we got a little tired at the safety position playing two.”

Preparing for Navy’s attack cannot be the kind of deal where one doesn’t study for a final exam until the day before it is to be taken. The plan of action for several years under Kelly has been to spend some time studying and drilling against it in August camp, and even in the spring.

“Doesn't necessarily mean you have an advantage in any way,” Kelly reminded. “… When you come into Navy week, it doesn't feel like, ‘Oh, my God. Here we go.’ We’ve got a pretty solid plan. It just needs to be refined and developed during the week.

“The hardest thing is playing to the speed of what you're going to get, and so how do you develop that with a group that is not as efficient in running that at the highest level? We think we've come up with some things that allow us to play fast enough that we can duplicate that model when we step on the field.”

What is impossible to simulate is how well the Navy staff and players can adjust to a defensive plan — “They’ve seen everything,” Kelly said — and the star power at quarterback who makes it go. The Midshipmen were blessed with the likes of Ricky Dobbs, who twice beat Notre Dame (2009-10); Heisman finalist Keenan Reynolds (2012-15); Will Worth, who directed the 2016 Navy victory over the Irish; and now Malcolm Perry.

Last year, Perry played mainly at slot and rushed for more than 1,000 yards. This year, he’s been exclusively at quarterback, where he already has compiled 1,042 rushing yards at 6.6 yards per carry with 16 touchdowns, and averaged 25 yards on his 29 completions, off mainly play-action.

“You have to play a lot of the cover zero against them,” Kelly said. “If you’re not, it’s a slow march to the end zone because they certainly do a great job of having a quarterback that can continue to make yards each and every down.”

The Naval Academy breeds natural leaders, but Kelly has been pleased with the way his team has responded in recent weeks since the stunning 45-14 loss at Michigan Oct. 26.

It began after the 21-20 squeaker over Virginia Tech in which the team captains set the tone of reminding everyone that the stench from the loss in Ann Arbor doesn’t end just because a victory was produced the ensuing week.

Instead of tapering off too much in November during the course of an arduous season, the message was to stay within the identity of physicality and intensity. They even reminded the staff to not go easy on them.

It showed even more during the 38-7 victory at Duke last weekend. Going against that identity while preparing for Michigan proved costly.

"There is real accountability amongst all of the players,” Kelly said. “That means that it shows up during the week to a standard that's been set in how they prepare. They know that you reap what you sow.

“… They’re at high level of mental toughness in that they hold each other to a level and a standard that has allowed them to continue to work towards getting better as a football team. As long as they stay in that mindset, they'll be pretty good.”

Sophomores Braden Lenzy and Joe Wilkins were listed one-two at the X position last week as well as this week, but neither was able to compete against Duke.

Whereas Wilkins has been dealing with a soft tissue issue with his hamstring, Lenzy’s setback has been a little more nebulous relating to fatigue. He also was sidelined Sept. 28 versus Virginia because of a concussion, but Kelly said that was not related to him not suiting up against Duke.

“We have had him on a Mega Wave — his central nervous system is a bit depleted,” Kelly said of Lenzy. “I think he’s going through a long year of academics and football. We want to get him back up to where he’s a full go at 100 percent. He's doing better. If he’s ready to go, we'll certainly get him up and running this week.

“We monitor anybody that's not at 100 percent. They fill out questionnaires every day that have to be turned in by 2 p.m. If they're not right, we have the doctor here checking all of our players. The care is first and foremost. If we don't think they’re right, we're not going to put them in a practice situation.”

Because Chase Claypool and Chris Finke are in their final seasons of eligibility, and because no other receivers this year have consistently established themselves, current running back and former receiver recruit Jafar Armstrong could play a role there in the future.

“Yeah, we're trying to figure it out,” Kelly admitted. “He's a young man that played receiver. We like his ability to catch the football. He has that role right now as both a running back and a guy that we can put in as a receiver, but I still think he's a guy that has a dual capability for us.

“As we go through the year, kind of trying to identify where he fits and helps our football team the best.”

A week ago, a large percentage of the Monday conference dealt with senior quarterback Ian Book and his future status. Through the first 25 minutes of this week’s 30-minute session, Book’s name never was mentioned.

Throwing for four touchdowns while also rushing for a career-high 139 yards in a resounding road victory at Duke will do that. Like a great referee, when you don’t have to be discussed, you must be doing your job well.

“Maybe he just got back to the starting line for many people that were viewing him, but I think for Ian, playing the quarterback position requires to eliminate a lot of clutter that goes along with the position,” Kelly said.

“I think he finally did that and he just went and played quarterback at Notre Dame. … Have fun, go play, enjoy it, and I think good things will happen to him.”

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