Maybe the seminal moment Saturday from a game that annually is such an outlier when it comes to X’s and O’s was the postgame calibration of how NOT to frame it.
As an arrival of some sorts.
Aa a ceiling. A brush with perfection. A justification of keeping College Football Playoff plans percolating.
No. 12 Notre Dame’s 51-14 dismantling of No. 24 Navy, in only the second ranked-on-ranked matchup between the two annual rivals since 1978, did indeed, though, hint at what’s possible. But the context third-year coach Marcus Freeman insisted upon in the Irish locker room at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, N.J., was that the work to get there is just starting to ratchet up.
“Hopefully, it’s a mindset that we all have, handling success,” Freeman said, taking the first six-game win streak of his regime into the team’s second bye week of the season. “I mean, we won, but we're so much more. So much more.
“Let’s enjoy this thing. The outcome’s what you wanted, but the mental approach we're taking this week is so crucial to how we can improve. And it's got to be hard. I just told those guys, ‘You don't improve by doing the same thing you did the week before.’
“Human nature, gravity takes over. You're going to get worse. So, we have to prepare mentally in a difficult way, physically in a difficult way for the next opponent if we want to truly elevate and improve.
“And so, that's the mindset we have and, hopefully, that's the reason why, as a whole, we've been handling the success that we've been having the past couple weeks.”
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Notre Dame (7-1) next takes on Florida State (1-6 heading into a night game against No. 6 Miami) on Nov. 9 at Notre Dame Stadium, four days after the first CFP rankings are released and riding the first unbeaten September, October or November during Freeman’s third-year regime.
“You better understand that if you don't prepare the right way, you can lose anybody,” Freeman said, referencing the 16-14 loss to Northern Illinois game on Sept. 7 he still uses as intermittent motivation. “And I don't want to ever forget that.”
But there were moments Saturday that shouldn’t be forgotten either — for the better. And maybe they’re more translatable and easier to extrapolate to the remaining four games of the regular season than typical ND-Navy matchups are.
Including another poised and productive day for Irish quarterback Riley Leonard.
Against a defense that had made a living on creating turnovers on its way to Navy’s first 6-0 start since 1979 — seven years before Freeman was born — Leonard helped keep the Irish out of the giveaway column on Saturday while being a force in the ground game and putting up his second-best pass-efficiency rating in an Irish uniform (164.5).
“A lot of factors come into play there,” Leonard said of his stacking of incremental improvement. “I’ll start with everybody that’s been around me. You look at guys like [2023 Irish starting QB] Sam Hartman, who gave me a call and really spoke to me about the opportunities that we have being quarterbacks at Notre Dame.
“You look at Tyler Buchner, who came back here. Going out to eat with him and having his perspective on everything really helped me out a lot. He doesn’t get enough credit. He puts so much into this program now. That’s really been a big help for me.
“Every single teammate that’s held me accountable. Not only on the football field, but when it comes to my faith as well.”
And that faith in action numerically on Saturday looked like this: Ten rushes for 83 yards and Leonard's 11th rushing TD this season, three short of Brandon Wimbush’s single-season school record. The Irish outrushed Navy, No. 4 nationally in rush offense, 365-222.
And before being relieved by backup Steve Angeli early in the fourth quarter, Leonard completed 13-of-21 passes for 178 yards with TD tosses to fellow transfers Kris Mitchell and Beaux Collins.
The Irish led 31-7 at halftime and had amassed 302 total yards at that point on their way to 466.
“Do I feel 100% confident yet? No,” Leonard said. “But some things are starting to become second nature in our checks in the offense. Obviously, I missed spring ball and a little bit of summer.
“Even if I had been there for all that, it’s hard to run a college offense these days. There are a lot of things going on. I’m still trying to figure out whether we got it or not. Having that little bit of fear of there’s always more in the tank really helps us out and helps me out.
“It’s been a work in progress, obviously, but we’re getting better every week.”
So too might the offensive line, with junior Billy Schrauth back in the lineup for the first time since suffering an ankle injury early on in a 66-7 road rout at Purdue on Sept. 14. Freeman and Irish O-line coach Joe Rudolph opted to plug Schrauth back in at left offensive guard, next to freshman left tackle Anthonie Knapp.
Schrauth’s long-term replacement, senior Rocco Spindler, remained in Schrauth’s old right guard spot and scuffling sophomore Sam Pendleton played with the second-team O-Line.
Whether Pendleton finds his way back into a starting role somewhere, Schrauth’s return raises the ceiling of the O-line.
“Just the demeanor that he plays with, the toughness that he plays with,” Irish offensive coordinator Mike Denbrock said earlier this month about what the Irish missed without Schrauth. “It just makes us better. It just does.”
So does a healthy sophomore wide receiver Jordan Faison, who matched his season total through ND’s first seven games, with a season-high four receptions Saturday against the Mids for a team-best 52 yards. If his right ankle is finally 100%, he could be the deep threat Denbrock has been pining for since arriving on staff last December.
Tight end Mitchell Evans’ continued re-emergence and the presence of multiple-tight end sets is another piece that first into ND’s aspiring future. And using sophomore running back Jeremiyah Love on third down more — on his way to 102 yards and two TDs — perhaps also portends well.
And then there’s the defense and third-year coordinator Al Golden’s continued tweaking of a unit that came in ranked 10th nationally in total defense and fifth in scoring defense.
Individually, there were almost as many encouraging signs as there were collectively.
Like junior linebacker Jaylen Sneed’s career-high nine tackles to go along with a fumble recovery for a touchdown, after trending backwards for several weeks. Or Junior Tuihalamaka’s career-high seven tackles and a fumble recovery at defensive end.
Or freshman cornerback Leonard Moore’s first career interception and doing so from a QB in junior Blake Horvath who had thrown just one all season.
Collectively, the Irish defense had three fumble recoveries to go along with Moore’s pick. And two more fumble recoveries on special teams for a total of six Navy giveaways. The Mids had committed two all SEASON coming into the game.
And Navy was 23-of-23 in the red zone on offense, with 22 TDs coming in, but was 1-of-3 against the Irish. Horvath came in with a 210.5 pass-efficiency rating, an NCAA-record trajectory if he could maintain it and log enough attempts per game to meet a minimum qualifying threshold.
The Irish held him to a 95.3 rating Saturday and under 100 passing yards (88) for the first time this season.
“In the past, you've had a completely different defense when you played a triple-option team,” Freeman said. “But when they get into the [shotgun formation], it's similar to the things you see week in and week out. And so, we had to have the ability to — with the same personnel — play triple-option defense.
“And then when they go to gun, be able to play some of the normal defense that we've had. And they still did a good job. Them — I'm talking about Navy. But coach Golden had a wonderful game plan. You know, 14 points is too much for greedy people like us, but they did a heck of a job versus an offense that hasn't been stopped much this year.”
Happy but hungry. Improving but not peaking. It’s right where the Irish want to be heading into November, but where are they headed?
Leonard’s frame of mind perhaps is quite telling.
“Everybody thinks of Notre Dame as just this powerhouse,” Leonard said. “I was a little overwhelmed whenever I first committed. But once you get in here and start meeting these guys, they’re just normal dudes just like me.”
Including the quarterbacks from Notre Dame’s past, whose experiences the Duke transfer has tapped into.
“Every single one of them just told me, ‘Don’t take it for granted, and don’t have any regrets.’” Leonard related. “I think regret only comes from missed opportunities, not failed opportunities. If you want to throw it and you don’t throw it and let it rip, you’re going to regret that. But if you throw it and something bad happens, it is what it is. At least you gave it a shot.
“Every single one of them told me that along the line. Really just find myself, find my peace. It’s a huge honor to put on this blue and gold. Every day I wake up I really live by that. Whether things go great, things go bad, I’m waking up every day and I’m not taking it for granted.”
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