Thoughts From The Press Box: Breaking Down Notre Dame's Victory over Navy
Click here to check out Blue & Gold Illustrated Football Analyst Vince DeDario's thoughts from the press box concerning Notre Dame's 52-20 victory over Navy.
Here's a sampling:
My keys to the game today were three fold: establish the run, contain Malcolm Perry, and build off their offensive explosion from the Duke game. Two out of three isn’t bad! The one I missed on was establishing the run. Ian Book again led the Irish in rushing but he was about 100 yards shy of last week only racking up 31 total yards against the Mids. There were no designed runs out of the read option the way there was last week so he did not really have the opportunity to light up the stat sheet on the ground. There was a good reason for that as Navy was determined to take away the Irish running game and really did a good job for the majority of the game.
I thought this was a very well called game by offensive coordinator Chip Long. He got sophomores Lawrence Keys and Braden Lenzy involved early in the run game with reverse and jet action which opened up plays later in the game. The goal was not only to get the ball in the hands of the fast playmakers but also to try and get the Navy defense to loosen up in the box. Once Notre Dame realized that Navy was bound and determined to stop the run they went to the air and never looked back.
Senior quarterback Ian Book put this team on his shoulders and executed at a very high level for the vast majority of this game. His final line was 14 of 20 for 284 yards and five touchdowns. His passer rating was a 271.8. He was calm and smooth in the pocket and was clearly going through his reads throughout the game. On a flood play to his right he had Cole Kmet wide open for a mid level gain of about 5-10 yards but instead went to the next level to senior Chris Finke on the deep out cut for a big gain. In the past he would have taken the check down and moved on. He was throwing with confidence and poise and when he is able to do that, the offense follows suit.
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