Report card: Grading Notre Dame football in an Irish win over Navy
DUBLIN, Ireland — Notre Dame is 1-0. The Fighting Irish emphatically got there with a 42-3 victory over Navy at Aviva Stadium in Dublin.
Here is how Blue & Gold graded every phase of the Irish’s big win.
Notre Dame Passing offense: A+
It was nearly flawless.
Graduate student quarterback Sam Hartman completed 19-of-23 passes for 266 yards and 4 touchdowns. He didn’t throw any interceptions. He also spread the ball around to eight different pass-catchers.
Junior Jayden Thomas led the way with 4 receptions. He was the only Irish player to reach that mark, and he had 63 yards. Three players hit 3 catches, though; freshman Jaden Greathouse, junior Deion Colzie and senior Chris Tyree. Greathouse had two touchdown catches, and Colzie broke free for the fourth. Greathouse also had the most receiving yards with 68.
Hartman was everything Notre Dame wanted from him when the Irish made a hard push to pull him from the transfer portal in January. And if Hartman keeps playing like this, wearing the Notre Dame logo and performing well in it can significantly boost his NFL Draft stock.
So far, one game in, it’s a win-win.
Notre Dame Rushing Offense: A+
Talk about a businesslike night on the ground.
In all, Notre Dame rushed 32 times for 191 yards and 2 touchdowns. Junior Audric Estimé led the charge with 16 carries for 95 yards and a score, the first of the game. Sophomore Gi’Bran Payne had 6 carries for 31 yards, freshman Jeremiyah Love had 4 carries for 40 yards and sophomore Jadarian Price had 4 carries for 25 yards and a touchdown. His TD came on the first carry of his career.
Credit to the Notre Dame offensive line for paving the way for Notre Dame’s healthy stable of backs. Give the big guys up front credit for protecting Hartman in the passing offense grade above, too. They made him feel comfortable by giving him all day to throw, and they opened up holes in the running game. Then Estimé and his cohorts did the rest by breaking numerous tackles.
Notre Dame Passing Defense: A
Any other time a team gives up 43 yards and no touchdowns through the air, that’d be an A+. But this was against Navy’s triple option, and the Midshipmen still had some chances to strike when the ball went up in the air.
A fourth-down heave down the sideline went incomplete only because two Mids collided. If they didn’t, Notre Dame’s passing defense would have been roasted for a long gain on a do-or-die down. Then 39 of the 43 yards came on one play. Granted, it was in the fourth quarter when the game wasn’t in doubt. But graduate student nickel corner Thomas Harper and some Irish mates nearby still let the ball go over their heads.
The Notre Dame passing defense wasn’t perfect. But it was still solid outside of a couple miscues, one of which came with some luck of the Irish.
Notre Dame Rushing Defense: A
Again, slightly — SLIGHTLY — less than perfect. But still really darn good.
Navy fullback Daba Fofana had carries of 14 and 11 yards on his second and third rushing attempts of the game. It looked like the Irish were going to get gashed by the fullback dive just as they did in the second half of the 2022 edition of this rivalry. Then Notre Dame tightened up. Fofana’s longest carry of the game from the 11-yard gain forward went for 5 yards.
That was it.
The QB run game is obviously always a concern against an option team, but Navy’s Tai Lavatai was held to 10 recorded rushing attempts for 23 yards. Navy as a team carried 48 times for 126 yards; 2.6 yards per carry will work against anyone, especially a service academy.
Notre Dame Special Teams: B+
South Florida transfer Spencer Shrader is 0-1 on field goals in his Notre Dame career. He missed wide-left from 42 yards out. He made all of his extra points. Notre Dame did not send sophomore punter Bryce McFerson onto the field a single time, meanwhile. Zero punts. Now you know why both units on offense got A+, if you din’t already.
Chris Tyree returned one of four Navy punts. That try went for 11 yards. Gi’Bran Payne took two kick returns for 41 yards with a long of 24.
Shrader had touchbacks on all of his kickoffs but one. And on that one, Navy was flagged for an illegal block in the back that brought the kick back from the Mids; 26 yard line to the 6.
The only thing that kept this from an A was the missed field goal.
Notre Dame Coaching: A+
What a masterclass in keeping the main thing the main thing. Head coach Marcus Freeman did not let his players get lost in the hysteria of an overseas Week 0 opener. They were focused from the start.
On top of that, offensive coordinator Gerad Parker called a heck of a game in his Notre Dame OC debut and defensive coordinator Al Golden made necessary adjustments throughout the game to adapt to different looks from the Navy offense.
Well done all around.
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