Notre Dame vs. Navy football preview and prediction: 3 keys for Irish in Week 0 in Ireland

Publish date: 2024-05-03

Editor’s note: Read Pete Sampson’s first thoughts from after Notre Dame’s 42-3 win against Navy in Ireland here.

DUBLIN, Ireland — Even in the final news conference before kickoff of his second season, an event long on formality and usually short on surprises, Marcus Freeman needed a moment.

As Freeman sat down at the press table underneath Aviva Stadium on Thursday afternoon, roughly five hours after landing in Ireland, a Notre Dame media official announced the head coach would make an opening statement with an injury update. Which begged the question, now what? Would Freeman’s follow-up campaign, one with the promise of Sam Hartman at quarterback and an ultra-experienced defense, be sidetracked before it could begin?

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No, actually.

Notre Dame clarified that the injury update was actually on center Zeke Correll, who suffered a left ankle sprain two weeks ago, missed a few days of camp and will play against Navy as Freeman expected all along. There would be no twist in Freeman’s encore season before it could begin on Saturday (2:30 p.m. ET, NBC).

“We’re just excited to be here,” Freeman said. “It’s been a long time coming.”

It has.

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Since Notre Dame closed last season with a volatile victory over South Carolina in the Gator Bowl, Freeman has had to replace his offensive coordinator and offensive line coach. He’s had to upgrade at quarterback because last year’s starters both bolted into the transfer portal. He’s reconfigured preseason camp to help the Irish be closer to peak condition at the season’s start. And now he’ll begin to see which of those changes can carry Notre Dame through one of college football’s toughest schedules.

“We have to understand we’re here for a reason, to play Navy and win a game. It’s OK to enjoy being in the country of Ireland. I want them to embrace it and enjoy it because I’m going to,” Freeman said. “We’re excited and we’re ready. The build-up has been good, but now it’s time to get ready for the game on Saturday.”

How ready Notre Dame is going into Week 0 has been well documented. From the rethinking of training camp to deciding its new-look offensive line early to the surprising depth on the defensive line’s interior, the Irish appear to have staged a near-perfect preseason. Whether or not it feels that way on Sunday morning is about to become clear to see.

These are the three keys for Notre Dame against Navy, plus a prediction.

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Give Sam Hartman the recipes, then let him cook

The day before Notre Dame flew to Dublin, Freeman met with Notre Dame’s starting quarterback 1-on-1, talking mentality more than game plan. Maybe Sam Hartman needed the check-in, or maybe it was more for the head coach. After all, this is a quarterback who’s been a four-time captain and will likely surpass 13,000 career passing yards sometime during the first quarter. The Wake Forest transfer has more experience throwing passes than Freeman does leading programs.

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That’s why what matters for Hartman against Navy is less about the Freeman confab than the constant conversations with offensive coordinator Gerad Parker and quarterbacks coach Gino Guidugli during the past month. Because the braintrust behind Notre Dame’s offense didn’t build a game plan for Hartman for Navy, they built it with him.

“We got to be thinking the same way. So if not, we have issues,” Parker said. So there’s times and I’ve done it before to my career where you really like something, but if he just doesn’t feel it at the quarterback position … you just can’t. We want him to believe. There’s a great deal of trust in him.

“And he is very, I guess the best way to put it is he’s really direct about what he likes because he’s had a lot of reps in a very positive way, not in a negative way. So you trust him. You let him go with it and trust in him. And then of course the things we know we need, we keep.”

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Now Notre Dame needs to let Hartman throw that plan to life. This is still the same Navy defense that Drew Pyne picked apart in the first half of last year’s game before collapsing in the second of a 35-32 win in Baltimore. Navy ranked among the nation’s worst pass efficiency defenses last season. Only six programs allowed more than the 8.6 yards per attempt than the Mids did, which was exactly Hartman’s yards-per-attempt at Wake Forest last fall.

The question for Notre Dame is how much it lets Hartman pass before either leaning into the run game or turning to Steve Angeli. Freeman pulled back the reins at halftime against Navy last season. Pyne didn’t attempt a pass in the third quarter and his first attempt in the fourth got intercepted. It’s unlikely Freeman will shackle Parker the same way he did Rees.

Notre Dame seems ready to let Hartman go, then watch the program follow its quarterback.

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“I think he’s really gotten those guys in his corner. Sam’s just a great teammate and a really great leader,” Freeman said. “He pushes those guys, but it’s from a level of trust. They trust him. That’s what I believe to be leadership.”

Keep it simple on defense, even if Navy gets creative

It’s not that Navy head coach Brian Newberry wanted to reinvent option football this offseason.

He simply wanted to modernize it, bringing in offensive coordinator Grant Chesnut from Kennesaw State, where he coached with Newberry for four seasons. That will mean a slight uptick in passing in the bigger picture. Navy rushed the ball on 85 percent of its offensive snaps last season compared to Kennesaw State’s 77 percent run rate.

There will be more passing, but not that much more.

”I would say after the first drive you know what to expect and how the game is going to go,” said safety DJ Brown. “The one thing I would say is kind of hard to keep track of the downs because they’re running the same plays every play. I would say our focus this year is mainly communicating that it’s third down or fourth down.

“It’s kind of monotonous seeing the same stuff every play, so it’s kind of hard to see what down it is. It’s like one of our focal points.”

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Navy plans to play two quarterbacks in returning starter Tai Lavatai and Blake Horvath. Both are more capable passers than Navy’s traditional quarterbacks but neither played against Notre Dame last season when Mids quarterbacks combined to go 6-of-11 for 108 yards and two touchdowns.

It’s not clear how the move to a more passing quarterback will impact the option schemes, which are built on establishing the fullback dive first, the quarterback keeper second and the pitch third. Notre Dame is likely to scheme Navy toward pitching the ball, which can lead to big plays in either direction. Navy’s most damaging runs last year were either fullback dives or quarterback keepers. The Irish clamped down on pitch plays and slot back Anton Hall finished with five carries for just 32 yards.

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“Coaches have been stressing whatever your assignment is every play, you know to tap that guy to make sure everybody knows you have him,” Brown said. “Usually, the last option is going to be the pitch. If you can force them to pitch the ball and everyone is rallying to it, it’s kind of hard for them to make stuff up. That’s when they start going into their trick plays.”

Handle Navy’s pressure packages

Freeman rewatched the second half of last year’s Navy game on the flight to Dublin, an offensive horror show that began with a sack of Pyne and never let up. The Mids were relentless with Cover Zero blitz packages, essentially leaving the middle of the field exposed to the Irish pass game, assuming Pyne couldn’t see and it and the Irish couldn’t protect him long enough to deliver.

Navy won both bets.

Pyne dropped back to pass 10 times in the second half, was sacked on four of them and was picked off on another. Notre Dame managed just one first down after halftime, confused beyond its quarterback not seeing what was coming.

“We weren’t communicating, and that caused problems. I mean, it’s not really a secret or a blur,” said right tackle Blake Fisher. “It’s just us playing together as one and everybody being on the same communication. And that’s from QBs to running backs to us to the receivers. That’s all of us playing together.”

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Notre Dame will start two new guards in Rocco Spindler and Pat Coogan, making pressure identification critical in the A and B gaps. That’s not only on the junior linemen, it’s on Hartman and the backs as well. The Irish broke down across the board last season. Getting out of pressure has rarely been a Hartman strength, at least in terms of sacks allowed. Wake Forest ranked outside the top 100 in sacks allowed in each of the past three seasons.

Still, if Notre Dame knows what’s coming, shouldn’t it be able to block it?

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“I can’t tell you just about Navy, but just in a general approach, whatever somebody does on one play, they’re allowed to do on every play, right?” said offensive line coach Joe Rudolph. “So, that’s always been my approach and that’s the mindset we got to have. Somewhere in there, we can control it.”

If Notre Dame does, it’s hard to see how Navy holds up defensively. If the Irish don’t, that’s how the Mids can turn Saturday into another stress test of Notre Dame’s offense.

Prediction

It’s difficult to find a tactical advantage Navy carries into the weekend considering Notre Dame is old throughout its defense, experienced at quarterback and even has the head coaching resume edge for the first time in Freeman’s career. Perhaps Brian Newberry will rebuild the Midshipmen into the program that can frustrate the Irish when they’re not careful. It just won’t be on Saturday.

Talented and experienced Notre Dame teams generally put away Navy. And with Sam Hartman at the controls, this is a talented and experienced Notre Dame team. The Irish jump on the Midshipmen early, just like last year. But this time they don’t let up.

Notre Dame 45, Navy 13

(Photo: Quinn Harris / Getty Images)

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