Nothing came easy for Navy football against No. 13 Notre Dame, but one thing is for certain — there is still a lot of football left this season. The Midshipmen opened up Week 0 on Aug. 26 with a 42-3 loss against the Fighting Irish in Dublin, Ireland.
Because of early miscues and a strong performance by Notre Dame, Navy was down 28-0 to begin the second half. The Mids were only able to record a 31-yard field goal by senior kicker Evan Warren late in the fourth quarter. Warren missed his first attempt, a 36-yarder to cap off Navy’s third offensive possession.
However, don’t count out the Mids just yet. Despite the large margin of defeat, Navy only had three penalties for 26 yards and committed no turnovers.
Here are five takeaways from the Aug. 26 game against Notre Dame. The Mids will return to Navy-Marine Corps Stadium to face Wagner on Sept. 9.
1. Navy fell behind early.
On their first offensive possession, the Mids marched down the field with the help of junior fullback Daba Fofana. Fofana rushed for 31 yards on four carries, leading his team down to Notre Dame’s 44-yard line. However, the Irish forced a fourth down at their own 37-yard line.
On fourth-and-3, Navy senior quarterback Tai Lavatai rolled out to the left to throw. Facing pressure from the defense, Lavatai lobbed a long pass to junior slotback Amin Hassan, who ultimately did not come down with the ball.
With a decent field position out of the fourth-down stop, the Irish stormed down the field to go up 14-0 with a little more than a minute left in the first quarter. The Mids ran just seven plays for 17 yards on their next possession, resulting in a punt from their own 42-yard line.
Notre Dame then quickly went ahead, 21-0, when freshman wide receiver Jaden Greathouse came down with a 35-yard touchdown early in the second quarter. This was Greathouse’s first catch of his college career.
2. Navy’s run defense looked lost.
In 2022, the Mids allowed an average of 88.9 rushing yards per game. In the first quarter alone, Notre Dame ran for 88 yards, which included a key third-and-11 conversion by junior running back Audric Estime during its first offensive possession. Estime finished the game with 95 rushing yards and one touchdown on 16 carries along with 26 receiving yards.
The Irish finished with 191 rushing yards. The last time the Mids gave up more than 150 rushing yards was on Oct. 22, 2022 against Houston.
“There is no sugarcoating it. That was definitely the worst tackling I’ve seen out of our defense, [and] out of myself,” senior defensive end Jacob Busic said.
3. Notre Dame’s offensive line kept the pocket clean for its quarterback.
Navy brought pressure in the second half last season against the Irish, which led to five sacks and helped the Mids score 19 unanswered points. However, Navy couldn’t get to sixth-year quarterback Sam Hartman this year, as the Mids had zero sacks.
In his Notre Dame debut, Hartman was near perfect against the Mids, completing 19 passes on 23 attempts for 251 yards and four touchdowns. Hartman’s four passing touchdowns tied former Notre Dame quarterback Jack Coan for most touchdown passes in a debut for the Irish.
“It’s just something we need to work on. That’s a timing thing, that’s a blitz thing, that’s something we can improve as a defense,” Busic said of pressuring the quarterback.
4. Passing was a struggle for Navy.
Passing is rare in a triple-option offense, and Navy only threw one pass in the first half. However, when Navy fell behind 35-0 late in the third quarter, the Mids ran a few passing plays.
On their first passing attempt in the second half, Hassan found himself deep in the middle of the field. Lavatai saw Hassan open but was pressured by senior defensive lineman Jordan Botelho, who forced an incomplete pass. That would have been the longest play of the day for the Mids had the pass been completed.
Lavatai ended the game by completing three passes on six attempts for 43 yards along with 10 carries for 23 yards on the ground.
“We knew we were going to have to take some shots and we had them a couple of times and they were open,” Navy head coach Brian Newberry said. “You have to hit them in a big game like this.”
5. Senior Tai Lavatai seems to be the starting quarterback. Sophomore Blake Horvath has not seen action just yet.
Horvath did not see any playing time against Notre Dame, even after Lavatai left the game briefly due to an awkward slide early in the second quarter.
The quarterback who came in was senior Xavier Arline, who was in for four plays in the second quarter before Lavatai came back to finish the drive. Arline also saw playing time late in the fourth quarter during the drive that ended with a 31-yard field goal.
Even though the Mids could not capitalize on certain opportunities throughout the game and fell behind early to the Irish, Lavatai did not make any critical errors by turning over the ball. The engine just stalled.
“This game won’t define our season,” Newberry said.
Photo Credit: Courtesy of Navy Athletics