Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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BLUEGOLDONLINE.COM OCT. 26, 2024 39 GAME PREVIEW: NAVY tomatic advantage for the opposition. Notre Dame offensive coordinator Mike Denbrock, quarterback Riley Leonard, the pass catchers and the offensive line deserve credit for that. It's been a slow build, but the Irish are getting better at getting the ball down the field through the air. There was a time when you had to scroll to the dreaded third page of the NCAA's official online statistics website to find where the Irish were ranked in team pass efficiency. That time wasn't so long ago. Now, you only need to go to the middle of the second page. Notre Dame came in at No. 73 in the FBS in that statistical category through Week 7. Navy's pass efficiency defense was 54th nation- ally at that same time. If there's anyone for Notre Dame to watch out for in the Navy secondary, it's senior safety Rayuan Lane III. He had 4 interceptions last season, includ- ing a pick six. He returned an interception for a touchdown against Memphis this season, too. He had the No. 22 Pro Football Focus coverage grade of any defensive player in the country through Week 7. Linemen, linebackers, corners, safeties. Everyone. His coverage grade of 89.3 was only surpassed by 22 other players nationwide. This is more about Notre Dame executing an- other game plan than it is about Navy being able to wreck one, though. The Midshipmen only ranked 49th in sacks per game through Week 7, so it's not like Leonard will have no time to operate in a clean pocket. Navy ranked 96th nationally in passing yards allowed per game through Week 7, too, at 237.0. Four of Navy's first five opponents passed for at least 200 yards, and the only one that didn't was Air Force and its option offense. Those five opponents averaged 7.2 yards per pass against the Midshipmen. Leonard's personal mark through six games was 6.6, so this is a chance to get right against a foe that has some deficiencies. Advantage: Notre Dame SPECIAL TEAMS You won't get much from Navy in the way of special teams. The Midshipmen only logged 6 kick returns for an average of 24.3 yards per return and 5 punt returns for an average of 8.4 yards per return through five games. In the kicking game, Nathan Kirkwood made 26 of 28 extra points and 2 of 3 field goals through five games. Punter Riley Riethman averaged a healthy 43.4 yards per boot on 19 kicks. Run of the mill stuff. Notre Dame's special teams has obviously been much more chaotic, with blocked field goals, fumbled kick returns, muffed field goal holds and muffed punt returns. The list goes on. That all seemed to stabilize in a blowout win over Stanford, but special teams errors are often exaggerated in close games. This could be a close game. So we'll call this phase a wait-and-see draw. Advantage: Even COACHING Brian Newberry's side seemed to be outcoached and outclassed in the 2023 meeting between these two teams, which was played in Week 0 in Dublin, Ireland. Notre Dame cruised to a 42-3 win. Navy eventually won five games, though, the most for the program since going 11-2 in 2019, and it only took five games to match that total in 2024. The four-year Navy defensive coordinator turned head coach seems to know a thing or two about running a program after all. The knowledge he acquired to get to that point came under the radar; he never coached at an FBS program in his first two decades of college coaching until he ar- rived at Navy in 2019. Notre Dame's Marcus Freeman, meanwhile, has been around the college block, and he's got a full year on Newberry when it comes to being a head coach. He's also got two of the best coordinators in the country at his disposal in Mike Denbrock and Al Golden. It's been tough to trust Freeman at times be- cause of losses like the one Notre Dame suffered against Northern Illinois earlier this year, but over- all, he does have the edge over his counterpart Newberry in this matchup. Advantage: Notre Dame INTANGIBLES Notre Dame hasn't lost to Navy since 2016 and has only suffered one defeat in the last dozen times these programs have met. Perhaps that's a little chip on the shoulders of the Midshipmen, who for the first time in a long time enter this rivalry believing they can beat the Fighting Irish? This is the third straight neutral site game be- tween Notre Dame and Navy, too, going back to a game at M&T Bank Stadium in 2022 and the game in Ireland last year. The Midshipmen made the first of those close by scoring the final 19 points in a 35-32 Notre Dame win. Crazy things can happen when NFL stadiums get a little sleepy during a col- lege football game. Prior to the Week 8 game against Georgia Tech, though, Notre Dame was 5-0 playing in neutral-site venues since the start of 2022. Freeman generally gets his guys up for games like this. Advantage: Notre Dame Offense Pos. No. Name Ht. Wt. Yr. X-WR 82 Nathan Kent 6-3 180 Jr. 89 Luke Hutchison 6-0 190 So. LT 68 Connor McMahon 6-4 279 Sr. 74 Caden Hooper 6-1 277 So. LG 64 Ben Purvis 6-3 300 Jr. 72 Greyson Crawford 6-3 277 Jr. C 65 Brent Self 6-2 275 Sr. 69 Cam Nichols 6-1 288 So. RG 69 Cam Nichols 6-1 288 So. 79 Hoke Smith II 6-3 303 So. RT 62 Javan Bouton 6-3 285 Sr. 67 Creedyn Foulger 6-3 274 Sr. TE 83 Cody Howard 6-2 231 Jr. 88 Thomas Scully 6-2 236 Sr. Snipe-Z 22 Eli Heidenreich 6-0 201 Jr. 25 Isaiah Bryant 5-9 160 So. QB 11 Blake Horvath 6-2 195 Jr. 5 Braxton Woodson 6-3 215 So. Snipe-A 24 Brandon Chatman 5-9 167 Jr. 23 Tyler Bradley 5-6 170 So. FB 46 Alex Tecza 6-0 204 Jr. 45 Daba Fofana 5-8 213 Sr. Defense Pos. No. Name Ht. Wt. Yr. LE 94 Justin Reed 6-3 263 Sr. 91 Chreign LaFond 6-5 262 Jr. or 90 Julien Moutome 6-3 263 Fr. NG 96 Landon Robinson 6-0 278 Jr. 95 Griffen Willis 6-1 273 So. DT 98 Kendall Whiteside 6-2 280 Jr. 99 Tyler Narayan 6-1 262 Jr. Raider 35 Luke Pirris 6-4 217 Jr. 57 Dylan Spelios 6-4 225 Jr. Striker 14 Jaxson Campbell 6-0 202 Jr. 0 Kenneth McShan 6-1 207 Jr. MIKE 43 Kyle Jacob 6-0 228 Sr. 53 Marcus Bleazard 6-0 215 So. WILL 44 Colin Ramos 5-11 209 Sr. 39 Job Grant 6-2 223 So. FC 13 Andrew Duhart 5-10 185 Jr. 8 Greg Johnson II 5-10 180 So. FS 18 Rayuan Lane III 5-11 197 Sr. 5 Matthew Seliga 5-11 190 So. Bandit 7 Mbiti Williams Jr. 5-9 185 Sr. 16 Giuseppe Sessi 5-11 195 So. BC 1 Dashaun Peele 5-11 197 Sr. 17 Justin Ross 6-2 185 Fr. NAVY DEPTH CHART Pos. No. Name Ht. Wt. Yr. PK 17 Nathan Kirkwood 6-2 174 Jr. 99 Lance Gossett 6-1 200 So. KO 99 Lance Gossett 6-1 200 So. 11 Jacob Carlson 5-10 190 Fr. P 90 Riley Riethman 5-10 191 Sr. 11 Jacob Carlson 5-10 190 Fr. Pos. No. Name Ht. Wt. Yr. LS 92 Rayne Fry 6-2 196 So. 15 Kellen Grave de Peralta 6-1 191 Sr. H 90 Riley Riethman 5-10 191 Sr. 11 Jacob Carlson 5-10 190 Fr. PR 22 Eli Heidenreich 6-0 201 Jr. 25 Isaiah Bryant 5-9 160 So. KR 25 Isaiah Bryant 5-9 160 So. 23 Tyler Bradley 5-6 170 So. Special Teams