Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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34 OCT. 26, 2024 BLUE & GOLD ILLUSTRATED GAME PREVIEW: NAVY snaps included motion, as opposed to just more than one-half a year ago. The Midshipmen will test Notre Dame's eye discipline, but this time, they'll do it with an offense that can win through the air. None of it is pos- sible without Horvath and weapons like Heidenreich, who had 20 receptions for 449 yards and 5 touchdowns through five contests. "I think this is just a really talented football team, especially with our skill players," Heidenreich said. "Coach Cronic has done a great job of getting the ball to those players in space." This is a special Navy team, and it will be motivated to make this season count. The CFP committee will want to se- lect a Group of Five conference cham- pion who can make it interesting against the upper echelon of the Power Four. Boise State, the current favorite led by junior running back and Heisman front- runner Ashton Jeanty, checked that box Sept. 7 by nearly beating Oregon on the road. Taking down the Irish might give Navy a better case, and a close game would put them in strong position in the event Boise State stumbles. "There's always one or two things that we can get better at," Heidenreich said, per Press Box Online. "However, I do think we're getting close to our top potential." CAN INCREASINGLY YOUNG NOTRE DAME DEFENSE HANDLE NAVY? That's the question, and while Notre Dame's young defenders are playing well, facing Navy for the first time is never easy. The Irish are starting two sophomores (Adon Shuler and Christian Gray) in the secondary, heavily rotating two sopho- mores and a freshman (Drayk Bowen, Jaiden Ausberry and Kyngstonn Vil- iamu-Asa) at linebacker and seeing a freshman (Bryce Young) emerge as their best defensive end. Most recently, fresh- man cornerback Leonard Moore stepped into the lineup after junior Benjamin Morrison's season-ending hip injury. Of those seven players — who com- bined for 225 snaps in Notre Dame's Week 7 win over Stanford — only Gray saw the field last season when the Irish beat Navy 42-3. During the Week 6 bye, third-year head coach Marcus Freeman tried to catch them up. "Defensively, we prepared for Stan- ford and also took a minute to work on some triple-option stuff, as we know we have Navy in a couple weeks and Army following that," Freeman said. Graduate students Xavier Watts, Howard Cross III, Rylie Mills and Jack Kiser have all faced Navy multiple times. But Notre Dame hasn't taken on the Midshipmen with this many under- classmen in Freeman's tenure. Young and Viliamu-Asa will play huge roles against the triple option, and make no mistake about it, they proved their way onto the field. "They're freshmen, and they've earned that," Freeman said. "It's a re- ally productive wave of young players. Those guys love the game. They talk the game. They're competitors." The Irish must rep their freshmen and sophomores against the Wing T as many times as they can this week. With Horvath looming, one missed assign- ment can become seven points. ✦ 2024 NOTRE DAME SCHEDULE Date Opponent (TV) Result/Time (ET) Aug. 31 at Texas A&M W, 23-13 Sept. 7 Northern Illinois L, 16-14 Sept. 14 at Purdue W, 66-7 Sept. 21 Miami (Ohio) W, 28-3 Sept. 28 Louisville W, 31-24 Oct. 12 Stanford W, 49-7 Oct. 19 vs. Georgia Tech# W, 31-13 Oct. 26 vs. Navy^ (ABC/ESPN) 12 p.m. Nov. 9 Florida State (NBC) 7:30 p.m. Nov. 16 Virginia (NBC) 3:30 p.m. Nov. 23 vs. Army* (NBC) 7 p.m. Nov. 30 at USC TBA # at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta; ^ at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, N.J.; * Shamrock Series at Yankee Stadium in The Bronx, N.Y. ; Games on NBC are also televised by Peacock 2024 NAVY SCHEDULE Date Opponent (TV) Result/Time (ET) Aug. 31 Bucknell W, 49-21 Sept. 7 Temple W, 38-11 Sept. 21 Memphis W, 56-44 Sept. 28 at UAB W, 41-18 Oct. 5 at Air Force W, 34-7 Oct. 19 Charlotte W, 51-17 Oct. 26 vs. Notre Dame^ (ABC/ESPN) 12 p.m. Nov. 2 at Rice TBA Nov. 9 at South Florida TBA Nov. 16 Tulane 12 p.m. Nov. 30 at East Carolina TBA Dec. 6 AAC Championship (ABC) 8 p.m. Dec. 14 vs. Army* (CBS) 3 p.m. ^ at East, Rutherford, N.J.; * at Landover, Md. Junior slot back Eli Heidenreich was responsible for more than 50 percent of the Midshipmen's receiving yards through five games with 449 on 20 catches. PHOTO COURTESY NAVY ATHLETICS