Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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BLUEGOLDONLINE.COM OCT. 26, 2024 35 GAME PREVIEW: NAVY Date: Nov. 9, 2024 Site (capacity): Notre Dame Stadium (77,622) Kickoff: 7:30 p.m. ET TV: NBC All-time series: Florida State leads 6-5 Last meeting: Notre Dame 41, Florida State 38 (Sept. 5, 2021 in Tallahas- see, Fla.) 2024 Record To Date: 1-6 overall, 1-5 ACC through Oct. 19 Florida State head coach: Mike Norvell (32-23, fifth season at FSU; 70-39 overall) Season Summary: Is there such thing as a re-do? Some magic button that can take you back in time, say, to Aug. 24, sometime in the early evening in Dublin, Ireland, where you could wish for a huge gust of Emerald Isle breeze to blow Georgia Tech kicker Aidan Birr's 44-yard attempt out of the goal posts? Then maybe that would have been enough for Florida State, a 10.5-point favorite over the Yellow Jackets in Week 0, to start the season on the right note and subsequently set a tone? If there was, Norvell would have slammed it a long time ago. He probably would have broken it and rendered it useless, though, because that's the way his fifth season in Tallahassee has gone. The Seminoles are a shattered semblance of the team that went 13-0 last season, just narrowly missing out on a College Football Playoff berth because of an injury to start- ing quarterback Jordan Travis. Journeyman D.J. Uiagalelei was not a very successful heir to Travis. He completed 53.8 percent of his passes for 213 passing yards per game with 4 touchdowns and 6 interceptions in five games before going down with a broken finger on his throwing hand. His replace- ment, redshirt freshman Brock Glenn, has only completed 50.0 percent of his passes. Florida State ranked 130th out of 134 FBS teams in pass efficiency offense through Week 8. It hasn't just been an offensive issue for the Seminoles; their defense ranked just 75th nationally yards allowed per game (370.0). So, it's an all- over issue for Florida State. Novell and Company just have not gotten it right in a year that was supposed to back up all the success the program enjoyed last fall. FIVE PLAYERS TO WATCH Pos. No. Player Notable Stats* QB 11 Brock Glenn 32-of-64 passing, 338 yards, 2 TD, 3 INT RB 9 Lawrence Toafili 64 carries, 253 yards, 2 TD; 17 catches, 117 yards WR 0 Ja'Khi Douglas 22 catches, 354 yards, 2 TD DL 11 Patrick Payton 22 tackles, 8 tackles for loss, 4 sacks K 88 Ryan Fitzgerald 8 of 8 XP, 9 of 10 FG, 4 of 4 50+ FG * Statistics through Oct. 19 On Deck Opponent: Florida State Seminoles 1. Newberry Tormented Notre Dame In 2022 Navy head coach Brian Newberry was the Midshipmen's defensive coordinator when they gave Notre Dame all it could handle on Nov. 12, 2022. Newberry blitzed the Irish, sacking quar- terback Drew Pyne 5 times and generating an interception on a tipped pass into the hands of edge rusher John Marshall. Pyne and the Notre Dame offensive line could only watch as Newberry attacked, attacked and attacked. Forget points; the Irish picked up only 1 first down throughout the entire second half. The Midshipmen, down 35-13 at halftime, came within an on-side kick of having the ball with a chance to win. Marshall has since left Annapolis, Md., but senior linebacker Colin Ramos (1.5 sacks that game) and senior safety Rayuan Lane III (1) are still there. Of course, Notre Dame figured Newberry out — with much of the same personnel — in 2023. Playing in Dublin, Ireland, the Irish took it to the Midshipmen at the line of scrim- mage (32 carries for 191 yards), and quarterback Sam Hartman completed 19 of 23 passes for 251 yards with 4 touchdowns. Time will tell which side gets their way this time around. 2. Midshipmen Passed First Test With Flying Colors Memphis had a chance to win against Navy, despite trailing 49-30 in the fourth quarter. The Tigers had the ball, down by five points, on sec- ond-and-10 from the Midshipmen 26-yard line. Graduate student quarterback Seth Henigan dropped back, threw over the middle and was in- tercepted by Lane, who jumped a deep-in route. Lane had nothing but green grass in front of him, and he took it 85 yards to the house. That 56-44 victory over the overwhelming pre- season American Athletic Conference favorite — Navy was picked 11th — put the Midshipmen on the map as one of the best Group of Five teams in the country. 3. Stage Is Beginning To Be Set For Back-To-Back Games Vs. Army The race to the top of the AAC is far from over, with five teams remaining undefeated in conference play. But of those five — Army, Navy, North Texas, Tulane and Charlotte — the service academies have the best résumés by a significant margin. The Black Knights and Midshipmen have never competed in the same conference until 2024. Navy had been independent before joining the American in 2015, ditto Army (aside from a stint in Conference USA from 1998-2004) before joining this season. Their status as conference foes could create a fas- cinating dynamic in December. If Army and Navy remain atop the AAC stand- ings at the end of the regular season, they will face each other in the conference championship game at 8 p.m. ET on Dec. 6. Regardless of the result — and whether or not one of them is ticketed for the College Football Playoff, which is possible — the Midshipmen and Black Knights would play again in the Army-Navy game Dec. 14. Barbs are already being thrown ahead of what could be the most consequential Army-Navy matchup ever. "Do they still have a football program at that school?" Army head coach Jeff Monken said on the Pat McAfee Show Oct. 16. They do. And they could be in for two all-time rivalry games this year. — Jack Soble Formerly the Midshipmen's defensive coordinator, Brian Newberry is in his sixth year at the Naval Academy and his second as head coach. He was recently named to the Paul "Bear" Bryant Coach of the Year Watch List. PHOTO COURTESY NAVY ATHLETICS Three Things To Know About Navy