Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/1528584
BLUEGOLDONLINE.COM NOV. 9, 2024 21 NOTRE DAME PASSING OFFENSE: A Senior quarterback Riley Leonard started by completing his first seven throws to set the tone. He finished 13-of-21 passing for 178 yards with 2 touchdowns in yet another efficient even if not overly prolific performance. Perhaps the most pleasing thing for the Irish's passing game coming out of this game was sopho- more wideout Jordan Faison leading the Irish in both receptions (4) and receiving yards (52). It was the former walk-on's best game of the season coming back from an ankle injury sustained in the season opener at Texas A&M. Senior Beaux Collins remains a threat, too; he had 2 catches for 42 yards, including a 37-yard touchdown. This is mostly about Leonard coming into his own and executing the quick-game aerial attack being asked of him by offensive coordinator Mike Denbrock. NOTRE DAME RUSHING OFFENSE: A+ You can't have any quarrels with 40 rushes for 265 yards and 4 touchdowns. That charge was led by sophomore Jeremiyah Love, who had 12 carries for 102 yards and 2 scores. His 64-yard touchdown, the longest carry of his career, was a straightaway sprint across the middle of the field that show- cased his track speed in a way he hadn't really cut loose to this point in the season. He's gotten the edge plenty of times, but seeing No. 4 run right down the middle of the field for a lengthy score in the second quarter signaled it would be a good day on the ground for Notre Dame. Leonard aided in that effort with 10 carries for 83 yards and a touchdown, his 11th of the season. Even freshman Kedren Young looked good in going for 52 yards and a touchdown on 10 carries, all in the fourth quarter. The Notre Dame offensive line deserves a shou- tout, too, for absolutely dominating the Midship- men in the trenches. NOTRE DAME PASSING DEFENSE: A Let's take the "it's a triple-option offense" quali- fier out of the equation. Any time you hold an opponent to 7-of-14 passing for 88 yards with no touchdowns and 1 interception, you take it. Navy quarterback Blake Horvath completed passes of 32 and 21 yards, so the Notre Dame defense surely wants those plays back, but otherwise it was a solid day against the pass for the Irish. It is a tough ask for any defense to stay keyed in on defending the pass when a team runs it three times as much as it throws it. But the Irish didn't get lulled to sleep outside of a couple plays. The discipline was on display at its best when freshman Leonard Moore intercepted a pass in the end zone to put a stamp on an impressive day for the Irish passing defense. NOTRE DAME RUSHING DEFENSE: B There have been stingier outings for the Notre Dame defense against Navy's option offense, but it wasn't a bad day by any means either. Perfectly acceptable to hold a Navy offense that has torn through opponents this season to 43 carries for 222 yards. Sixty of those came on one carry from Horvath, as well as 47 on a touchdown rush. Take those away, and Navy ran 41 times for 115 yards — an average of 2.8 yards per carry. Not bad. Not bad at all. But those two long gains do count, obviously, so you can't discard them. But you can still say that for most of the afternoon, Notre Dame was really good against the Navy rushing game. SPECIAL TEAMS: B Walk-on Zac Yoakam, in his second game serv- ing as Notre Dame's primary placekicker for the injured Mitch Jeter, missed a 36-yard field goal, plus graduate student Eric Goins missed an extra point. However, Yoakam did make a 32-yard field goal and James Rendell punted twice for an aver- age of 45.0 yards. This wasn't the special teams masterclass Notre Dame put on display against Georgia Tech, but it wasn't a game the Irish jeopardized their chances of winning by messing up in the third phase either. COACHING: A Notre Dame is 7-0 at neutral sites since the start of 2022. These games can be wacky and weird and unorthodox, but Marcus Freeman has made them look as easy and straightforward as possible. He deserves credit for that, as do coordinators Mike Denbrock and Al Golden for calling a good game. Golden in particular earned himself a breather dur- ing the bye week for the way he had his unit ready to go against a really good Navy option offense. ✦ REPORT CARD BY TYLER HORKA Sophomore wide receiver Jordan Faison led the Fighting Irish in both catches (4) and receiving yards (52). PHOTO BY BILL STREICHER