Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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BLUEGOLDONLINE.COM NOV. 9, 2024 27 "We can't look at this thing based on flows," Freeman said. "We gotta look at this as one game, one life. One play, one life." Notre Dame continued executing as the second quarter began and Navy cut its 14-0 lead in half with a 47-yard touchdown run. As some in the press box (this writer included) thought the Midshipmen might turn the tide, the Irish simply turned it right back. Three plays later, sophomore running back Jeremiyah Love was in the end zone. Earlier in the week, Freeman attrib- uted Notre Dame's recent success in the second and third quarter to that same concept: Process over results. He reit- erated that message in East Rutherford, N.J. "More importantly, it's just a mind- set," Freeman said. "Win this play. It's the only thing that matters." That mindset, Freeman believes, is why the Irish have won six straight games since its Week 2 loss to Northern Illinois. He told ESPN sideline reporter Molly McGrath that every now and then, he shows his team clips of NIU's shocking upset. "When you have success, sometimes you forget about that pain of what NIU left in all of our hearts and our guts," Freeman said. "There's moments that I want to reflect on that, and I don't want them to lose it." Freeman wants his players to remem- ber what caused that loss: Bad process. The Irish underestimated the Huskies and sleepwalked through the early por- tion of the afternoon. By the time they woke up, it was too late. Since then, Notre Dame has looked like the College Football Playoff lock it thought it was. But Freeman knows history can repeat itself any week if the Irish aren't locked in. "You better understand, if you don't prepare the right way, you can lose to anybody you play," Freeman said. "I don't want to ever forget that." ✦ NAVY VS. NOTRE DAME QUARTER-BY-QUARTER COMPARISON Navy 1st Qtr. 2nd Qtr. 3rd Qtr. 4th Qtr. 1st Half 2nd Half Total Time of Possession 5:52 6:44 11:51 5:04 12:36 16:55 29:31 Third-Down Conversions 1-1 1-3 2-6 0-1 2-4 2-7 4-11 Fourth-Down Conversions 0-0 0-0 2-3 0-0 0-0 2-3 2-3 Average Field Position Navy-19 Navy-24 Navy-18 Navy-25 Navy-21 Navy-20 Navy-21 Notre Dame 1st Qtr. 2nd Qtr. 3rd Qtr. 4th Qtr. 1st Half 2nd Half Final Time of Possession 9:08 8:16 3:09 9:56 17:24 13:05 30:29 Third-Down Conversions 3-4 1-4 2-2 2-3 4-8 4-5 8-13 Fourth-Down Conversions 0-0 1-1 0-0 0-0 1-1 0-0 1-1 Average Field Position Navy-42 ND-32 ND-25 ND-41 ND-43 ND-37 ND-41 PLAY CHART (NO. OF PLAYS) Yards Navy ND Nega ve 4 3 0-5 34 40 6-9 12 9 10-19 2 8 20-29 1 2 30-39 1 1 40-49 1 1 50 or more Yards 1 1 RED ZONE EFFICIENCY (INSIDE 20-YARD LINE) No Poss. TD FG Score Navy 3 1 0 2 Notre Dame 6 4 1 1 BIG PLAYS (25 YARDS OR MORE) Notre Dame • 3-6 ND46 Leonard pass to Greathouse for 42 yards to the NAVY12 • 1-10 ND36 Love run for 64 yards and a touchdown • 1-10 ND23 Leonard pass to Faison for 26 yards to ND49 • 1-10 NAVY37 Leonard pass to Collins for 37 yards and a touchdown Navy • 1-10 NAVY25 Horvath pass to Tecza for 32 yards to the ND43 • 2-6 ND47 Horvath run for 47 yards and a touchdown • 1-10 NAVY12 Horvath run for 60 yards to ND28 Freeman's crew has won six straight — the longest streak of his tenure — by having the mindset to focus on executing each individual play regardless of what happened before it. PHOTO BY BILL STREICHER MISCELLANEOUS NOTES • Notre Dame improved to 83-13-1 all time against Navy and 50-8-1 against the Midship- men at neutral sites. The Fighting Irish are now 7-1 against Navy in East Rutherford, N.J., and 1-1 against the Midshipmen at MetLife Stadium. • Senior Riley Leonard's rushing touchdown to open the game's scoring was his 11th of the season, moving him into second place on the Notre Dame single-season list for quar- terbacks behind only Brandon Wimbush (14 in 2017). It also marked the seventh straight game he has scored on the ground. • Freshman Anthonie Knapp made his eighth straight start at left tackle, matching Ryan Har- ris (2003) for the second most by a first-year player at Notre Dame. Sam Young has the most starts with 13 in 2006. • Junior linebacker Jaylen Sneed notched his first career fumble recovery and touch- down when he fell on Navy quarterback Blake Horvath's fumble in the end zone in the third quarter. He also posted a new personal best with 9 tackles. • Sophomore safety Adon Shuler and junior defensive end Junior Tuihalamaka also both recorded their first career fumble recoveries, and both of them set a new career high with 7 stops. • Freshman cornerback Leonard Moore notched his first career interception early in the fourth quarter.