Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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BLUEGOLDONLINE.COM NOV. 8, 2025 41 GAME PREVIEW: NAVY BY JACK SOBLE NAVY RUNNING GAME VS. NOTRE DAME RUN DEFENSE Somewhat unsurprisingly, Navy is statistically the best rushing offense in college football. It's not particularly close, either. The Midshipmen lead college football with 318.14 yards per game and 28 rushing touch- downs. And before you think, "Well, that's all well and good but they probably just run more than anyone else," you should know that Navy also leads the nation in yards per carry at 6.55. The Midshipmen are also extremely explosive on the ground, entering Week 10 tied for third in the FBS with 20 rushing plays of 20 yards or more. As they did last year, the Midshipmen run a mix of the traditional flexbone triple option and the modernized version that includes shotgun and pistol. Everything starts with quarterback Blake Horvath, who leads the team with 119 carries for 814 yards (6.8 yards per rush) and 12 touchdowns. Horvath is able to make explosive plays, as Notre Dame learned last year when he ran for gains of 60 and 47 yards. He is third in the country in carries of 10 yards or more with 27. He is not Navy's only option, of course. Alex Tecza (464 rushing yards) throws jabs as the fullback, while Brandon Chat- man (293) and Eli Heidenreich (285) can gash you as slot backs. All four of Navy's primary rushing options are seniors, and all four played the exact same role in the exact same system in 2024. For a scheme that relies so much on chemistry and making split- second decisions, that is absolutely huge. Notre Dame's run defense has been quite good this season, ranking 19th nationally with just 3.22 yards allowed per carry. Obviously, that kind of goes out the window against the Midshipmen. Notre Dame does have most of its key option- stoppers back from last season, including redshirt sophomore safety Adon Shuler, redshirt sopho- more linebacker Jaiden Ausberry, senior defensive end Junior Tuihalamaka and redshirt junior defen- sive end Joshua Burnham. The Irish slowed down Navy to a reasonable extent last year (43 carries for 222 yards), but the Midshipmen are unlikely to lose 5 unforced fumbles again. Advantage: Navy NAVY PASSING GAME VS. NOTRE DAME PASS DEFENSE Navy does not pass a lot, but when it does, it airs the ball out. Horvath's 12.0 average depth of target is tied for eighth in the nation, and his yards per at- tempt of 11.4 would be first (by far) if he qualified. The Midshipmen have proven that they can throw to win, with 339 passing yards from Horvath in a 34-31 instant classic victory over Air Force. Drew Cronic and Brian Newberry, Navy's second- year offensive coordinator and third-year head coach, respectively, are so confident in their pass- ing game that they're willing to throw on fourth- and-1 for the game. That happened against Air Force on the game-sealing conversion. What the Midshipmen will often do is lull you to sleep with the option and send someone on a deep post. If your safeties creep too far toward the line of scrimmage, Horvath can and will throw over the top. He will usually find Heidenreich, who led the Midshipmen with 25 receptions for 507 yards and 4 touchdowns through seven games. He gained 243 of those yards and 3 of those touchdowns during, you guessed it, that crazy game against Air Force. Crucially, Horvath has also done a better job of protecting the ball this year. He has thrown 3 inter- ceptions, but PFF classified only 2 of his throws as turnover-worthy plays (TWP), meaning at least 1 of his picks was not his fault. That's a TWP percentage of 1.8, which is very good. Last year, his TWP rate was 6.9, which is very close to No. 1 in the country (it ranked seventh among 165 qualified passers). However, you should know that 4 of Horvath's 16 career turnover-worthy throws came during that 51-14 loss to Notre Dame. The Irish are better- positioned to take advantage of a quarterback without a quick game than most, ranking third in the country with 13 interceptions through seven games. They also have the coverage skills at cor- nerback (junior Leonard Moore) and athleticism at safety (redshirt freshman Tae Johnson) to com- pensate in the event they get caught cheating downhill. So long as Notre Dame doesn't completely blow its assignments on the back end, Navy's passing game shouldn't beat the Irish. Advantage: Notre Dame On PaPer Senior fullback Alex Tecza ranked second on Navy with 464 rushing yards through seven games this season. PHOTO COURTESY NAVY ATHLETICS