Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/1541184
BLUEGOLDONLINE.COM NOV. 15, 2025 19 up the Jeremiyah Love 1-yard scoring run and the first of Schmidt's 7 point- after tries on the night was a 52-yard pass from redshirt freshman quarter- back CJ Carr to redshirt senior wide re- ceiver Malachi Fields. Feature performers: The Irish went with a bigger, three-linebacker lineup on defense, with redshirt sophomore Jaiden Ausberry playing a hybrid safety/line- backer/pass rush role. And his impact was felt from the start. The three-line- backer look meant the Irish were play- ing without a nickel, but regular nickel DeVonta Smith, a redshirt senior, manned an outside cornerback role and was active early and often. Carr was 3-of-4 passing for 81 yards in the quarter. Stats: Navy predictably had the edge early in time of possession, 9:27 to 5:33. But Notre Dame had the edge in total yards (99-64), passing yards (81-0) and yards per play (9.9 to 4.3). Items: Navy senior starting quarter- back Blake Horvath was a late scratch due to an upper-body injury suffered late in the Middies' 31-17 loss to North Texas Nov. 1. Junior Braxton Woodson made his third career start and first of the season. … The 6-foot-3, 215-pound Woodson carried the ball on 11 of Na- vy's 14 first-quarter running plays and rushed for 59 yards. SECOND QUARTER NOTRE DAME 21, NAVY 10 Top moment: Notre Dame had the ball only twice in the second quarter and scored on both of those drives. Junior wide receiver Jordan Faison's 9-yard catch on fourth-and-1 from the Navy 11-yard line set up the first of those two scores, a redshirt junior Jadarian Price 2-yard touchdown run. Feature performers: Fields contin- ued to be a mismatch for the Navy de- fense, while fellow wide receivers Will Pauling, a redshirt senior, and Faison made big contributions. Pauling's 27- yard reception on third-and-8 set up a Carr-to-Faison touchdown connection on the very next play from 5 yards out. That gave the Irish a 21-7 lead. Navy was able to cut the lead to 21-10 with a 33-yard field goal just ahead of halftime. Stats: This was Navy's best quarter, garnering 109 of its 228 total yards in