Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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BLUEGOLDONLINE.COM OCT. 17, 2026 37 GAME PREVIEW: NAVY tremely effective. The Midshipmen allowed 10.1 yards per attempt through four games this season, which is second-to-last in the FBS. Only Colorado State's pass defense has been worse, and the Rams — believe it or not — just stripped their defensive coordinator of play-calling duties during a game and fired him afterward. Explosive plays are certainly an issue for the Mid- shipmen, who have given up 8 passing plays of 30 yards or more through Week 5. Bear in mind, op- ponents have only 84 pass attempts against them, so that's a shockingly high rate. Safety Giuseppe Sessi and cornerback Cam Robinson appear to be the biggest culprits, allowing 18.2 and 24.2 yards per reception when targeted, respectively. Up front, Parker is Navy's leading sack artist with 4. He and Cauley have 8 and 9 quarterback pressures on 22 and 27 pass rush snaps, respectively. They'll both line up as edge rushers from time to time, but the vast majority of their snaps come from stack linebacker alignments. Defensive end Aiden Lyczek has 10 quar- terback pressures and 2 sacks, but that's about it as far as pass rush from the Mids' defensive line. Notre Dame's passing game has been great at pretty much everything except explosive plays, so Navy's defense should serve as a confidence- booster in that area. Especially if the Irish can get the run game going and bring an extra defender into the box, expect junior quarterback CJ Carr to hunt deep balls over the top with wide receivers Jordan Faison and Micah Gilbert. Odds are better than not that they'll hit. Advantage: Notre Dame SPECIAL TEAMS The kicking game has not been terrific for Navy thus far. Freshman Nolan Bartley is 3 of 5 with a long of 34, and he's 0 of 2 from 40-plus yards out. Notre Dame junior Spencer Porath is 6 of 7 with a long of 52, so he wins that battle. The Midshipmen actually introduced a new punter to the equation in Week 5 against Air Force. Senior Lance Gossett punted a whopping 7 times for 345 yards (49.3 yards per punt) in that game, so one can expect him to serve as Navy's punter moving forward. Notre Dame freshman Jasper Scaife has enjoyed a solid start to his career (44.4 yards per punt), as long as he doesn't drop the ball again like he did at North Carolina. Navy's return game has not been very danger- ous; in particular, the Midshipmen average 4.3 yards per punt return. For reference, Faison aver- ages 12.9 yards per return in a similar sample size, so the Irish have the advantage there. It's a problem for the Irish if special teams is a major factor in the outcome of this game, but regardless, they have the edge in the third phase. Advantage: Notre Dame COACHING Navy head coach Brian Newberry is 27-15 since taking the job in 2023, as of Oct. 9. He was the Mids' defensive coordinator from 2019-22, and he's generally lauded for two things: His work with Navy's attacking style of defense, and hiring Cronic to run the offense. Cronic's résumé before he ar- rived in Annapolis included James Madison (before it was cool), Furman, Reinhardt, Lenoir-Rhyne and Mercer, and he and Newberry successfully mod- ernized the triple option. As a result, Navy is coming off back-to-back dou- ble-digit-win seasons and back-to-back bowl wins over Power Four teams — including Oklahoma in the 2024 Armed Forces Bowl. Most importantly, Navy defeated Army in back-to-back years for the first time since 2014-15. Newberry and Cronic found magic with Horvath, Tecza, Chatman and Heidenreich, but that's the thing about college football: Eventually, your guys will move on and you have to replace them. As of this writing, they haven't yet. Meanwhile, Freeman's ros- ter is at the peak of its powers and he's considered one of the best head coaches in the sport. Combine that with returning offensive and de- fensive coordinators (Mike Denbrock and Chris Ash) who know how to beat Navy, and the Irish win the headset battle. Advantage: Notre Dame INTANGIBLES Could a poor start to the season actually work in favor of the Midshipmen? Hear me out here. Notre Dame dominated Navy in 2024 and 2025 in large part because it respected Horvath, Tecza, Chatman and Heidenreich so much. That respect gave the Irish all the fuel they needed to overprepare for those games, and as a result, they weren't close. Facing a weaker Navy team, will Notre Dame take this game for granted? Offense Pos. No. Name Ht. Wt. Yr. X-WR 89 Luke Hutchison 6-0 190 Sr. 86 Joshua Guerin 6-1 187 Sr. LT 73 Sean Crowley 6-4 293 Jr. 65 Connor Heater 6-3 275 Jr. LG 69 Cam Nichols 6-1 305 Sr. 66 Will Hampton 6-5 298 So. C 63 Toran Smith 6-2 277 Jr. 67 Matt Tomaszewski 6-3 296 So. RG 68 Hoke Smith II 6-3 317 Sr. 70 Jake Polito 6-3 295 Jr. RT 77 Malcolm Johnson 6-6 292 So. 65 Connor Heater 6-3 275 Jr. TE 84 Jordan Collins 6-3 236 So. 87 Theo Elwell 6-5 255 Jr. or 85 Jake Norris 6-3 230 Sr. or 88 Merrick Barlow 6-6 239 So. Snipe-Z 23 Charles Robinson 6-0 191 Jr. 15 Evan Blouir 6-0 205 Fr. QB 8 Jackson Gutierrez 6-0 207 Jr. or 5 Braxton Woodson 6-3 215 Sr. Snipe-A 26 Michael Barrow 5-7 190 Jr. 25 Isaiah Bryant 5-9 165 Sr. RB 40 Vic Listorti 5-11 205 Sr. 8 Jackson Gutierrez 6-0 207 Jr. or 42 Christian Cromer 5-11 250 So. DEFENSE Pos. No. Name Ht. Wt. Yr. DE 93 Aiden Lyczek 6-4 268 Jr. 90 Ikenna Ozurumba 6-5 256 Sr. NG 94 Xavyer Arrington 6-0 279 Jr. 99 Chris Herock 6-1 266 Jr. or 96 Connor Young 6-3 278 So. DT 95 Griffen Willis 6-1 280 Sr. 97 Matthew Reyes 6-3 284 Sr. OLB 45 Christian Johnson 6-2 225 So. 52 Nolan McCamy 6-2 212 Sr. OLB 18 Will Miller 6-3 217 So. or 14 Trent Gillis 6-1 200 So. LB 58 Coleman Cauley 6-1 227 Sr. 53 Marcus Bleazard 6-0 224 Sr. LB 56 MarcAnthony Parker 6-0 218 Jr. 53 Marcus Bleazard 6-0 224 Sr. CB 6 Phillip Hamilton 5-10 175 Jr. or 10 Nick Bell 5-10 182 Jr. or 4 Sean Martin 5-10 195 Fr. S 5 Matthew Seliga 5-11 190 Sr. or 8 Aaron Rose 6-2 194 Jr. S 16 Giuseppe Sessi 5-11 204 Sr. 8 Aaron Rose 6-2 194 Jr. CB 3 Ira Oniha 6-1 183 Sr. or 13 Cam Robinson 6-0 187 So. Special Teams Pos. No. Name Ht. Wt. Yr. PK 44 Nolan Bartley 6-0 172 Fr. 95 Justin Welch 6-2 181 So. KO 99 Lance Gossett 6-1 200 Sr. 95 Justin Welch 6-2 181 So. P 99 Lance Gossett 6-1 200 Sr. or 11 Jacob Carlson 5-10 201 Jr. LS 92 Rayne Fry 6-2 209 Sr. 98 Landon Purcell 5-11 192 So. H 11 Jacob Carlson 5-10 201 Jr. or 99 Lance Gossett 6-1 200 Sr. PR 23 Charles Robinson 6-0 191 Jr. or 25 Isaiah Bryant 5-9 165 Sr. KR 25 Isaiah Bryant 5-9 165 Sr. or 26 Michael Barrow 5-7 190 Jr. NAVY MIDSHIPMEN TWO-DEEP DEPTH CHART