Blue and Gold Illustrated

GAME PREVIEW: NAVY Senior running back C.J. Prosise is off to an out‑ standing start to the season, rushing for 600 yards and six touchdowns in the first four games. Not since 2011 has an Irish back surpassed that touchdown to‑ tal in a season. The emergence of freshman running back Josh Adams gives Notre Dame a depth boost and eases some of the burden for Prosise. ADVANTAGE: Notre Dame NOTRE DAME PASSING GAME VS. NAVY PASS DEFENSE The pass defense numbers look good for the Navy defense, which allowed its first three opponents to average just 223.7 yards per game. Digging into the schedule a bit shows the strong early start for the Navy pass defense to be misleading. UConn ranks just 82nd nationally in pass offense and Air Force ranks 124th. Navy's first opponent — Colgate — ranks just 94th in pass defense at the Football Championship Subdivision level. Notre Dame presents Navy with its toughest matchup of the season — by a lot. The Irish have been highly efficient with the pass game through the first four games of the season. Notre Dame's quarterbacks completed 65.8 percent of their passes in the first four games, averaging 8.9 yards per attempt and 13.5 yards per completion dur‑ ing that part of the schedule. It all results in a 163.54 pass efficiency rating, which ranks 18th in the country. ADVANTAGE: Notre Dame SPECIAL TEAMS In the month of September, Notre Dame and Navy had similar special teams statistics. The Irish aver‑ aged 19.5 yards per kick return and the Midshipmen averaged 19.7 per return. Notre Dame has allowed just 18.4 yards per kick return and Navy has allowed just 18.2 yards per return. Notre Dame is averaging 9.8 yards per punt return and Navy is averaging 9.0 yards per return. Notre Dame punter Tyler Newsome is averaging 47.1 yards on his 18 punts, with seven landing inside the 20‑yard line. Eight of his 18 punts have gone more than 50 yards. ADVANTAGE: Notre Dame COACHING Now in his eighth full season at the helm, Ken Niumatalolo has racked up a 60‑35 record at the Naval Academy, leading the Midshipmen to seven bowl games during that span. Early in his career, he seemed to have Notre Dame's number. Navy beat the Irish in the first two meetings with Niumatalolo in charge, including the first matchup between he and Irish head coach Brian Kelly in 2010. With a total of four games against triple‑option teams in the 2015 and 2016 season on the schedule, the Notre Dame defensive staff spent significant time during the offseason studying option football. The plan they developed from that extra offsea‑ son study worked well against Georgia Tech, whose option attack is similar to what the Irish will face against Navy. ADVANTAGE: Notre Dame INTANGIBLES Beating Notre Dame in three of four seasons from 2007‑10 has given the Midshipmen coaches and players belief that it can square off against the Irish and come out on top. Even though none of the current players were on the 2010 team that last beat Notre Dame, the feeling still permeates in that program. In each of the last two games, Navy has led Notre Dame in the second half. The last four seasons have had a similar effect on the Notre Dame players, who are regaining their confidence about beating Navy. Notre Dame blew the Midshipmen out in 2011 and 2012, and showed late grit in each of the last two seasons to overcome fourth quarter deficits to win. Both teams will enter with confidence, but Notre Dame's experience against Georgia Tech is an advan‑ tage. Plus, its overall team speed and explosiveness will be hard for Navy to match. The Irish also get to play at home, giving it the final edge it needs in this matchup. ADVANTAGE: Notre Dame

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