Notre Dame Football: Preview, prediction, live stream vs. Navy in Week 12

Here is everything you need to know as Notre Dame football looks to keep its playoff hopes alive in a Week 12 matchup with Navy.

The Irish’s playoff hopes took a big hit in last week’s loss to Miami, but they will now turn to scoreboard-watching as they have lost the luxury of controlling their own destiny. Rooting for those ahead of the Irish only matters if they can win their next two games, and that starts here with their matchup against Navy.

Notre Dame and Navy will meet for the 91st straight time Saturday in the longest continuous intersectional rivalry college football has to offer. Notre Dame currently holds a 74-13-1 lead over the Midshipmen, but Navy has the bragging rights in hand after taking down the Irish by a score of 28-27 last season.

While the Irish are generally favored over Navy, the games always seem to be close regardless of either team’s circumstances. Notre Dame will need to put this one further out of reach in order to keep themselves in the playoff talk, but that will be a tall task as Navy will be looking to play spoiler over the course of the afternoon.

Here’s how to watch it all go down this weekend:

Date: Saturday, Nov. 18
Time: 3:30 p.m. ET
Location: South Bend, Ind.
Venue: Notre Dame Stadium
TV: NBC
Live Stream: NBC Sports

Keys to Victory

Notre Dame has proven that they are willing to live and die by the run game, and little is likely to change as they face off against Navy this week. While Miami dominated the Irish on the line of scrimmage, a less talented Navy front seven will have their hands full with both quarterback Brandon Wimbush and running back Josh Adams primed to run wild.

The Midshipmen currently sit at 94th in the nation in opponent YPC, providing a great opportunity for the Irish to solve their recent rushing woes. As for Navy, they’re best off using their grinding run game to maintain possession for as long as possible. The Irish would win easily in a shootout, meaning the Midshipmen will need to take care of the ball and keep control of the clock.

Prediction

Notre Dame is clearly the more talented team, and it wouldn’t be surprising to see their talent on full display against Navy. The Irish will undoubtedly be playing upset, and they’ve typically done a good job of handling lesser competition up to this point. Irish head coach Brian Kelly knows that he’ll have to make this a blowout in order to truly keep Notre Dame’s name in the playoff running.

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The Irish defense has struggled in back to back games for the first time this season, but they’ll look to get back on track against quarterback Zach Abey’s one-dimensional offense. The Irish are more than capable of winning this one tight, but look for them to come out firing on all cylinders in an attempt to establish themselves as legitimate playoff contenders once again.

Final Score: Navy 10, Notre Dame 38