Notre Dame Football: Three takeaways from Notre Dames 42-3 win over Navy
By Eric Boggs
Notre Dame stayed discipline in defending Navy’s triple option
Defending the triple option can make a defensive coordinator pull his hair out. Although Navy was able to move the football between the 20’s during the first quarter, Al Golden’s Golden Domer D stayed discipline. Navy wasn’t able to crack the big one all game, and despite the concern by many that Navy might have a more hybrid style of offense that would incorporate more of passing game along with their traditional triple option look, the Irish were more than ready.
Once the momentum of the game favored Notre Dame, Golden was able to become a little more aggressive. The Irish put nine guys in the box and dared Navy’s quarterback Tai Lavatai to pass the football. Lavatai and the Midshipman didn’t take the dare until it was too late, and even when they did, it looked and felt clunky.
In fact, Navy didn’t complete a pass against Notre Dame until the fourth quarter. For a majority of the game, Hartman had more touchdowns than Navy had passing yards. The Irish defense held Navy scoreless until just under four minutes remaining in the game when the Midshipman hit a field goal to finally get on the board.
The fact that Notre Dame held Navy to just three points is impressive. The Irish kept Navy to under 150-yards rushing, which is something very few defenses have done. Freeman and Golden’s stout defense couldn’t have asked for a better start to their season.
Obviously there will be stiffer competition coming up with offenses that will be more high powered than what Navy brought to the table. But given where this team was a season ago, this was exactly what Notre Dame fans wanted to see.