Notre Dame 41 Navy 24

I was sick of all this “respect” talk after about 2 minutes but NBC with 2 jackass announcers went at it non stop for 3 hours. Let me be blunt – while ND may have some respect for Navy, Navy has no respect at all for ND period and they haven’t for about 80 years.

I came pretty close on my game prediction except for the 1st possessions of each team. ND opened up 3 and out while Navy ran 3 plays for 80 yards and a TD. On ND’s 1st go at it the smaller Navy DL plastered all 5 315 lb ND OL and made it look easy.

Early in the game ND made an art form of missing tackles and over running plays – exit Max Redfield and enter Matthias Farley who ended up with 7 tackles.

Justin Yoon’s 52 yd FG just before the half really ended the game especially when Navy fumbled the kickoff opening the 3rd quarter and ND scored. ND also got some Homer calls which further doomed Navy.

Defense:

• On defense ILB Greer Martini was a force and finished with 9 tackles matched by DL Sheldon Day.
• At the start of the 3rd. quarter Jarrett Grace 250 lbs was inserted as OLB to handle Navy’s FB. He finished with 5 tackles.
• Jaylon Smith’s play of the game was running down the Navy QB 50 yards down the field. The only problem there was is that the QB initially ran right past him. On Jaylon – if you are to be considered a big star you’ve got to be a dominating force. That honor goes to DL Sheldon Day. He’s hands down ND’s best defensive player, every game.

Offense:

• On offense QB Kizer again played well, but he just has a lot of problems with short passes. On the other hand, he is awfully poised and completed a flush out long pass to Fuller for a TD.
• CJ Prosise ran for 100 plus yards again (often without any blocking) and scored 3 TD’s.

Overall ND still has a lot of work to do especially with the OL, DL and LB’s. Joe Schmidt looks slow and out of place, Jaylon had long stretches missing in action and I don’t know what to say about Redfield.

Up next a disappointing USC who had visions of the final four.

Here is the Brian Kelly Press Conference after the Navy game: