Angela Driskell, Irish Breakdown
Oct 31, 2026 11:00 AM
Facing a vulnerable Midshipmen secondary, the Irish must unleash CJ Carr and prioritize an aggressive aerial attack to regain momentum and exploit one of college football’s worst defenses.
The 5th-ranked Notre Dame Fighting Irish will look to get back on track today when they take on the Navy Midshipmen. Notre Dame is coming off its first loss of the season and will look to start another long win streak. For that to happen, the Notre Dame offense will need to improve. That can start against a struggling Navy defense, which ranks 108th in scoring defense, 102nd in yards allowed per play and 76 in yards allowed per game.
For Notre Dame to not only dominate Navy, but also to build some momentum going into the remainder of the season it will need to thrive in four key areas.
1. Start Fast - Starting fast again Navy is important for an offense that has been inconsistent for much of the season. The unit failed to make winning plays against BYU, and a fast start allows it to quickly build confidence. It also allows the offense to get Navy on its heels early in the game. Navy has struggled mightily on defense this season, and jumping on them early not only saps the Midshipmen defense of any hope it can stop the Irish, it also puts the Navy offense in a really bad spot.
Navy has a good offense this season, but it's not an offense that you want to play catch up with. A fast start by the Notre Dame offense forces the Navy to match those early scores, and if the Irish defense can make a couple of stops it forces Navy to play catch up. The option offense is just not built for that, especially against a team like Notre Dame.
2. Finally Time For The Pass Game To Shred - Notre Dame could certainly come out and run the ball on Navy, but is that really the best way to go at this defense? I don't think so. Forcing the run game against inferior opponents is what Notre Dame did most of the season prior to its matchup against BYU, and when the pass offense was finally forced to carry the offense it couldn't do it. This is a game where Notre Dame needs to build around its pass offense and finally make that the driver of the offense.
Quarterback CJ Carr is an elite talent, but he has been held back this season by a conservative, slow paced offense that has tried to force feed the run game all season. Allowing Carr to be the driver of the offense, and then allowing the run game to complement him, is what this offense should be. Navy ranks 123rd in pass defense, 136th in yards allowed per attempt and per completion, 134th in completion percentage allowed, 137th in most passes allowed of 30+ yards and 138th in pass efficiency defense. The Navy pass defense is brutally bad, which makes this group the perfect opponent for Notre Dame to get its pass game truly on track.
There are matchup advantages all over the field, and it's up to Mike Denbrock to figure out ways to take advantage of them. It's also a perfect game to see multiple receivers get involved, and hopefully we can finally see Jaden Greathouse and Jordan Faison get hot in the same game.
3. Mix Up The Run Game - Yes, I want Notre Dame to build its offense through the pass game, but I'm not asking Denbrock to pretend he's the late, great Mike Leach. Building around the pass game doesn't mean you are a pass heavy offense. This team still should be a balanced group, and that means still using the run game effectively. Against Navy, I want to see Denbrock and offensive line coach Joe Rudolph have a diverse run game that attacks the Midshipmen inside and out. The run game is heavy attacking the A and B gaps, which should work well against Navy, but this is also a defense that is quite vulnerable against perimeter runs, especially if Notre Dame can be wise with how it uses formations and also presnap movement.
4. Improved Third-Down Plan and Results - Notre Dame has struggled with third-down most of the season, and the offense must find answers. There have been some execution woes, but the third-down game plan has also been stagnant, relying far too much on static routes, and often too many routes are run short of the sticks. I want to see that Notre Dame used the bye week to evaluate why it has struggled on third-down, improve its execution and also improve the concepts its uses to find success on third-down.
---------
Comments
Powered by RoundtableAn AI/DeFi-powered Enterprise Media Operating System. Learn more at Roundtable.io.© Roundtable 2026. By using this site you agree to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy