(Notre Dame) — The US Post Office has gone by the motto of “neither rain, nor snow, nor gloom of night shall keep us from our appointed rounds.”
The Irish offense could have used the same motto Saturday night.
Scoring on seven of its first eight possessions, Notre Dame (7-2) dominated Navy (7-2) in a 49-10 drubbing inside the snow globe that was Notre Dame Stadium.
In a near-immaculate performance, the Irish racked up 502 yards, went 7-10 on third down and 2-2 on 4th, committing no turnovers and no penalties. Quarterback C.J. Carr completed 13 of 16 passes for 218 yards and three touchdowns to lead the Irish to their seventh straight victory.
“I thought our guys prepared the right way with difficult practices and delivered,” said Irish head coach Marcus Freeman. “You practice really hard on Tuesday. You prepare, put the work in and then you really lock in and focus on play one. Then you do it again on play two. We don’t tolerate below standard performances.”
Meanwhile, the Notre Dame defense held the nation’s top rushing offense to a mere 206 yards, well below its average. Navy was playing without starting quarterback Blake Horvath, who suffered an upper body injury against North Texas and was a game-time decision.
“All week as a defense we talked about how they would show us a lot of window dressing,” noted Irish linebacker Jaiden Ausberry, who led the charge with eight tackles and two tackles for loss. “Once the ball is snapped, it’s football. We have to play fast and play violent.”
Notre Dame broke a 7-7 tie in the second quarter with an impressive nine-play drive. Carr completed a fourth-down pass to Jordan Faison, and on the next play, Jadarian Price punched it in from three yards out to make it 14-7.
On the next drive, Carr converted a huge third down with a 27-yard pass to Will Pauling. The ensuing play saw Carr go to Faison in the right flat for a five-yard score and it was 21-7.
After Navy narrowed the gap to 21-10 at half, the Irish came out smoking in the second half. Jeremiyah Love made the play of the game, spinning from one Navy defender and then rolling over a tackler without hitting the ground, popping on to his feet and racing 48 yards down the Irish sideline to paydirt.
Asked if Love was a Heisman contender, Freeman responded “In my mind yes, he is. There is no question about it. You talk about one of the best players in the country, if he’s not one of them, then, you know, it’s hard to believe how many other players are that special. He’s a special player and he had a great week of prep and, again, continues to do things that you haven’t seen but things you know — you’re not surprised with Jeremiyah Love.”
After Love’s touchdown, Navy turned it over on downs at its own 34, and Carr needed just one play. The freshman quarterback lobbed a perfect post pattern pass to KK Smith in the back of the end zone to put the Irish comfortably on top.
A four-yard pass from Carr to Ty Washington and a 52-yard run by sparingly-used Aneyas Williams accounted for the rest of the Irish scoring.
The win fired up Irish nickel back Devonta Smith who said “The best teams win in November and we believe we’re one of the best teams in the country and we’re going to continue to prove that.”
Notre Dame gets its next chance to do that next Saturday, visiting Pitt for a noon start. Recap this game and get a preview of the Panthers Monday night on Notre Dame Federal Credit Union’s “Irish Football Fix” on Pulse FM (103.1) at 7 p.m.
