Noah Cahill
Last season’s edition of this historic matchup had some College Football Playoff stakes. It seemed it would look similar this time around, until Navy fell to North Texas last weekend. Nonetheless, the 7-1 Midshipmen should expect to compete on Saturday.
Turnovers stifled any attempt at an upset a year ago. Notre Dame’s upward trend on defense has coincided with forcing more of them. Despite putting together another stellar season, quarterback Blake Horvath has been more prone to giving the ball away, already tossing five interceptions in a low-volume passing offense. On the other side of the ball, the Irish, as they often do, have the advantage in the trenches. Should they get their hands on the football and continue to rush effectively, they will cruise to a seventh-straight victory.
Prediction: Notre Dame: 42, Navy: 17
Chris Dailey
I’m a big fan of what Navy head coach Brian Newberry has built. In his third year in charge, he’s got the Midshipmen out to a 7-1 start. Quarterback Blake Horvath is always primed for a big-time play and the do-it-all Eli Heidenreich has accumulated 575 yards in the air alongside 342 yards on the ground. However, for as explosive as the Navy offense is, Freeman has experience defending the triple-option dating back to his days at Cincinnati. While Navy does present one of the more unique challenges for Notre Dame this season, the Irish are pound for pound the superior team.
On the Notre Dame side of things, it would be nice to see Eli Raridon get back into the mix. The mammoth of a tight end is six-foot-seven and has tallied 406 yards this season. When Raridon gets going, the Irish offense feels more complete. He had a measly 1 reception for 5 yards against the Trojans before getting things going with a 59 yard performance versus Boston College. Aside from the big-man, the Irish’s running-back tandem nicknamed “the fleet” elevates this offense from really good to elite. Expect the fleet to sink the Midshipmen.
Prediction: Notre Dame: 41 , Navy: 17
Ben Hicks
Notre Dame seemed to get their one letdown of the season out of the way last Saturday in Chestnut Hill, but the service academies always present a difficult challenge. Despite a defeat at North Texas a week ago, this is a very good Navy football team traveling to South Bend, and their hybrid wing-T, triple option attack will require additional preparation for Chris Ash’s defense. Factor in the rivalry game emotions, and this duel has all the makings for a nail-biter.
The Midshipmen have both the talent and the scheme to keep this game close in the first half, much like a greatly inferior Boston College team did a week ago. At the end of the day, Marcus Freeman and Notre Dame have simply too much at stake to play below their capacity for longer than that, however. The favorable positioning in the initial CFP rankings would seem to suggest that winning out would see Notre Dame continue its season into the Playoff, but with multiple two-loss SEC teams on their tail, the Irish will need to look good over their final four contests. Notre Dame’s defense should settle into the old-school Midshipmen approach, and Jeremiyah Love seems hellbent on singlehandedly running the Irish to the postseason if necessary. Notre Dame will beat Navy on Saturday, setting up a crucial battle with Pittsburgh next weekend.
Prediction: Notre Dame: 42, Navy: 20
Henry Lytle
Notre Dame has not had a close game against Navy since 2022, where a near miracle comeback by the Midshipmen cut the game close in the fourth quarter. Last season, the Irish slammed the doors shut on Navy’s chances at the Playoff, and I expect a similar outcome this weekend. In the first night game in the history of this series, look for some extra life inside Notre Dame Stadium that will set the tone for the Irish to begin hot.
Last week, Notre Dame struggled on the road with kicking and special teams against Boston College. This is certainly a major facet of the game to straighten out and it’s an opportunity for the kicking to get its footing at home. The Irish still controlled the turnover margin last week in large part to help win the game; I think it will be the same case here. Navy suffered its first loss last week against North Texas by giving away three turnovers and scoring under 20 points for the first time in its season. North Texas rushed for four touchdowns as well, and with the fearsome duo of Love and Price capable of breaking a long run at any moment, I think the Irish offense is too much for Navy to handle. Navy is extremely reliant on the run, leading the country in yards per rush and yards per game. They have yet to play a defense remotely the caliber of the Irish, who are quietly boasting an extremely strong rushing defense. The matchup is bad for the Midshipmen, so I expect Notre Dame to comfortably win big.
Prediction: Notre Dame: 31 , Navy: 13
Tyler Reidy
For me, this game is all about turnover margin. A year ago, when the Irish mastered the Midshipmen in a top-25 matchup, Navy turned the ball over six times and exited contention in a flash. And last week against North Texas, even though they moved the ball well and established their identity on the ground, the Midshipmen still committed three turnovers to kill otherwise impressive drives and lost 31-17.
Meanwhile, Notre Dame’s got the hot hand as far as turnover generation goes. The Irish have forced three takeaways in each of their last three games and they haven’t lost or tied the turnover margin in a single game since Sept. 13 against Texas A&M. Navy might produce a bit more on offense with Notre Dame’s defense less experienced than it was last year, but I still expect the Irish to win sizably via their ability to run the ball and take the football away.
Prediction: Notre Dame: 40, Navy: 20
Claire Watson
Coming off a lackluster 25-10 win over Boston College, the Irish now gear up to face Navy at home in another edition of the traditional rivalry. While most wanted or expected the margin to be higher against the Eagles, Notre Dame still continued its winning streak on the road to keep Playoff chances alive.
Notre Dame struggled this past weekend as the offense did little outside of a 94-yard touchdown from junior running back Jeremiyah Love. The backfield duo of Love and fellow junior Jadarian Price only totaled 159 rushing yards, a significant drop from the 306 rushing yards against USC a week prior.
On the other side of the ball, the Notre Dame defense held its ground and performed well, holding the Eagles’ offense short on multiple fourth down attempts. Should they continue this strong performance and get an offensive display akin to earlier in the season, the Irish should be able to take the win over Navy.
Prediction: Notre Dame: 35 , Navy: 21
