Notre Dame Football Grades: Offense vs. Navy

The Notre Dame football team defeated the Naval Academy, 24-17, on Saturday. The Irish and Quarterback Brandon Wimbush got off to a sloppy start against the Midshipmen. However, with a minute left in the first half, the Notre Dame offense kicked it into high gear. Here are the grades for the Irish offense against the United States Naval Academy.

Brandon Wimbush started off missing the majority of his passes. However, after Wimbush shook off the jitters, he helped lead the Irish offense to three straight touchdown drives. In a game where the possessions were extremely valuable, this stretch was invaluable.

Wimbush finished the game with 164 passing yards on 9 out of 18 passing with 2 touchdowns.

Notre Dame star Josh Adams fought through pain to generate 106 yards on 18 carries. Throughout the game, the Irish Running Back was brought down on plays that he normally would take the distance (or at least a big run).

Tony Jones Jr. pitched in with 3 carries for 20 yards. Dexter Williams, despite being healthy, did not receive a carry during the game.

Sophomore Wide Receiver Kevin Stepherson made the difference for the Irish on Saturday. Stepherson finished the game with 103 yards on 5 receptions. He scored two touchdowns for the Fighting Irish.

Miles Boykin and Chase Claypool added 33 yards and 28 yards respectively. Notre Dame’s top target, Equanimeous St. Brown, suffered a concussion after falling on his head after a high throw. Boykin’s play was not exceptional. However, he filled in well after the injuries to St. Brown and Claypool.

The Irish Tight Ends played well in the running game. In the passing game, they did not notch a reception. However, this was not really their fault. Wimbush missed Alize Mack twice on simple throws.

With that being said, the performance of Alize Mack has been disappointing. Mack was expected to be one of the biggest playmakers if not the biggest playmaker.

The Notre Dame Offensive Line did not put up the crazy numbers. However, that was mainly due to the lack of possessions. Even though the Irish received about half of the drives that they normally would, Notre Dame’s Offensive Line could still have done a better job at push an undersized Navy team around.

Notre Dame only put up 24 points. The Irish could have made this an easy game if they had executed earlier. However, they were efficient with the number of possessions they received.