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Notre Dame Football vs. Navy Midshipmen Gameday Primer

By Mason Plummer

DURHAM, NORTH CAROLINA - NOVEMBER 09: Chase Claypool #83 of the Notre Dame Fighting Irish celebrates after scoring a touchdown against the Duke Blue Devils during the first quarter of their game at Wallace Wade Stadium on November 09, 2019 in Durham, North Carolina. (Photo by Grant Halverson/Getty Images)
DURHAM, NORTH CAROLINA - NOVEMBER 09: Chase Claypool #83 of the Notre Dame Fighting Irish celebrates after scoring a touchdown against the Duke Blue Devils during the first quarter of their game at Wallace Wade Stadium on November 09, 2019 in Durham, North Carolina. (Photo by Grant Halverson/Getty Images) /
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SAN DIEGO, CA – OCTOBER 27: Notre Dame football coach Brian Kelly greets head coach Ken Niumatalolo the Navy Midshipmen at mid-field following their game at SDCCU Stadium on October 27, 2018 in San Diego, California. (Photo by Kent Horner/Getty Images) /

After throttling a very solid Duke team, Notre Dame football moves to 7-2 and takes on Navy this week. Here is everything you need to know before kickoff:

Finally. Notre Dame football defeated a good team soundly without any shadow of a doubt. Beating Duke 38-7 was exactly the kind of ‘pick me up’ this team needed as it headed towards more tough games against Navy, Boston College and Stanford.

Now, let’s break down today’s matchup and get you all the information you need before kickoff.

Kickoff: 2:30 pm EST

Channel: NBC

Location: Notre Dame Stadium, South Bend, Indiana

Line: Notre Dame -10

Weather: At kickoff, it will be a chilly 32 degrees with 80 percent humidity. The forecast shows the chance of rain at 10 percent with winds coming out of the ESE at 8 mph.

Series history: Notre Dame leads 76-13-1

Top storylines: 

  • First in this week’s top storylines, it has to be Slap The Sign contributor Ryan Palmeri’s article that lit up message boards all across ND Nation this week. The article, asking the valid question on whether or not Notre Dame should keep Navy on the schedule, had many people giving their opinions on the topic in pretty harsh manors. It’s clearly a subject that gets under the skin of many fans for one reason or another and Ryan killed it. Personally, I see both sides of the argument. On one hand, Navy singlehandedly saved Notre Dame from being bankrupt decades ago and essentially kept the university alive. On the other hand, it is always a rough game because of the way Navy plays the triple-option, and Notre Dame really has nothing to gain from winning this game, but everything to lose. I digress.
  • Next, now with two of Notre Dame’s top three defensive ends out for the season, is Navy going to be able to run all over Notre Dame? In short, no. If there was a position on the field — on either side of the ball — that the Irish could lose a few guys, it’s the defensive end position. Losing Julian Okwara and Daelin Hayes most definitely hurts, but more-so the latter in this game specifically. Okwara has not shown that he cared even slightly about stopping the run this season, so he probably would not have played a ton in this game regardless. The revelation of Jamir Jones and the linebackers as a whole should put Notre Dame in a good, but not great position to stop Navy’s triple-option attack. Linebackers Drew White, Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah and Asmar Bilal have all been great this season — especially against the run — but only Bilal has really seen the Navy attack before.
  • Lastly, Alohi Gilman playing against his former school. If you didn’t know, three years ago, Gilman left the Naval Academy to play football at Notre Dame and pursue his dream of becoming an NFL player. His transfer from Navy was not met with kind words from many Navy fans and it ended up being a huge story last season, as it was his first time playing against his former teammates. Now, this is his second around, but there is no doubt that there is still likely some hard feelings between the two sides. Look for Gilman to be playing especially hard.

Injury report: 

  • Notre Dame senior DE Julian Okwara is out for the season with a broken fibula suffered against Navy.
  • Notre Dame sophomore WR Braden Lenzy is questionable with fatigue.
  • Notre Dame senior RB Tony Jones Jr. is questionable with a rib injury suffered two weeks ago.
  • Navy sophomore LB Tama Tuitele is questionable with a leg injury. He has missed the past two games for the Midshipmen.
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