Navy head coach Brian Newberry knows his team has its work cut out for it even to stay competitive against Notre Dame. During his press conference earlier this week, Newberry outlined what his team needs to do to have a shot at an upset and the expectations he wants his crew to bring into the game.
“We absolutely have to win the turnover battle to have a chance to win this game. It’d be great if you can steal possession somewhere. Obviously, we got to take care of the football to be able to keep their offense off the field. One play at a time. Let’s get first downs, but let’s stay on the field.”
Winning the turnover battle against Notre Dame is easier said than done. The Fighting Irish are second in the country in turnover margin at +14. No team has won the turnover battle this season. Not even BYU. A couple of games have seen ND match the turnovers, but several more have seen the Irish win the battle by a wide margin.
Navy also struggles to take care of the ball. The Midshipmen are currently tied for 125th in the country, with a -6 TO margin for the season.
Navy’s turnover problems collide with Notre Dame football’s plus-14 margin before matchup
Unsurprisingly, because the Irish are heavy favorites and Navy hasn’t played well this season, there’s been plenty of talk that Newberry needs to play perfectly. He was asked about that perception at his press conference.
“You hate to put that kind of pressure on our guys. The way that I look at it, the message that I’m going to give to our team today is let’s go try to win one play at a time. Each play is a life of its own, and let’s go try to win that play and then move on to the next one.”
“We’re going to have to play extremely well. And hopefully we’ll catch some breaks and the ball bounces our way a couple of times. It’s really, really important that we’re in the game in the first half and kind of go from there.”
Newberry knows that his squad will need to do things they haven’t done all that often this season if it wants to knock off Notre Dame.
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