By John Brice
Special Contributor
By halftime, Notre Dame’s offense had exceeded its output from six of its first nine games.
The Fighting Irish special teams’ units again shined in multiple facets.
And the defense helped Notre Dame construct a large enough halftime advantage – 35-13 – to withstand Navy’s ball-control, rally attempt in the second half.
“Our ability to get a takeaway, that was huge,” Marcus Freeman told ABC. “To go in and score after the takeaway then a punt block, our offense turned it into points.
“We ended the first half the way we wanted to.”
Notre Dame didn’t stitch together four full quarters as it did in last week’s throttling of Clemson, but the Irish never were really threatened in a 35-32 win against the Midshipmen in one of college football’s most iconic rivalries.
“You’ve got to continue to tell yourself, it’s so hard to win and you’ve got to appreciate it,” Freeman said postgame, “but we didn’t finish the way we wanted to. …
“We’ll take a victory, that’s what’s most important. It was great {response after last week’s emotional win] to start the game, go up 35-13, but it was a tale of two halves. We came out with a victory, that’s so important. But, man, we gotta get better.”
As after every game, here’s the Fighting Irish 4-1-1 on their fourth-straight win, seventh in eight games and maintained the program’s unblemished mark against the Midshipmen in Baltimore since 1956.
FOUR ELEMENTS THAT DEFINED NOTRE DAME’s 7th WIN OF THE 2022 CAMPAIGN
38: Yards covered on what will perhaps stand as the catch of the year in college football. The play: Drew Pyne dropped back in the pocket, saw Braden Lenzy scorch past the Navy defender down the right sideline. But the ball hung up in the air a bit, allowing Navy to close on the open Lenzy. So what did the Irish senior wideout do? He leaped over Mbiti Williams Jr., pinned the ball on the defender’s back with both hands, and Lenzy then plucked the ball with one hand around into his midsection to secure the highlight-reel touchdown. It gave the Irish a 14-0 lead less than 11 minutes into the game.
7, 1: Once again, Notre Dame’s special teams overall were superior. But it was the Irish’s punt-block unit, which continues to validate Freeman’s proclamation that Brian Mason is the best special teams coordinator in college football, that helped spur a 21-point second-quarter outburst when Jack Kiser blocked a punt.
Notre Dame’s record-extending seventh blocked punt of the season, the group’s fifth-straight game with at least one block, set up a short-field touchdown.
Then, as the Midshipmen worked to get back into the game, Prince Kollie again showcased the ball skills that had made him a record-setting tailback at David Crockett High School. Kollie fielded the bounding onside-kick and cradled it into his midsection as he tumbled to the turf for his first career onside-kick recovery. Then, Matt Salerno ended the game with an additional onside recovery.
The Irish didn’t convert that Kollie possession into points, but Clarence Lewis cleaned up the situation with an acrobatic, diving interception that set up Notre Dame’s fourth touchdown of the afternoon.
12: Notre Dame needed every bit of its 22-point halftime edge, because the Irish offense mustered just 12 net yards. In fact, Navy scored more points in the fourth quarter – 16 – than the Irish had second-half offense.
In fact, Notre Dame had just one more offensive snap in the second half – 20 – than the Midshipmen had points, 19.
Still, despite just a single first down in the fourth quarter, the Irish possessed the ball for almost nine minutes – 8:55 – to hang on for the win.
241.9: Drew Pyne had the most efficient offensive performance of his career, even amidst the group’s second-half struggles to move the ball or maintain possessions. Notre Dame’s redshirt-sophomore quarterback finished the game 17-for-21 passing for 269 yards and four touchdowns for a scintillating 241.9 quarterback rating. Pyne helped ND’s offense convert five of its first six third-down attempts.
ONE THING TO NOTE:
Both Jayden Thomas and Deion Colzie flashed brilliantly in the win, especially in the Irish’s dominant first-half performance.
The duo of second-year wideouts combined for five receptions that covered 130 yards and included Thomas’s lunging snag for a 37-yard touchdown.
Both Colzie and Thomas helped the Irish move the chains with catches on third down, and it was Colzie’s 21-yard snag in the fourth quarter on third-and-15 that pushed Notre Dame to its lone second-half first down.
ONE THING PIVOTING FORWARD:
Notre Dame needs to get healthy moving forward for its final two games, particularly with top-10 USC awaiting on the road in the regular-season finale.
Against Navy, Notre Dame did not have standard defensive starters J.D. Bertrand (linebacker) and Brandon Joseph (safety) plus missed freshman wideout Tobias Merriweather.
The Irish defense got 23 combined tackles from the linebacking trio of Jack Kiser, Marist Liufau and Prince Kollie but seemed particularly to miss Bertrand’s command of the defense while Joseph’s back-end patrolling likewise was missed.