In a late-October game littered with College Football Playoff implications, only one team looked the part of a true contender. No. 12 Notre Dame decimated No. 24 Navy by a 51-14 score on Saturday afternoon at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey, ending the Midshipmen’s unbeaten start. The Irish, who improved to 7-1 on the year, forced five turnovers and tallied at least 20 points in each half. Here are five key moments to look back on as Notre Dame heads into its second bye week.
Leonard leads the way on drive number one
Notre Dame’s offense didn’t take long to start the scoring in the Meadowlands, marching 75 yards in less than five minutes for an opening-drive touchdown. Senior quarterback Riley Leonard set the pace, completing all four of his passes to different targets for a combined 64 yards. His deep shot to sophomore wideout Jaden Greathouse gained 42 of those yards, flipping the field and placing Notre Dame in the red zone. After two gives to sophomore running back Jeremiyah Love put the Irish at the goal line, Leonard went up-tempo and snuck over the plane for a 1-yard touchdown, his 11th rushing score of the season.
Shuler’s scoop sets the table for another score
On Navy’s opening drive, the Midshipmen gained two first downs before putting the football on the deck. Fullback Alex Tecza bobbled a right-side toss – much like Travis Etienne did in the 2020 Notre Dame-Clemson – and couldn’t hang on as he went to the turf. As the pigskin squirted toward the sideline, sophomore safety Adon Shuler ran up and snatched the ball in stride, returning it to the Navy 7-yard line.
Following the turnover, Leonard nearly plunged in for another 1-yard touchdown, but a false start set the Irish back to third and goal from the 6. They would score anyway, as Leonard located graduate wide receiver Kris Mitchell, who stood all alone in the middle of the checkered end zone. On Mitchell’s second touchdown in three games, Notre Dame led 14-0 with less than 10 minutes having gone by.
Yoakam’s miss springs Navy back into life
With the first quarter winding down, Notre Dame could have gone up by three touchdowns on another Midshipmen miscue. This time, star quarterback Blake Horvath dropped a fake handoff, leading to an Irish recovery by junior defensive end Junior Tuihalamaka. Notre Dame threatened to hit paydirt again, with Leonard rushing for 17 and 8 yards on consecutive carries to approach the end zone. However, after a third-down sack of Leonard, junior kicker Zac Yoakam, still filling in for injured graduate student Mitch Jeter, came on and slipped a 36-yard field goal wide to the left.
Still within two scores, Navy finally held onto the football and pushed back on the ensuing drive. After a pass interference penalty positioned the Midshipmen near midfield, Horvath took a triple option run 47 yards to the house, answering Leonard with his 11th rushing touchdown of the year. With 13 minutes and 33 seconds to play until halftime, Navy had trimmed Notre Dame’s lead to 14-7.
Love double-dips to bookend another Navy turnover
Just three plays into the following Irish drive, Love neutralized Navy’s surge with a big burst of his own. Running between the tackles from the Notre Dame 36-yard line, the sophomore slipped into the secondary on a terrific block by senior center Pat Coogan. A few seconds later, Love reached the end zone for the ninth consecutive game – including last year’s Sun Bowl. The 64-yard sprint restored Notre Dame’s 14-point lead at 21-7 with 12:23 remaining in the first half.
After the teams traded three-and-outs, Notre Dame punted the football away. The short kick hung up in the spiraling MetLife stadium wind, angling toward the Irish sideline. Navy returner Isaiah Bryant raced up to the landing zone but made a miscalculation, coming up short and grazing the ball with his fingertips. Graduate linebacker Jack Kiser covered up the muff, sending the Notre Dame offense right back onto the field a the Navy 40.
A holding penalty pushed the Irish back to midfield right away, and it seemed as if they once again wouldn’t capitalize on Navy’s mistake. Instead, they used a 17-yard slant pass to sophomore wide receiver Jordan Faison to convert a fourth-and-7. Five plays later, Love returned to the end zone, extending Notre Dame’s lead to 28-7 with his second touchdown of the quarter.
Irish put the anchor down in the second half
Navy made the game slightly interesting to start the second half, scoring on the opening drive to close within a 31-14 score. Notre Dame would then rattle off 20 consecutive points to put the game on ice and sink the Midshipmen. Leonard continued his big day and answered the Navy score quickly, using a 25-yard run to set up his 37-yard deep-ball touchdown to Beaux Collins. The graduate wideout’s second scoring catch of the season restored Notre Dame’s 24-point advantage.
In an afternoon full of subpar play, Navy’s ensuing drive took the cake. Bryant failed to catch the kickoff, as the ball clanked off his chest and out of bounds at the 4-yard line. Working in the shadow of his goal line, Horvath then had a passing attempt slip out of his right hand. The ball trickled into the end zone, where junior linebacker Jaylen Sneed crashed on top of it for a defensive touchdown. Though Yoakam would miss the extra point, Notre Dame still led by 30 points at the end of three quarters.
Navy would commit a fifth and final turnover early in the final quarter, with freshman cornerback Leonard Moore hauling down his first career interception. Notre Dame’s backups would pay off the pick, as freshman running back Kedren Young handled a heavy workload and powered into the end zone from 4 yards out. Young’s first collegiate score sealed the deal on both a 51-point Irish avalanche and a 265-yard Notre Dame amalgamation on the ground.
