Improved Navy defense seeks to slow No. 15 Notre Dame

“It’s a hard transition, but that’s what’s great about Notre Dame”.

It’s a frustrating position to be in, but Notre Dame football no longer controls its own destiny.

All this was accomplished by a team that was not even ranked in the preseason Top 25 going into their 2014-15 campaign.

The Notre Dame football team now has no margin for error. “He’s somebody that I think is looking at football through a different lens and understands that there are so many details to it…” Defensively, the Notre Dame Fighting Irish yield 182.4 yards in passing and 150.0 yards in rushing.

Reynolds is a similar option quarterback to Georgia Tech’s Justin Thomas in how they operate their respective offenses, though Reynolds has proven to be the better player this year.

But Kelly thinks the Irish have a schedule in front of them that can allow them to step back into the race. But with a one-loss team, it’s important to remember, appearances matter.

His visit to Notre Dame is his first official visit, though he has visited nearby Texas before unofficially. Navy will have a chance to improve on that Saturday. An annual David & Goliath matchup, both schools remain committed the game, part of the unique bond that exists between the two institutions.

Reynolds saw his first action as a freshman in 2012, thrown into action in Dublin after starting quarterback Trey Miller went down. Getting behind Navy early is a worst-case scenario situation.

That’s exactly what happened following his visit to Notre Dame. It’s now ND’s job to take care of business and hope everything else falls into place. Reynolds rushed for 183 yards, including 117 in the first half on the way to a 21-0 lead, to give Navy the upper hand in reclaiming the CIC Trophy following a one-year hiatus.

The biggest enemy facing the Notre Dame offense is turnovers.

Northwestern leads the nation in scoring defense, allowing seven points per game. Critics of Notre Dame making the playoffs will tell you playing only 12 games puts them on uneven footing against teams who “had to play 13” games. They played very disciplined defense that day. Reynolds ran for three touchdowns against the Irish in 2013. I would expect much of the same in this game.

“It was like, ‘Joe, we can’t call you.’ And he’s like, ‘Why aren’t you calling me?”

Mike Brey and company look to get over the sting of losing their long-time top target with a 5-star visit this weekend.

Then when Notre Dame scored a touchdown early in the 4th quarter and went for two, Robinson couldn’t make the catch for the conversion.

What do we want from Clemson? “We can not let Clemson beat us twice”, he said.

“Champions don’t lose”, he continued.

It would have been in Notre Dame’s best interest if USC won the rest of their games (except for the one on October 17), but the Trojans were tripped up last night by Washington.

The Irish have been down this road before, outlasting an eventual nine-win Navy team in 2013 one week after beating another triple-option team, Air Force. Two of those came in the final seven minutes. Hopefully he can carry that confidence into the rest of the year. The Ducks and Crimson Tide both lost their fifth games. Navy will look to attack the Irish and take away its ability to gash its defense on the ground over and over. I think it’s too early in the season to have a definitive outcome on this game. “We’ve got a few ideas of what we can do, but he’s going to adjust very quickly to us and we’ve got to be able to adjust”.