Notre Dame vs. Navy: An Unexpectedly Close Matchup

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00:00All right, Notre Dame taking on Navy. This is not the matchup we're used to, where the

00:09Fighting Irish are less than two touchdown favorites against the Midshipmen, but that's

00:13where we're at. Navy's been really good. They're ranked in the top 25. Generally, here's how

00:19I used to view this game, Bill. Low scoring game, Notre Dame usually up about 28 to 7.

00:29Navy scores, you know, to make it a little closer, and then Notre Dame looks at the other

00:32sideline and says, it's an academy, let's just kneel the ball a few times and go home,

00:36and Navy covers, and Air Force covers, and Army covers. I mean, Notre Dame doesn't really

00:41run it up on these teams, but this is not that matchup, is it, this week? Navy's really

00:45good. Yeah, they got a really good quarterback in Blake Horvath with 10 touchdown passes,

00:5010 touchdown runs. They do have a threat to pass, which they typically don't. For Notre

00:55Dame, this is a hugely important game because it's part of the beauty pageant. You know,

00:59you look at the rest of their schedule, Florida State, Army, Virginia, USC, those teams have

01:04a combined record of 15 and 13. So I think they have to come out, put up a big number,

01:10play really good defense. You'll know early in this game, it's almost a bet in during

01:14the game, because if Navy swallows up the first quarter with one long drive, yeah, they'll

01:19probably cover. I like Notre Dame to cover in this game. I think their defense reacts

01:23well. Remember, they beat them 45-3 last year. Riley Leonard can run two, and that

01:28defense for Notre Dame only averages, allows four yards per carry. So there's a lot of

01:32things to me pointing to the Irish winning this game. I do know that Navy beat Memphis,

01:38but that's really the only team they beat this season.