Jonaz Walton Breaks down the sideline on his way to the endzone against Stanford. (Photo: Joe Weiser/Fighting Irish Preview)
There’s nothing quite like a victory to take the sting out of a painful defeat. And after what happened in Provo, Notre Dame could certainly use one.
The Irish didn’t lose to BYU because they were overmatched. They lost a game they had every opportunity to win. Missed chances, costly mistakes, and an offense that never quite found its rhythm turned a winnable game into Notre Dame’s first defeat in 399 days. That one hurt. And no amount of second-guessing, replaying controversial calls, or wondering what might have been is going to change the final score. But beating Navy on Saturday? That would certainly help.
And there’s something particularly fitting about the opponent waiting for the Irish.
Notre Dame and Navy share one of the most remarkable relationships in college football. It’s a rivalry born not out of bitterness or geography, but out of gratitude. During World War II, when Notre Dame’s very existence was threatened by financial hardship, the United States Navy established a training program on campus that helped keep the university afloat. Notre Dame has never forgotten that debt, and nearly a century after these two programs first met, the rivalry continues, built on a foundation of mutual respect.
But respect doesn’t mean taking an opponent lightly, and sentimentality won’t have much place on the field Saturday afternoon at Gillette Stadium.
Notre Dame is 6–1, and while the loss to BYU certainly complicated the road ahead, the Irish still control something far more important than the national conversation about their playoff chances. They control how they respond.
And that response ought to involve more than simply playing harder. There are some things this football team can do differently, starting Saturday against Navy.
Give Walton the Football
Let’s start with the most obvious question coming out of Provo. How does a running back rush for 181 yards on 13 carries against Stanford, including touchdown runs of 97 and 40 yards, and then get just five carries against BYU?
Jonaz Walton has earned a bigger role in this offense. His speed is exceptional, but what makes him so dangerous is his ability to turn an ordinary play into a touchdown. Against BYU, he played just 10 snaps, yet scored Notre Dame’s final touchdown and added the two-point conversion. Playing a weapon that explosive for just 10 snaps defies logic, especially in a game where the Irish desperately needed someone to make a big play.
Nolan James has been effective, and Aneyas Williams brings experience, toughness and leadership. There’s room for all three. But Walton has demonstrated a dimension that this offense desperately needs. Give him the football, and give opposing defenses something else to worry about.
Give the Receivers Some Help — and Some Rest
Jaden Greathouse, Jordan Faison and Micah Gilbert have become a respectable receiving trio. But Notre Dame cannot expect those three to handle practically every meaningful snap for the rest of the season.
Against BYU, the Irish used just four wide receivers, with Mylan Graham getting only three snaps. That’s an extraordinarily narrow rotation for a team with this much talent. Elijah Burress has already demonstrated his big-play potential, and there are other young receivers capable of contributing.
Nobody is suggesting taking the ball away from the starters. But a fresher Greathouse, Faison and Gilbert in the fourth quarter might be worth considerably more than another dozen snaps in the first half. And developing additional receivers now could pay enormous dividends in November and beyond.
How About a Little More Imagination?
When was the last time we saw Jordan Faison take a jet sweep? Or saw the Irish consistently use motion to create confusion before the snap?
Mike Denbrock has plenty of weapons. I’d like to see him use a few more pages of the playbook.
Here’s a number that ought to get everyone’s attention. According to Pro Football Focus data reported following the BYU game, Notre Dame used play-action passes on just three of CJ Carr’s 51 dropbacks. Three! That’s less than six percent.
Think about that. Notre Dame wants to establish the running game, has several dangerous running backs, and yet barely asks opposing linebackers to respect the possibility of a handoff before dropping into coverage.
Carr is a gifted quarterback, but against BYU he was asked to make an awful lot of difficult throws into tight windows. He completed 27 of 49 passes for 261 yards, and some of his misses were costly. But why make him work so hard for everything?
A convincing play fake can freeze a linebacker. A jet sweep can force a defense to defend the entire width of the field. Motion can expose coverage and create favorable matchups. None of this requires abandoning Notre Dame’s identity. It simply makes that identity harder to defend.
And while we’re talking about underutilized weapons, how about Ian Premer? Notre Dame didn’t earn the nickname Tight End U by accident, but through seven games, the Irish have gotten next to nothing from the position as a receiving threat. That’s particularly frustrating when you consider the talent sitting on the bench.
Premer is a five-star freshman with extraordinary receiving skills, and at 6-foot-6, he offers something Notre Dame’s passing game has been missing: a big, athletic target who can compete for those 50/50 balls. For all the talent in the Irish receiving corps, its lack of size has made contested catches a recurring problem. Premer could help solve that, particularly in the red zone, where his height and ability to go up after the football could give CJ Carr a much larger margin for error.
I’m not suggesting the kid needs to become the featured receiver overnight. But Notre Dame recruited one of the nation’s most talented tight ends for a reason. Isn’t it time to see what he can do?
CJ Carr doesn’t need to be perfect on every throw if the offense does a better job making life difficult for the people trying to stop him.
Get KVA More Involved
Kyngstonn Viliamu-Asa is too good a football player to spend extended stretches on the sideline when he’s healthy. And Saturday’s matchup with Navy presents an interesting opportunity to make better use of his talents.
Defending Navy’s unconventional option attack requires a different kind of discipline. Linebackers must recognize their assignments, read the quarterback, account for the pitch man and resist the temptation to chase the football. One missed assignment can turn what looks like a routine running play into a substantial gain.
That’s where KVA’s instincts, physicality and ability to diagnose plays could be particularly valuable. Drayk Bowen remains an important part of this defense, as do Jaiden Ausberry and Jaylen Sneed. But Notre Dame needs to find ways to get Viliamu-Asa involved without compromising the assignment discipline that defending the option demands.
And looking beyond Navy, KVA’s ability to attack downhill, pressure quarterbacks and disrupt plays in the backfield ought to make him an increasingly important part of Notre Dame’s defensive plans down the stretch.
Bring Back the Defensive Aggression — Without the Penalties
Notre Dame’s defense has been at its best when it dictates the action. The Irish have the personnel to overwhelm offensive lines, disrupt plays in the backfield and make life miserable for opposing quarterbacks. But against Navy, that aggression will have to be accompanied by an extraordinary amount of discipline.
The Midshipmen’s unconventional option attack is designed to exploit defenders who get impatient or abandon their assignments. Chase the quarterback when you’re responsible for the pitch man, and suddenly there’s nobody home on the perimeter. Attack the wrong gap, and Navy can turn a modest gain into a big play. The Irish need to be physical and aggressive, but they also need to trust their assignments and tackle exceptionally well.
Against BYU, Boubacar Traore’s targeting ejection on the opening possession took one of Notre Dame’s most disruptive defenders out of the game. The defense deserves credit for holding BYU to seven second-half points, but the Irish weren’t nearly as effective at pressuring Bear Bachmeier without Traore. His absence was a reminder that undisciplined aggression can carry an enormous price.
Notre Dame needs its defenders playing fast, keeping their heads up and finishing tackles properly. Against Navy, that means controlling the line of scrimmage, maintaining gap integrity and making certain the quarterback, dive back and pitch man are accounted for on every option play.
But there’s a bigger picture here. Notre Dame has four more games after Navy, and getting back to the aggressive, attacking defense that overwhelmed opponents during the first six weeks will pay dividends down the stretch. With Traore back in the lineup and a talented collection of defenders around him, the Irish have the personnel to make opposing offenses miserable. They need to get back to doing it.
Against Navy, aggression must be controlled. Against the opponents that follow, it needs to be unleashed. The challenge is knowing the difference without sacrificing the physicality that makes this defense so dangerous.
The Best Response Is a Victory
Look, Notre Dame doesn’t need to reinvent the wheel. This is still a very good football team, one with enough talent to make a serious run at a national championship. But the loss at BYU exposed a few things that need fixing, and Marcus Freeman and his staff have had two weeks to figure out how to fix them.
And now comes Navy. The Midshipmen won’t care one bit about Notre Dame’s disappointment in Provo, or how badly the Irish need a victory. They’ll show up in Foxborough with every intention of making a difficult couple of weeks even worse.
Notre Dame has five regular-season games left, and there’s not much room for another stumble. The road to the College Football Playoff got considerably narrower in Provo, but it certainly didn’t disappear. There’s still plenty out there for this team to accomplish, provided the Irish take care of business.
I’d like to see Jonaz Walton get the football. I’d like to see Mike Denbrock open up the playbook, get some fresh legs involved and give CJ Carr a few more ways to beat a defense. And I’d like to see Notre Dame’s defense get back to making life downright miserable for opposing offenses.
Most of all, I want to see the Irish play with the confidence, swagger and physicality that made them look like a national championship contender through the first six games. One loss shouldn’t change who this team is. But how it responds will tell us plenty about what it’s capable of becoming.
The Irish have had two weeks to think about what went wrong in Provo. That’s long enough. The mistakes have been dissected, the opportunities second-guessed and the disappointment thoroughly absorbed.
Enough already.
It’s time to quit talking about losing and get back to winning.