In the preview article for this one, our own Brendan called out Navy’s ability to avoid turnovers, concluding it was partially them being really good at it and partially dumb luck.

Both of those things turned in a huge way Saturday, and because of it Notre Dame was never threatened in a 51-14 blowout of the Midshipmen that continued Notre Dame’s trend of looking better by the week. The Midshipmen had six turnovers, five of which were essentially gifted to ND.

Last week I started to believe the idea that had Riley Leonard been available in spring practice, a lot of the September issues Notre Dame had would have been avoided – and the Irish would probably be ranked in the top 3 right now. Saturday only made that belief stronger. These Irish bear almost no resemblance to the team we saw play against two MAC opponents.

More great work on defense

Fueled by two long runs by quarterback Blake Horvath, Navy was averaging over 10 yards a play at one point in the first half, but from that point on, the Midshipmen got very little going. The Midshipmen’s most successful play in the second half came as a result of the ND defense not staying at home after Horvath dropped a snap. Other than that, it was a slog for the home team, and they ended the game with 330 total yards on 57 plays.

It helped, of course, that ND proved adept at the ‘pick up the ball when Navy drops it for no reason’ defense.

Whether Horvath’s reported thumb injury was related to the Middies repeatedly putting the ball on the carpet or not, the Irish deserve the most minimal of golf claps for going to go get those footballs, but plenty of credit for shutting down the Navy run game, especially up the middle.

Almost everyone who saw the field for ND on defense played well, but Jack Kiser was the lynchpin as he so often is. Leonard Moore showed off his athleticism with the one takeaway the Irish indisputably earned, a leaping interception in the back of the end zone. Ben Morrison’s boasts about Moore over the summer look more prescient each week.

Regardless of what the ESPN commentators were trying to sell, I’m hopeful Al “Goldon” (seriously, guys?) is here for the long haul. He’s so good at what he does.

Riley Leonard is himself again

It can’t be denied any longer; this is The Good Riley Leonard.

It’s a given that Navy’s defense isn’t that great anyway, and that ND has an overwhelming talent advantage over the Midshipmen at the best of times. Still, Leonard looked completely in command of the Notre Dame offense. He took off when it was the smart play, he threw it when it was the smart play, and other than I think one out route to Kris Mitchell, he didn’t flat-out miss any throws to my recollection. His deep ball to Beaux Collins for a touchdown was just one of a few nice deep throws that Leonard made, and being able to prove to opponents he can make those throws just makes him all the more dangerous at all the stuff he’s best at doing.

Credit, too, to the Notre Dame offensive line, which pushed around the Midshipmen and made life easy for Leonard and his backs. And speaking of…

Jeremiyah Love

I’m a little obsessed with Love. Being able to all but pencil in at least one big run every single game because of how talented your running back is is a luxury not many teams have.

His patience was what stuck out to me on his touchdown run. Watch it again if you can – he gets the handoff, almost stands still for a half-beat, then laser-beams through the (sizable) hole and that’s that. TD.

He had only 12 touches this time but turned them into 106 yards in that score. As a whole, the Irish averaged 6.6 yards per carry. They also did not get sacked. That will play against anyone.

We got to the bye week

Notre Dame now owns Marcus Freeman’s longest win streak as a head coach, three wins over at-the-time ranked teams* (we’re going to have to settle for that, as neither Louisville nor Navy have the look of teams that will get back in the poll), and a schedule conducive to an 11-1 finish. That should be enough, but so far the power conferences’ lesser teams seem determined to make sure not to pull any upsets that might knock the big boys off their perches, so we will see.

The Irish should have a chance to get everyone healthy that could come back soon – hopefully Mitch Jeter is among them, because the kicker carousel hasn’t been going super great the past couple weeks – and has three weeks to hopefully log two more wins and get ready for the schedule’s biggest on-paper remaining test…Army? (USC is probably going to be a pain in the butt, too, to be fair.)

* As the ESPN broadcast pointed out, Freeman is now up to 10 such wins, tying Frank Leahy for the most by a ND coach in his first three years. He could surpass him against Army.

Enjoy your cheeseburgers, Irish fans!