What scares you the most? October is usually the time where that question gets asked the most for many different reasons. Horror movies become more in fashion, and it all leads to Halloween, which happens to fall on a Saturday for the first time since 2020 (the less said about gestures wildly at what 2020 was the better) 

Change is a big thing that can be one’s biggest fear that can come to the surface during October. The leaves of non-conifer trees begin to turn in preparation for the winter, the last gasps of summer temperatures flutter away with the aforementioned leaves. The sun goes down earlier and earlier.

Fear of the unknown is another common fear. It’s the basis of the horror movies that rise in popularity. Jump scares at their core are reactions to not expecting something to appear or to appear suddenly. Think of the Other Mommy trailer that appeared before The Odyssey this summer and that cut to a spider Jessica Chastain (sorry to bring that up to those who blocked it out and those who forgot about it).

One of the biggest fears to me that feels pertinent more and more each day is the fear of failure. Not reaching your goals is always something that comes up and either does one of two things; it either pushes them to push harder to continue to achieve their goal, or it pushes them down and makes them shrink and let’s the fear take over.

All of these fears are omnipresent to the Notre Dame fanbase in the past two weeks. What if there is no change in this team? What if they do lose again during the stretch run of the season and put the postseason dreams into the hands of the random thirteen members of the CFP Committee? What if this team, which started with sky high expectations and an expected chip on their shoulder, just is not good enough? What if this is the ceiling? We will not know the answers of those questions until the season ends, but their first test is facing their fears against an old foe.

#5 Notre Dame (-30.5) vs. Navy

Gillette Stadium
Foxboro, Massachusetts
Date: Saturday, October 31, 2026
Time: 12:00 PM ET
TV: ABC

Vegas Corner

The line started at -28.5 for the Irish and the line has slowly crept up to -30.5 over the course of the week. The Over/Under also moved two points from 53.5 to 55.5. The folks in the desert seem to have high hopes for the offense to overpower Navy much as they did last year to a similar score as the 2025 result.

Weather Report

As someone who has recently moved back to New England, this will be a perfect fall afternoon at Gillette. The high looks to be in the high 50s with some overcast. It may not be as cold as the 2024 Army game, but I imagine “Pain” is on the menu in this weather up in New England.

Series History

Notre Dame leads all time series 82-13-1

There isn’t a whole lot of new things to bring up in this rivalry. The Middies have not knocked off a ranked Notre Dame team since the Weis Era in 2009. The last time Navy won was during the 2016 disaster season in Jacksonville. On the bright side, the last three games against Navy is the longest streak of games where the Irish held Navy to fewer than 14 since the 1960s. Coach Freeman gets his defense ready to handle the option for this game.

Coaching Staff

Head Coach Brian Newberry is in his fourth season as the Middies Head Coach. While he has been successful in his brief tenure in Annapolis, he and his third year OC Drew Connic. The challenge to try and crack this Irish defense is once again at their feet. What I personally find interesting is that their DC is first year DC Eric Lewis. Lewis is also the Safeties coach and last season was the defensive passing coordinator. A reminder that last season CJ Carr 13/16 for 218 yards and 3 TDs.

Top Players Offense

The Navy offense, which as ever runs through it’s Quarterbacks. The Irish offense will face the same two QBs they faced last year in Braxton Woodson and Jackson Gutierrez, but under much different circumstances. While last year, those two were trying to fill the shoes of Blake Horvath, these two now have the reins of the offense. Gutierrez has been winning the job more and more over the past couple of weeks, rushing for over 200 yards in two of the last three games, including 228 yards against North Texas in Annapolis.

The backfield will almost assuredly have either one or both of halfback Michael Barlow and fullback Vic Listorti. The halfbacks are going to be the focus of the offense. The junior and senior are in their first years of helping one of the best rushing offenses. While the eyes will almost assuredly be on Gutierrez and his dual threat ability, it is imperative that the defense shows the discipline to ensure neither of those backfield threats for the Middies.

As for the receiving threats, you can see from the UTSA game a couple weeks prior show the downfield threat that can happen if the defensive backs show a similar struggle to how they did in Provo. The TE in the clip is Jordan Collins. If there is a weakness to the defense it has been to cover tight ends out in space. The Irish need to make sure they key on Collins on play action plays. Besides the Collins big plays on film, no Navy pass catcher has more than 10 catches on the season. Only Freshman Truman Brasfield has multiple TD catches on the year.

Top Players Defense

The defense has its strength with its pass rush. Juniors MarcAnthony Parker and Aiden Lyczek and Coleman Cauley all are leading the front seven with multiple tackles for loss and sacks for the Navy defense. Lyczek leads the team with tackles for loss and is the true defensive lineman among the three star front seven players. His best stretch has been the last two weeks against UTSA and North Texas, getting 4 TFLs and a sack combined in those games. 

Parker looks to add to the edge as an additional rusher for the front seven. In his past handful of games he’s had some pass defended and also most of his sacks on the season. He appears to be the most likely candidate to either take on trying to cover Anyeas Williams out of the backfield or either Flannagan on the ends of the OL.

Cauley, a position captain for the linebackers, seems to be the lieutenant of the defense is the person Carr and the OL need to be aware. He is approaching career highs already halfway through his senior year. He looks like he will try and be the run stopper for the Middies. 

The main captain of the defense and leader of the secondary is senior Giuseppe Sessi. Sessi had a quiet week on the stat sheet last week vs North Texas, but going up against the Irish defense, he will be asked to ensure nothing gets over the top to keep it close.

Prediction

One of the most famous lines in Marcus Freeman’s coaching career in South Bend is his pregame simplicity of“Violence.” during the 2024 Army game. I sense a similar type of attitude (if not the same swagger) this week. Freeman led his press conference about ownership and dealing with pain. I think this coaching staff is saying all the correct things about approaching the bye week and coming out of it better and using the experience to turn the corner the rest of the way. 

I talked about fear at the top of this preview. I know that the anger in the fanbase has probably been based on fear. If the players were asked to be honest, there may be a hint of fear inside themselves as well. As we approach the final stretch of the season, with the margin of error down to essentially zero, fear can easily creep in. Navy will get up for this game. They are celebrating their one National Championship’s 100th anniversary in this game. They will play with no fear.

Horror movies that become the norm during this time of year almost always have some sort of unkillable antagonist that the heroes need to overcome. Historically, Notre Dame has been the Michael Myers to Navy’s Laurie Strode (or insert your horror slasher and “final girl” here). Coach Freeman has never let a Navy game get close in his tenure in South Bend, with the closest one being a backdoor cover in his first year. I do not expect this to be any different. My prediction? Violence.

Notre Dame 45

Navy 10

Happy Halloween!