The Notre Dame fan base has treated the Navy game largely the same each year under Marcus Freeman (including his year as defensive coordinator): Brief moments of panic early in the game that this is going to be, as some of us put it, the annual trip to the dentist’s office, followed by a fairly quick burst that puts things away and then extended garbage time.

Such was the case Saturday as ND handled the Midshipmen 49-10, continuing its road back to the playoff – a road that seems much more straightforward after friendly treatment from the committee on Tuesday followed by a pair of potential ACC bid thieves (Louisville and Virginia) getting bounced out tonight.

Some fun stuff from a largely (and thankfully) uneventful game:

Jeremiyah Love is 1 of 1

He’s almost certainly not going to win the Heisman Trophy – an unfortunate performance against Miami pretty much ended that train before it got started – but Jeremiyah Love is as fun a player as there is in college football. Add this one to the reel we’ll hopefully get to see when he’s in New York as a finalist:

The man’s raw stats weren’t anything crazy – 121 offensive yards and that touchdown – but stats can’t measure the sense of possibility that comes when a guy touches the ball, and Jeremiyah Love inspires as much of that as anyone in the country.

I keep saying in chats that we can’t take Love for granted, and we don’t. But I don’t think we’ll be able to fully appreciate just how frickin’ special this guy is until whoever RB1 is next year gets stuffed for a loss on this same play. It’s just human nature. But just make a note – it’s at least possible none of us below AARP age have seen a Notre Dame back this good or ever will again.

CJ Carr is back to dropping dimes

It hasn’t always been easy for CJ Carr this year, although he’s often made it appear that way – but USC represented a step back he had to recover from. Saturday was the Carr we’ve happily become accustomed to, though, as he was on target almost every time. Carr was 13-of-16, counting one flat-out drop, and he also drew a pair of pass interference flags on deep balls (at least one of which admittedly should’ve been a TD and was thrown too late). He repeatedly commanded the line of scrimmage and was effective at sniffing out what Navy was throwing at him. The offensive line also did a commendable job keeping him upright, as they have for the vast majority of the season. The results were wonderful.

While we’re here, a shout-out to Kenny Minchey for that nifty play on which he wriggled out of trouble and found Jack Larsen downfield. Obviously none of us know if Minchey will stick around to be a backup again, but like Steve Angeli before him, if he doesn’t, he’s likely to leave appreciated, and also like Angeli, is likely to be successful whatever uniform he wears. (Hopefully not like Angeli, the injury gods will allow him a full 2026 season.)

Chris Ash passes the Navy test with flying colors

We were all ready to throw the defensive coordinator’s head on a pike after the first 3 games, not fully without reason, but Chris Ash seemingly overnight snapped his side of the ball back into form, and Saturday represented another check mark in his favor. Only 228 yards for the Midshipmen.

You can’t mention this without also noting that Blake Horvath was out for Navy, though Braxton Woodson, who stepped in, was easily the Middies’ best player on this night and was a big part of the reason for the early frustrations (the Discord chat when Navy tied it at 7 was a treat).

Ash’s defense has been playing with supreme confidence and with well-earned success going back to the Arkansas game. Rather than bellyache about why this didn’t happen sooner, I choose to enjoy it. (It’s worth noting Texas A&M had the #2 SP+ offense going into this week’s action, which I can’t imagine changed much after their blowout victory over Missouri. That one might have been as much on the Aggies than the Irish.)

Jaiden Ausberry in particular was extremely impressive and it felt like he was in on almost every play. Every good ND defense (and some bad ones, see Jaylon Smith) has a Navy-stopper, and it feels like Ausberry is the Irish’s. I imagine this time next year we’ll be talking about how well Tae Johnson played against Navy – it seems like he’s built to crush Midshipmen’s skulls into the ground – but tonight it was Ausberry’s night.

Freeman said after the game Boubacar Traore did not play mostly for fit reasons. As his best skill is pass rushing, that makes sense and presumably it’s nothing to be concerned about.

Fun statistical nugget

Notre Dame did not commit a penalty in this game, nor did they turn it over. Per ND’s PR team, the Irish hadn’t accomplished a zero-penalty game since beating LSU in Baton Rouge in 1997 – and they didn’t turn it over that day either.

Cue the sardonic observations about this being the first game in 2 months without ACC officials.

Three more wins to go

Notre Dame is in great shape for the playoff – even better shape after potential at-large contenders Iowa, Virginia, Louisville and BYU all took defeats that should ensure they won’t take a spot from the Irish.

Next week’s game is @ Pittsburgh, which is in the CFP rankings and represents both a potential post-Navy trap game and the team’s toughest remaining test (both Syracuse and Stanford are in free fall). Fair to put a lot of eggs into next week’s basket.