First Half Analysis: Notre Dame Is Dominating Navy 28-0

First half thoughts and analysis of the Notre Dame vs Navy game, which the Irish lead 28-0

Notre Dame has dominated Navy through the first two quarters, leading 28-0 at halftime. The Irish offense has yet to be stopped and the defense is doing what it needs to do. Here are my first half thoughts and analysis.

NOTRE DAME OFFENSE

*** Impressive first half for offensive coordinator Gerad Parker. He's using all of his weapons and he's had Navy off balance all game long. Notre Dame is running right at Navy at times, but he's keeping them on their toes with outside runs, screens, deep shots and the RPO game.

*** Beating the blitz was one of the primary keys to success for Notre Dame, and the plan so far has been outstanding. On the first series alone they ran a quick hitting run inside of the outside pressure to convert a 3rd-and-10 with a run. On the next 3rd-and-long they threw a quick slide screen to Audric Estime to get the ball outside of the pressure for another conversion. We've also seen quick screens and they are mixing up the attack points.

*** Notre Dame's success on the first series was aided by a pair of 3rd-and-long conversions, but outside of that it has been fueled by very good success on first down, which has allowed Parker to keep his full arsenal handy on every down.

*** From a run game standpoint we saw a nice mix of inside-out, but the offense was still inside dominant. What I liked is we saw variety with how they attacked. Notre Dame ran both Duo and Inside Zone, but they did so out of multiple personnel groupings and looks, including a Wildcat run.

*** Quarterback Sam Hartman was outstanding in the first half. A couple of out throws were a bit short and he was late throwing a deep ball to Tobias Merriweather, but outside of that he was incredibly sharp. Hartman was decisive and got the ball out quickly to his wideouts. The receivers did a very good job finding the open spots, and Hartman got them the ball where they needed to be.

*** Hartman did a great job spreading the ball around, hitting eight different players during the first half.

*** Running back Audric Estime was decisive and ran with authority in the first quarter. He needs to get the ball into his outside arm once he gets into the line, which would have prevented him fumble. He didn't carry the football once after his fumble, which is a sign of the coaches sending a message.

*** Sophomore Gi'Bran Payne made good reads and also ran hard, picking up multiple yards after contact, including a chain-moving run in the first quarter where he initially got hit behind the line.

*** Notre Dame got all five backs in the game and all of them touched the football. Sophomore Jadarian Price ripped off a 19-yard touchdown on his first carry and Jeremiyah Love went for 12 yards on his first carry. 

*** Jayden Thomas was very good in the first half, and Deion Colzie made two tough catches to move the chains. Thomas had a great corner-post move to get free for the last touchdown of the half. Great focus by Jaden Greathouse after beating the safety and then hauling in a somewhat contested throw, then carrying the defender into the end zone. Notre Dame also worked to get Chris Tyree the ball, and he caught 3 passes for 36 yards and also drew a pass interference that set up the last touchdown. I would like to see Tyree bend that seam inside a bit, which could help him seal the DB off and maybe catch that ball.

*** I was very impressed with the offensive line, which pushed Navy around. For the most part they were assignment correct, and the only really glaring mistake was Pat Coogan missing a LB twist that got Hartman hit on a throw into the end zone. Outside of that I thought Coogan played good football and got good movement in the run game. Right guard Rocco Spindler also played physical football in the first half. Arguably the biggest concern I had coming into the game, at least for the offense, was the interior of the line. For two quarters that group, which also includes center Zeke Correll, has been outstanding and is pushing Navy around the field. With Navy not able to just pin their ears back and attack downhill due to the well-designed run game, the OL has been able to come off and push Navy back.

NOTRE DAME DEFENSE

*** Navy threw a lot of new wrinkles at Notre Dame. We saw option, split backs from under center, triple option pitches to the fullback, Power read and more. Notre Dame did a decent job reacting to it, and although they gave up yards they did a great job settling in and stopping drives late, which kept Navy off the board in the first half.

*** Notre Dame took the fullback dive away outside of a couple of early runs, which has forced everything outside. At one point on Navy's final drive the ball went outside eight straight plays. Notre Dame struggled to adjust to that to a degree, but they limited the big plays and ultimately were able to shut Navy down once the field shortened.

*** Linebacker Marist Liufau has been all over the field. He might have had a bad run fit early (still not sure if it was him or the DT), but he has been good outside of that. His pursuit has been quite good, he's been disciplined with his assignments from what I can tell and he's been sound tackling. JD Bertrand has been physical downhill and is blowing up the fullback over and over, which is helping to take that position out of the game. Outside of a missed tackle and one bad leverage play, Jack Kiser was also good in the first half.

*** On the edge, Jordan Botelho and Javontae Jean-Baptiste have been very active and disruptive. The other edge players have struggled more. 

*** Missed tackles have been a problem. Rylie Mills ran past a potential TFL inside and DJ Brown missed a chance for a huge third-down stop but he went into the backfield out of control and missed on the tackle for loss opportunity. This needs to get cleaned up in the second half.

*** Cam Hart turned a back loose but a pressure from Kiser forced an incompletion. Outside of that the corners have been good shutting down the few pass attempts and they have been good at setting the edge in the run game, for the most part. 

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