Keys To Victory For Notre Dame Over Navy - Defense Edition

Breaking down the keys to victory for the Notre Dame defense against Navy

The 20th-ranked Notre Dame Fighting Irish (6-3) hit the road for a matchup against long time rival Navy (3-6). Notre Dame will look for its fourth straight win of the season and fifth straight victory over the Midshipmen.

Notre Dame's defense has been good all season and its coming off its best performance of the 2022 campaign. Navy presents a completely different challenge, making building on the recent dominance more difficult.

Here are the keys to success and victory for the Notre Dame defense in this contest.

1. Be Aggressive - One of my biggest pet peeves are when defenses try to slow play the option, which ends up usually just allowing the offense to put together long, sustained, clock eating drives. Another mistake is being too aggressive, or blitzing the triple option, which can create big play opportunities for the offense by enhancing misses and mistakes.

Finding the balance between being aggressive and sound can be difficult, but that's what Notre Dame must do against the Midshipmen. I like to call it controlled aggression. It means having calls that allow the defense to attack while also maintaining gap integrity and assignment correctness against the option.

When you consider how much Navy puts the ball on the ground (13 times in nine games), this type of plan can also result in big negatives or turnovers for the Irish defense.

2. Be Disciplined - A very, very important key to stopping the triple option is being a sound, disciplined defense. This means Al Golden and his staff putting together a game plan the defenders can execute at a high level, and then the playing following with an aggressive, but disciplined performance.

If Notre Dame's defenders are assignment correct on a consistent basis I have no doubt they will shut Navy down and dominate this football game.

One thing I'm very curious to see in this game is how Golden uses linebacker Marist Liufau, and how well he can execute snap after snap.

3. Force The Ball Outside - The key to a successful option attack is getting the fullback and then the quarterback run game rolling. That means the key to stopping the option is taking those positions out of the game and forcing the ball to the outside. This isn't just about the option plays, it means shutting down the designed inside run calls.

Key number one to stopping the option is shutting down the fullback. That means having a plan that allows the backers and interior defenders to attack the fullback quickly. Those units plus the edge players need to shut down the quarterback. On option plays the defense needs to quickly attack both positions and force quick pitches to the outside, which allows the defense to rally to the ball and shut down the option game.

4. Limit Big Plays - Simply put, Navy cannot methodically move the ball up and down the field on Notre Dame enough to win the game. If the Irish are going to struggle, or even get upset, it will be because they allow a lot of big plays. Limit those and this game won't be close.

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