Keys To Victory Revisited - Offense Edition: Notre Dame Thrives In Victory Over Navy

A look back at how Notre Dame performed in key areas in the win over Navy

Notre Dame certainly started its 2023 season off with a bang, thumping Navy by a 42-3 score. It was Notre Dame's sixth straight win over Navy and its largest margin of victory over the Midshipmen since 2012.

Let's look at how Notre Dame performed in the areas I felt were the keys to victory, beginning with the offense.

NOTRE DAME OFFENSE

1. Start Fast

Getting off to a fast start was important for this game, and honestly for the season. The offense has held the program back for years, and it needed to build immediate confidence. From a purely Navy perspective, getting the option offense behind early is also a significant key to success.

Notre Dame scored touchdowns on each of its four first half possessions to earn a 28-0 halftime lead. After the defense made a three-and-out stop to start the second half the offense responded with its fifth straight touchdown drive to put the game away. 

The Irish never punted in the game, with its two non-scoring drives ending with a missed field goal and time expiring on the game.

Great way to start the season for the Irish offense.

2. Beat The Blitz 

Navy doesn't hide the fact it is going to blitz opponents early and often. That blitz plan gave Notre Dame fits in the second half of last season's matchup, as the Irish achieved just one first down in the entire second half. Notre Dame needed a strong blitz plan to dominate this game, and they got it.

Offensive coordinator Gerad Parker and the rest of the Notre Dame staff on offense put together a great blitz plan, and the players executed it at a high level. They did it with variety, which is important, and they didn't just build in blitz beaters, they had plays specifically designed to hurt the blitz.

Just look at the first series as an example of the preparation the staff put in to know what Navy was going to do and to have answers. Notre Dame faced a 3rd-and-10 and Navy lined up to bring a heavy outside pressure, which is what they tend to do in that situation. Notre Dame ran a quick Inside Zone to Audric Estime that hit right inside of the pressures and easily picked up the first down.

Three plays later the Irish faced a 3rd-and-12. Navy again showed an edge pressure, but this time they loaded the inside of the box as well in preparation for another run. Instead, Parker called a quick slide screen to Estime that immediately got outside the pressure. They brought Estime from the backside of the alignment, increasing the odds the Navy frontside players don't pick him up, and quarterback Sam Hartman found the throwing lane and hit Estime, who raced 22 yards for a first down, setting up the first touchdown.

We saw this all game long. Whether it was running inside of the blitz, beating it with RPO throws or hitting quick perimeter screens, Notre Dame had answers for the Navy pressures all game long. Navy tried to adjust but the Irish staff was ahead of them throughout.

3. Mix Up The Run Game

Notre Dame didn't quite mix up the run game as much as I expected based on what we saw in fall camp, but there was plenty of variety. On the first series Notre Dame primarily ran out of 12 personnel, but they ran Counter on the first play, they ran Inside Zone and they ran Duo on the opening series. 

Notre Dame's first run of the second series came out of 11 personnel, and the second run was out of 12 personnel, but the second tight end was lined up wide. We saw a lot of different looks even without seeing a wide variety of runs. Notre Dame never needed to dive deeper into the repertoire because what they were doing was working.

Using RPOs to protect the run game also played a key role in the victory.

At the end of the day, Notre Dame racked up 191 rushing yards against a Navy defense that held the Irish to 66 yards a season ago, and gave up an average of just 88.9 yards per game a season ago.

4. Pass Game Efficiency Is A Must

Notre Dame thrived in this part of the game, with quarterback Sam Hartman completing 82.6-percent of his throws and finishing with a 231.67 quarterback rating. It was the highest completion rate of his career and the third best quarterback rating of his career. Considering that this was Hartman's 46th career start, that kind of success is impressive.

Notre Dame's pass game was especially efficient on first down, which was a huge part of the team's success. Hartman went 11-14 on first down throws (78.6%), seven of those completions went for new first downs and he passed for 158 yards on first down throws, including two touchdowns.

This success in the pass game from an efficiency standpoint also played a big role in opening up even more room for the ground attack.

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