Game Observations: Notre Dame Defense vs. Navy

Instant analysis of Notre Dame's 52-20 victory over Navy

Matt Cashore, USA TODAY Sports

Notre Dame beat Navy with a dominant performance on both sides of the ball. The Irish offense rolled over Navy, but the play of the defense was truly brilliant in the team’s 52-20 victory that wasn’t nearly as close as the final score.

*** Defensive coordinator Clark Lea put together a diverse and effective game plan against the Navy option attack. The Midshipmen took the first drive of the game into Irish territory thanks to quality runs from the quarterback position. It seemed that early in the opening drive the Irish were having issues with the quarterback, and there seemed to be some miscues in regards to who was supposed to take the quarterback in various situations. After that start the Irish buckled down, got on the same page, executed and started shutting down the Navy offense.

*** Lea mixed up his looks, showing three-man fronts that spread out the box and then some tighter looks with four-man looks that crowded the box more. Notre Dame had a strong game plan for the fullback, which is a key to the option offense. Navy’s starting fullbacks came into the game averaging 107.5 yards per game and 6.1 yards per carry. Against Notre Dame, the two primary fullbacks combined for just 48 yards and 4.0 yards per attempt. The Irish attacked the fullback with the frontside and backside defensive tackles and crashed it hard with its inside linebackers at times.

*** A key to success after the first drive was being able to handle the edge of the line. Notre Dame attacked the non-dive plays by setting the edge effectively and forcing the quarterback to bubble or bounce back on a number of snaps. One example was a 4th-and-1 play in the second quarter. Navy tried to run off tackle with the quarterback, but rover Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah attacked hard inside, forced the quarterback to bounce the run outside and then safety Kyle Hamilton was able to chase the Navy quarterback down in space to give the offense the ball back.

*** Notre Dame’s safeties did a great job of taking away the seam routes and wheel routes from the wideouts and slot backs. It wasn’t until the second half when the game was no longer in doubt that Navy was able to hit some big plays in the pass game. Navy had just 20 passing yards in the first half but finished with 79 yards in the second half.

Let’s look at the individual performances of the Notre Dame defensive players.

*** Senior end Khalid Kareem was outstanding against Navy. He was physical at the point of attack, got a strong push and made big plays from the backside. His backside tackle/strip on Navy’s second drive resulted in the first of four Navy fumbles. Kareem had two tackles for loss, forced two fumbles and broke up a pass in the game. On the first fumble he forced the stop was even bigger because Navy had a reverse set up on the play that had a chance to be a big play, but Kareem was all over it before it had a chance to even develop.

*** It seemed like senior end Jamir Jones had a few mistakes early when tasked with playing the quarterback, but he settled down and played quality football the remainder of the game from what I could see live.

*** Junior defensive tackle Myron Tagovailoa-Amosa was solid for the Irish for much of the game. He got knocked off the ball a few times, but for the most part he got good penetration and made plays on the football, either making tackles or forcing the quarterback to pull the ball on dive reads. Junior nose tackle Kurt Hinish wasn’t as effective, at least early on. Navy was driving Hinish off the ball early in the game, and 13 of the 48 fullback yards came on back-to-back plays on the opening drive with Navy running right at Hinish.

*** Sophomore Jayson Ademilola was knocked out of the game with a lower leg bruise in the second quarter, but up to that point he was having an outstanding performance. Ademilola had three tackles and a tackle for loss on limited snaps, dominating Navy off the ball. The Midshipmen offensive linemen had a hard time handling Ademilola’s quickness, whether they were running at him or away from him. Ademilola ate up the Navy dive from the backside, and he had a strong four-yard stop behind the line on the play before he was injured.

*** Fellow sophomore nose tackle Ja’mion Franklin had the best game of his young career. While Hinish was struggling to handle the Navy combo blocks, Franklin was pushing the Navy blockers around. He was quick off the ball, played with impressive pad level and played a major role in eating up the Navy dive plays. On the play where Ademilola got the four-yard stop behind the line, it was Franklin who blew up the center and forced the ball to Ademilola. Freshman Jacob Lacey also had a strong performance, although he played more as an end in the odd fronts. Lacey constantly beat the Navy blockers off the ball, got a push and helped eat up in the inside runs by Navy.

*** Fifth-year senior linebacker Asmar Bilal continued his outstanding season. There was a snap early where I couldn’t tell if it was Bilal or Jones that should have played the quarterback, but outside of that I had no notes for Bilal in regards to missed assignments or missed tackles. His ability to attack downhill made life difficult for Navy when it tried to run off-tackle or get outside. Bilal also did a great playing force today, which forced runs back inside to his help.

*** Junior linebacker Drew White was all over the field against Navy. He overran a couple of plays, but overall his downhill support was impressive. He attacked the fullback dives, played with good inside-out angles when he had to play to the perimeter and he tackled extremely well. White led the Irish defense with 10 tackles, including a team-high six solo tackles.

*** Junior rover Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah was outstanding on the edge of the Irish defense. He attacked the edge well and his sideline pursuit was top-notch. Owusu-Koramoah and Bilal’s speed was too much for the Navy offense to handle. When the second string rover - sophomore Paul Moala - got in the game the production from the position continued. Moala essentially interception an option pitch and returned it for a touchdown. He also did a great job playing a reverse pass later in the game.

WHAT A PLAY @PaulMoala ! pic.twitter.com/sXbDj2vDBu

— Notre Dame on NBC (@NDonNBC) November 16, 2019

*** A perfect example of the speed and playmaking ability of the linebackers was on the second defensive series of the game. Navy ran a counter option play, but Bilal read it perfectly and took off to the quarterback and forced an early pitch. White also read the play perfectly and then brought down the back at the line of scrimmage.

*** Senior cornerback Troy Pride Jr. did a good job on the perimeter today. Navy’s wide receivers are in the game to block first and foremost, but Pride completely outplayed the Navy wideouts in the run game. His ability to come up in support played a key role in Notre Dame’s defensive performance. Navy could not get outside of him, and with the speed the defense had on the inside there was nowhere to run on cutbacks either.

*** I spent the game focusing on the box due to the nature of Navy’s offense, so I did not get to evaluate the safeties beyond the points where they made plays on the ball. I will be sure to evaluate them further when I break the film down and put out my grades on Monday.