Winners and losers form Notre Dame’s dominant victory over the Navy Midshipmen as they keep their CFB Playoff hopes alive
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After a somewhat slow start on Saturday, head coach Marcus Freeman and Notre Dame football were able to earn a blowout victory against the Navy Midshipmen. During that 49 to 10 win, the Fighting Irish turned in several tremendous individual performances. For the most part, the stars played like stars in Notre Dame Stadium.
As always, however, no performance is ever perfect. The Irish also had some players who did not play up to their standard during the matchup. Here are those aforementioned winners and some losers during the contest. While everyone is a winner leaving that field against Navy, being able to correctly evaluate yourself is a huge part of growth for this program.
Winners
The passing attack
It was a huge day through the air for Irish quarterback CJ Carr, who threw for 218 yards and three touchdowns. He did so despite being pulled in the third quarter with the blowout in hand. Whether it was Malachi Fields, Jordan Faison, Will Pauling, KK Smith, or Jeremiyah Love, the passing game was working. It was great to see after some up and down performances the last few weeks.
KVA and Jaiden Ausberry
Outside of star cornerback Leonard Moore, I’m not sure there is a defensive player better than sophomore linebacker Kyngstonn Viliamu-Asa. His stat line wasn’t amazing (5 total tackles, a tackle for loss, a pass pass breakup), but his versatility pops off of the screen. “KVA” makes plays every week that make you jump out of your seat.
Even though Viliamu-Asa was very good, Ausberry was even more impactful during this contest. Ausberry finished with a team-leading eight total tackles, as well as two tackles for loss, and a sack. Whether it was shutting down the screen game, blitzing, running the alley, or fitting inside, Ausberry did a little bit of everything, and very well.
A week after Notre Dame trotted out three different kickers, and missed a kick each, Schmidt got the nod as the full time kicker. He made all seven of his extra points, while also handling kickoffs. Let’s hope we have to spend a lot less time talking about kickers from here on out.
You can pretty much include Love in the winner column every single week for the Notre Dame offense. He finished the game with 94 yards rushing and two touchdowns on just 13 carries. On top of his 7.2 yard per carry average, Love also hauled in one reception for 27 yards as well. He had the highlight of the night on his 48-yard touchdown run in the second half.
Losers
Run blocking
When you look at the final rushing total for Notre Dame, it is a pretty skewed stat line. As a team, the Irish ran for 249 yards and four touchdowns, averaging a healthy 6.6 yards per carry. Context tells you that it wasn’t all good from a run game perspective. Jeremiyah Love’s 48-yard touchdown was a heroic play, but it wasn’t blocked well at all. You also got a 54-yard carry from Aneyas Williams in garbage time as well. For the most part, the running game was tough sledding, and a big reason for that was the lack of push upfront.
Tackling on defense
Things settled down in the second half, but tackling for the Notre Dame defense was anything but perfect early on in the contest. Chris Ash’s unit had an extremely difficult time with Navy quarterback Braxton Woodson, who became the first 100-yard rusher the team gave up all season, and he accomplished that feat in just the first half.
This story was originally reported by A to Z Sports on Nov 9, 2025, where it first appeared in the College Football section. Add A to Z Sports as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
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