Day after: Final thoughts on Notre Dame football’s impressive win over Navy

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Day after: Final thoughts on Notre Dame football’s impressive win over Navy

It was another great night in South Bend, Indiana, as the Notre Dame Fighting Irish defeated the Navy Midshipmen 49-10 to improve to 7-2 on the season.

It wasn’t perfect conditions, in fact, it was wet and cold all night, but that didn’t matter to the Irish. They still played at an extremely high level, not letting the conditions bother them at all. There were plenty of stars for Notre Dame, and many of them reminded us as to why they are just that.

After getting a chance to sleep over the Irish’s win, there are still many thoughts about Notre Dame that still stayed in my mind. Here are the biggest ones that stick out on Sunday morning.

CJ Carr was awesome again

The conditions called for Notre Dame to run more than it might have on Saturday night, but when CJ Carr did throw the ball, it was a clinic. He completed 13-of-16 attempts for 218-yards and three touchdowns without an interception. I was a big fan of him not running at all, as everyone else combined for almost 40 carries. The efficiency was on full display for Carr, as he continues to make big strides in his development.

Jeremiyah Love was great but…

Is health or Heisman more important? Love got two carries when backup quarterback Kenny Minchey came into the game, and I wondered why? Sure, the first-team offensive line was still out there, but every other skill position player in was a backup. Love is vying for the Heisman Trophy, but getting him two carries when the game is over doesn’t make much sense to me.

Receivers did well without a lot of opportunities

Carr gets a lot of the credit, but it was a variety of receiver who did the damage on Saturday night. Malachi Fields has a great game with 4 receptions for 97-yards, but he did drop a few easy ones. KK Smith scored on one of his two catches, as Jordan Faison scored once on his four. Tight end Ty Washington caught his first Notre Dame touchdown, as the group as a whole played very well.

Minchey is a great backup…

But will he stay after this season? Carr isn’t going anywhere, and you have to think that Minchey would be a starter at plenty of other Power-5 programs across the country. I don’t think this offense would skip a beat with him along with the other starters. It might look a bit different, but the results would probably be very similar.

Quarterbacks are different than other positions, as most don’t stick around and wait for an opportunity. It’ll be interesting to see what happens this offseason, but we all hope that Minchey sticks around.

Navy is hard to judge your defensive performance

I think Notre Dame did a great job defensively, holding Navy to just 206 rushing yards, over 100-yards under their season average. They barely threw for any yards also, but that had a lot to due with starting quarterback Blake Horvath being a late scratch. This was all about limiting explosive runs, which the Irish did, and the score showed that. It’s still hard to give kudos to defenders in this game, but you can’t be disappointed with the results. Again, Chris Ash has done a great job turning this unit around.

Notre Dame’s kicking issues aren’t solved, but a step in the right direction

Nov 8, 2025; South Bend, Indiana, USA; Notre Dame Fighting Irish kicker Erik Schmidt (18) kicks off after a touchdown during the first half at Notre Dame Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Michael Caterina-Imagn Images

Earlier in the week, we found out that Noah Burnette had been replaced by Erik Schmidt as the starting kicker, showing that the injury hasn’t allowed the former starter to perform at the level he can. The freshman made all of his seven extra points, but didn’t get a chance to try a field goal. I won’t say that the kicking issues are gone, but there weren’t any moments where we wondered why is this happening again. Schmidt has some confidence to build off, and hopefully that shows over the next few weeks.

Notre Dame is starting to peak at the right time again

We saw this last year, and while I don’t think that Notre Dame is quite at that level right now, they’re trending in that direction. Next weekend will be a solid test at Pittsburgh, but they’ve passed each one since the first two games. Head coach Marcus Freeman has this team starting to peak at the right moment once again, and if it’s a similar result to what we saw last year, there’s going to be plenty of excitement in South Bend into the New Year.

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This article originally appeared on Fighting Irish Wire: Day after: Final thoughts on Notre Dame’s impressive win over Navy

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