Notre Dame Football: Navy Midshipmen Q&A with Mitchell Northam
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Folks,,,
I know it’s been a bit of a hiatus from an Opponent Q&A perspective, but I’m happy to be back for what will surely be a straightforward, easy, boring game against the Navy Midshipmen for our Notre Dame Fighting Irish football team, per usual in this annual rivalry game.
Our Fighting Irish won an ugly, unimpressive game last weekend over a hapless Boston College Eagles squad, and then proceeded to still earn the #10 ranking in the initial 2025 CFP rankings released this past week. Still, with only 4 games left and nothing guaranteed, it would be nice for ND to get their ducks in a row and put the hurtin’ on their opponents down the stretch here to earn some style points.
The Naval Academy isn’t always easy to do that to, considering their unique, slow, ugly playing style and how much they get up for the ND game, and with Brian Newberry’s team sitting at 7-1, it’s clear this won’t be a gimme. I figured we should try to learn a bit more about them to make sure we’re all ready for Navy, as Marcus would want. So, I once again reached out to good friend of the OFD program, Mitchell Northam.
Mitchell, I will remind you all, is a Navy fan and former editor of the now-defunct SB Nation site Against All Enemies, and also a former digital producer at North Carolina Public Radio who’s also covered sports and pop culture for USA Today’s For The Win and women’s college basketball at The Next. Now, he’s a senior writer at SB Nation covering women’s college sports and is co-host of The Women’s Basketball Podcast. Additionally, Mitchell published a book a few years ago called High School Basketball on Maryland’s Eastern Shore: A Shore Hoops History. So, it’s safe to say this guy knows #sports and he knows what we need to know about this Navy squad.
I won’t belabor the point any further — let’s see what he has to tell us about this matchup tomorrow.
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1. Brian Newberry seems to have this program humming right now, considering the 10-3, bowl win season last year and now a 7-1 start this year.
Even with the loss to North Texas, how fun has this been and with some big games remaining, do you think Navy could still potentially win the American and snag that CFP spot?
Mitchell Northam: It’s been incredibly fun. For me as a Navy fan, I think my bar for the season to be a successful one is relatively low compared to most other fanbases. If the Mids are beating Army and Air Force and going to a bowl game, I’m satisfied.
That said, having Navy in conversations for the G5 College Football Playoff spot is really fun and has increased my interest in the season, and I thought it could be a real possibility coming off the success of last year with most of the star talents returning. Winning the American is still a real possibility, but it’s a tough league at the top this season. While Navy has the most conference wins with five, it’s also one of six teams with just one loss in AAC. It could come down to those USF and Memphis games coming up for Navy. However, I will say, I don’t think the American winner is a lock for the G5 CFP spot if James Madison keeps winning.
2. The Midshipmen returned star QB Blake Horvath from last year — he was already fantastic, but has he made any significant improvements to his game since the Irish last saw him in 2024?
Additionally, who are the other big names on offense that Irish fans should be worried about, and how has Drew Cronic continued to evolve this Navy offense in year 2 as OC?
Mitchell Northam: Yes! I actually wrote about Horvath a few weeks ago at SB Nation and about how he’s improved as a passer. He’s fifth nationally in rushing yards this season, but he’s also on pace to have the best season throwing the ball by a Navy quarterback in the past 15 years.
He is absolutely the bus driver for the Mids, but Alex Tecza and Eli Heidenreich are also worth monitoring — the latter of whom has improved as a pass-catcher this season, leading Navy with 31 catches. Heidenreich has more than 900 yards of total offense this season.
3. How’s the Navy defense looked this year, and if you were ND OC Mike Denbrock, would you focus on establishing the run with Jeremiyah Love/Jadarian Price, or would you focus more on attacking the Midshipmen through the air with CJ Carr’s big arm?
Mitchell Northam: Navy’s run defense has been lackluster this season, to say the least. The Mids have given up at least 120 yards on the ground in five of their last six games and at least four yards per carry in four of their last six games. And these have come against teams like Tulsa, Rice, Air Force and Temple, so I’m a bit fearful of what Love and Price will do to Navy’s defense on the ground.
4. FAN QUESTION:
Mitchell Northam: Unless there are changes to federal law, I don’t see it happening. To keep this short, the hurdle is essentially this, via Jesse Dougherty of the Washington Post: “Unlike all other college athletes, those at service academies are classified as employees of their respective military branches, meaning they are subject to the federal law prohibiting military members from using public office for private gain (such as making money by marketing potato chips or a local pizza shop). The government pays tuition and additional expenses for all service academy students, athlete or otherwise.” Army, Navy and Air Force all opted out of the House Settlement.
Now, I do think that this could result in more players transferring out of Service Academies before signing their “two-for-seven,” but that hasn’t happened in waves yet. This story from Yahoo’s Ross Delenger is worth reading too.
5. FAN QUESTION:
Mitchell Northam: Let’s not give Pete Hegseth any big ideas to wage warfare on the Tennessee River.
6. According to Bill the Goat’s Wikipedia page, the legend of Bill the Goat began with a young ensign dressing up in actual goat skin to hype up the crowd and help deliver a Navy victory.
Should Navy bring back cadets donning actual goat skin to help lead the Midshipmen to victory? Should Under Armour design uniforms that look like a goat’s skin in honor of the legend/origin story of Bill the Goat??
Mitchell Northam: While I typically trust the folks at Under Armour to design cool uniforms for Navy, that sounds like a bad idea. Perhaps as a compromise, Navy could start serving pizza made with goat cheese in its concession stands.
7. Alright, let’s get down to it — who wins this game, what’s the final score, and how does it happen?
Mitchell Northam: Navy has a high-powered offense, but I really think Notre Dame’s running game is going to punish them. I’ll be realistic here and say Notre Dame 38, Navy 24
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Alright y’all, I want to give a massive shout-out to Mitchell for once again fielding all our questions, both football-related and wearing-goat-skin-related.
I highly encourage you to head on over to Breakaway andSB Nation (ever heard of it??) to check out the work of Mitchell and the team, and also definitely go give Mitchell some love on Twitter. He’s a great dude and an excellent follow, no doubt.
That’s it for me, friends — per usual, GO IRISH, BEAT NAVY!
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