What do we have left to worry about after that one from No. 10 Notre Dame football?
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SOUTH BEND ― There was always something.
Something that needed some explaining. Something that needed fixing. Something that needed more work before Notre Dame football could look and feel like Notre Dame football was supposed to look and feel.
Even as far back as August, there were issues, either real or imagined. Then it centered on the kind of important matter of the starting quarterback. If it was redshirt freshman CJ Carr, and it eventually would be, why wasn’t it CJ Carr when everything started in July? Why did it take so long to settle on a starter?
Questions and answers would follow as the games and the weeks followed. Was first-year coordinator Chris Ash doomed not to see a second season? When would that group was the bedrock of last season’s run look just something like last year’s defense?
Once the defense got right, it was time for the offense to go under the microscope. Why weren’t the Irish scoring as many points as they were in a stretch when they scored 28, 36, 34 and 25? Why did Carr look so average for a stretch? How could the Irish best unlock running back Jeremiyah Love? Would they?
Then there was the complete lack of a kicking game when even converting an extra point became a serious situation.
Through the season’s first two losses, and then, the season’s subsequent six wins, there was always something that seemingly held back Notre Dame football from being the best version of itself.
Always something to clean up. Always something to address. Always something that could be better. Always.
Until Saturday and a 49-10 victory over Navy that ran Notre Dame’s record to 7-2.
On a rainy, then a snowy November night at home, No. 10 Notre Dame football came as close to perfection as you can get in this imperfect game.
It scored seven of the first nine times it had the ball. It had zero penalties. It didn’t turn the ball over. It racked up 502 total yards, went seven-of-10 on third down, scored four of five times in the red zone and made all seven point-after attempts.
The defense stayed assignment correct against a tricky option offense that turned practices during the week into exercises in frustration. It channeled that frustration into focus on Saturday, shutting down and nearly shutting out the Navy option that played without quarterback Blake Horvath.
This one wasn’t about Horvath; this one was about Notre Dame, which allowed only 206 rush yards to a team that averages 317. It had two sacks. It had five tackles for loss.
It played about as well as it could play. It played like it had everything figured out. For four quarters, maybe that’s the case. For the next three games, it simply cannot be.
“That’s how we have to be,” said head coach Marcus Freeman. “We can’t relax.”
For this head coach, for this team, it’s all about the struggle. To be better. To chase perfection. To fix what needs to be fixed.
“You can’t grow if you don’t struggle,” Freeman said. “We can’t get better if we go into a Tuesday practice and it’s not uncomfortable. You’re not getting better. I tell them all the time: we can structure this thing however you want it. If you’re not uncomfortable, we’re not getting better. That’s why you have to struggle. That’s why you have to struggle.
“Whatever it is your routine is, your process is, it has to include struggle if you want to grow from it.”
These Irish are comfortable being uncomfortable. They’ve known nothing but since early September 2024. The struggle wasn’t real on Saturday. The success was. Why now?
Now is when it matters most for teams with DNA like Notre Dame.
“The best teams win in November,” said Irish nickel defensive back DeVonta Smith, an Alabama transfer. “We believe we’re one of the best teams in the country and we want to continue to prove that.”
The Irish have seen the struggles; the Irish seen the success. The Irish see what’s ahead.
Notre Dame was good, so we can be good, at least for the rest of the week. No reason to debate this position group or that coaching decision. No wondering about why this guy gets so many snaps and that guy doesn’t get enough. No worrying about Notre Dame not coming close to the proverbial gold standard.
Everything about what we saw on Saturday was too good to be pessimistic about anything. About everything. Let this one sit for a few days. There will be plenty of time to worry and wonder, maybe as soon as the next game at Pittsburgh.
Wonder then. Worry then. Enjoy this one. You know Freeman won’t. It’s not the way he’s wired. He’s all about the struggle and how that lays the groundwork for success. It’s been a struggle nearly every week for this program. Saturday was the success.
If Saturday was as good as it might get for Notre Dame, it will still be good enough to get this where it needs to go. That would be back to the 12-team CFP postseason party.
Saturday was “host a December first-round home game” good. It was a “deep run through January” good. National Championship contender good? Let’s not go there just yet – Freeman certainly won’t – but let’s not dismiss it entirely either.
That’s how good Notre Dame played and looked and spoke after this one.
Afterward, after the singing of both alma maters at opposite ends of the stadium, after the pressers and the post-game, you returned to the ninth floor of the stadium press box and looked out over the field. It was covered with a blanket of snow.
All those days of August and September and October were a distant memory. It looked like December. It felt like December. All because a team that looked Saturday like one poised to play in January.
Follow South Bend Tribune and NDInsider columnist Tom Noie on X (formerly Twitter): @tnoieNDI. Contact Noie at tnoie@sbtinfo.com
This article originally appeared on South Bend Tribune: How good did No. 10 Notre Dame football look in Saturday’s win over Navy?
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