Nov 8 | Navy

zelezo vlk

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Interested to see how the young secondary performs against Navy. Shuler & Moore should do fine as this is their 2nd time to see the triple option hybrid. Gray seemed to struggle last season when Horvath passed. I think it was more of getting caught off guard than anything but that game was over before it started so Navy had to go to the air a lot. Smith is a vet but has never faced Navy. Not even sure they’ll need a nickel in this game. Weather could make this a moot point but it’s a fool’s errand to predict how aggressively the wind will be blowing.
One of the pods earlier this week brought up that none of the DTs have played Navy, but all the DEs and LBs have a ton of experience. I wonder how that impacts the game
 

BeatSC

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Interested to see how the young secondary performs against Navy. Shuler & Moore should do fine as this is their 2nd time to see the triple option hybrid. Gray seemed to struggle last season when Horvath passed. I think it was more of getting caught off guard than anything but that game was over before it started so Navy had to go to the air a lot. Smith is a vet but has never faced Navy. Not even sure they’ll need a nickel in this game. Weather could make this a moot point but it’s a fool’s errand to predict how aggressively the wind will be blowing.
I think Grey struggles every time anyone throws the ball.
 

stpeteirish

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Watching some tape of Navy. DBs cannot tackle worth shit. Love and Price will have a field day vs these clowns. They just bounce off the NT St RB. Arm tackles would be an improvement over this. And those 260 lb lineman and the 210ish LBs are going to get buried by or OL.
 

SportsingHard

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Watching some tape of Navy. DBs cannot tackle worth shit. Love and Price will have a field day vs these clowns. They just bounce off the NT St RB. Arm tackles would be an improvement over this. And those 260 lb lineman and the 210ish LBs are going to get buried by or OL.
I'd love for you to deliver this scouting report in person. Can we get this guy a lockerroom pass?
 

IRISHDODGER

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I post this w/ all due respect to Navy & the ND fans who cherish this rivalry.…I hate this game. Navy never gets any national respect b/c they don’t have the athletes to compete for titles or a P4 conf championship. So they’re lumped in w/ all the other G6 tomato cans that are looked down upon by the power conferences. But I know this rivalry isn’t going anywhere so no need to give me the history lesson. We’ve all heard it ad nauseam and there’s always going to be two factions of ND fanbase. One that wishes it would end & one that wants it to carry on forever.

I do wish ND & Navy could come together & schedule this as the opener each year. But I know that’s out of their hands from a conference scheduling perspective. Anyways, it’s gotta be played so I need to get over it & just hope for a comfortable win w/ minimal injuries. Just my two cents.
 

IrishBryan77

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I post this w/ all due respect to Navy & the ND fans who cherish this rivalry.…I hate this game. Navy never gets any national respect b/c they don’t have the athletes to compete for titles or a P4 conf championship. So they’re lumped in w/ all the other G6 tomato cans that are looked down upon by the power conferences. But I know this rivalry isn’t going anywhere so no need to give me the history lesson. We’ve all heard it ad nauseam and there’s always going to be two factions of ND fanbase. One that wishes it would end & one that wants it to carry on forever.

I do wish ND & Navy could come together & schedule this as the opener each year. But I know that’s out of their hands from a conference scheduling perspective. Anyways, it’s gotta be played so I need to get over it & just hope for a comfortable win w/ minimal injuries. Just my two cents.
I'm with you. I hate this game as well but we owe it to Navy as we all know. 🙄
 

RDU Irish

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I post this w/ all due respect to Navy & the ND fans who cherish this rivalry.…I hate this game. Navy never gets any national respect b/c they don’t have the athletes to compete for titles or a P4 conf championship. So they’re lumped in w/ all the other G6 tomato cans that are looked down upon by the power conferences. But I know this rivalry isn’t going anywhere so no need to give me the history lesson. We’ve all heard it ad nauseam and there’s always going to be two factions of ND fanbase. One that wishes it would end & one that wants it to carry on forever.

I do wish ND & Navy could come together & schedule this as the opener each year. But I know that’s out of their hands from a conference scheduling perspective. Anyways, it’s gotta be played so I need to get over it & just hope for a comfortable win w/ minimal injuries. Just my two cents.

Pitt is the biggest beneficiary of this game. Navy hangover games are common across all CFB, not just ND. Schedule it last or before a bye week IMO. Also in the camp that is OK never playing it again - cost/benefit just isn't there.
 

RudyVerse

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My perspective is ND has plenty built in disadvantages in the modern era and the self-imposed ones need to be reviewed with heavy scrutiny. Academic standards, transfer rules, alleged friction of paying HC top dollar, never going to be the top NIL school, etc.

We haven't won a title in 40 years, and so while none of these in isolation are back breakers, why would we not examine every thing in our control to give us an advantage?

Things in our control that don't need to work against us: Honoring opponent's referees, playing Navy because of one man's promise made a lifetime ago that's been repaid 10 fold, forfeiting a home game with USC (our biggest recruiting weekend) to a neutral field to keep the peace, the dorm situation (unsure if this is truly an issue), and I'm sure I'm missing some.

To ND's credit, they seem to be paying assistants really well, and the new construction will keep us up with the Jones's. So it's not all doom and gloom but there are still things in our control at our disadvantage.
 

Some Irish Bloke

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Pitt is the biggest beneficiary of this game. Navy hangover games are common across all CFB, not just ND. Schedule it last or before a bye week IMO. Also in the camp that is OK never playing it again - cost/benefit just isn't there.
ND post-Navy under Marcus Freeman: all with no bye-weeks in betwee:

2022 - Boston College (ND 44-0)
2023 - Tenn. St - (ND 56-3)
2024 - FSU - (ND 52-3)

Pre-Marcus Freeman:
2021 - UVA (ND 28-3)
2019 - BC (ND 40-7)
2018 - @NW (ND 31-21)
2017 - @ Stanford (Stan 38-28) That was a ranked, 8-3 Stanford team on the road. At the very least, you can say it's been 7 years since we've had a "clunker" post-Navy, but 5-3 NW on the road at night isn't a terrible result, winning by two scores.

I'll leave it up to you guys to decide if there's a Navy Hangover anymore. It really hasn't been an issue for Freeman and wasn't for BK for a long time.

Pitt might be a stiffer test than a lot of these teams listed, but I'm not going into Pitt next weeks scared or with pre-loaded excuses.
 
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arrowryan

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My perspective is ND has plenty built in disadvantages in the modern era and the self-imposed ones need to be reviewed with heavy scrutiny. Academic standards, transfer rules, alleged friction of paying HC top dollar, never going to be the top NIL school, etc.

We haven't won a title in 40 years, and so while none of these in isolation are back breakers, why would we not examine every thing in our control to give us an advantage?

Things in our control that don't need to work against us: Honoring opponent's referees, playing Navy because of one man's promise made a lifetime ago that's been repaid 10 fold, forfeiting a home game with USC (our biggest recruiting weekend) to a neutral field to keep the peace, the dorm situation (unsure if this is truly an issue), and I'm sure I'm missing some.

The first paragraph describes Notre Dame pre Freeman and Pete B. Not the current program.

Notre Dame is a top 5-10 school in NIL. We’ve seen that with who they’ve brought in at transfer QBs, retaining talent, and the 2026 recruiting class. Notre Dame pays their coordinators top dollar and pays two of their position coaches 7 figures. Therefore, I highly doubt Notre Dame would try to avoid paying Freeman what he deserves.
 

RDU Irish

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ND post-Navy under Marcus Freeman:

2022 - no bye week: Boston College (ND 44-0)
2023 - Tenn. St - (ND 56-3)
2024 - FSU - (ND 52-3)

Pre-Marcus Freeman:
2021 - UVA (ND 28-3)
2019 - BC (ND 40-7)
2018 - @NW (ND 31-21)
2017 - @ Stanford (Stan 38-28) That was a ranked, 8-3 Stanford team on the road. At the very least, you can say it's been 7 years since we've had a "clunker" post-Navy, but 5-3 NW on the road at night isn't a terrible result, winning by two scores.

I'll leave it up to you guys to decide if there's a Navy Hangover anymore. It really hasn't been an issue for Freeman and wasn't for BK for a long time.

Pitt might be a stiffer test than a lot of these teams listed, but I'm not going into Pitt next weeks scared or with pre-loaded excuses.

Fair points. 2007, 2009, 2010 and 2016 losses and many close calls in that timeframe color my battered fan syndrome. Can't believe it's been nearly two decades since Weis "broke" that win streak. Just praying we don't lose any DL in this one.
 

zelezo vlk

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I'm still salty in 2016 Ken Niumatalolo got a non-reviewable play reviewed to basically steal the game away
 

Some Irish Bloke

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Fair points. 2007, 2009, 2010 and 2016 losses and many close calls in that timeframe color my battered fan syndrome. Can't believe it's been nearly two decades since Weis "broke" that win streak. Just praying we don't lose any DL in this one.
Definitely my primary concern every year; hope not having Hinish/Rubio this weeks means one or both will be ready to go in Pittsburgh next weekend. At any rate, might be a good thing they aren't going this week so that they can avoid injury. Hopefully the next men up are ready for the FB dive, though.
 

Bane

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I post this w/ all due respect to Navy & the ND fans who cherish this rivalry.…I hate this game. Navy never gets any national respect b/c they don’t have the athletes to compete for titles or a P4 conf championship. So they’re lumped in w/ all the other G6 tomato cans that are looked down upon by the power conferences. But I know this rivalry isn’t going anywhere so no need to give me the history lesson. We’ve all heard it ad nauseam and there’s always going to be two factions of ND fanbase. One that wishes it would end & one that wants it to carry on forever.

I do wish ND & Navy could come together & schedule this as the opener each year. But I know that’s out of their hands from a conference scheduling perspective. Anyways, it’s gotta be played so I need to get over it & just hope for a comfortable win w/ minimal injuries. Just my two cents.
I also don't care for this game, even though it doesn't particularly scare me. It's sort of an annoyance and no matter what we'll never get any credit for beating them. Even if Navy is ranked and undefeated at the time of playing them they'll always be "just Navy" in a way a comparative G5 team that may be ranked or have a good record wouldn't be. The service academies are clearly seen as a notch below even other G5 programs whether that's fair or not.
 

FOTY977

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I was in the “cancel it” camp for a long time, but in this era of CFB, retaining traditional/historical rivalries like this one are some of the last unique, compelling, and dare I say honorable things left about the sport.

I do wish they would managing the schedule better going forward as others have pointed out. If we hold up our end of the blood oath, so should they and make it a stipulation of their own conference scheduling to help us out.
 

IrishBryan77

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If I was a betting man (meaning if I bet more than I do now lol) I would take Navy and the points ONLY because Navy's time of possession and also I do believe we have several defensive players that have yet to play Navy.
 

IRISHDODGER

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I also don't care for this game, even though it doesn't particularly scare me. It's sort of an annoyance and no matter what we'll never get any credit for beating them. Even if Navy is ranked and undefeated at the time of playing them they'll always be "just Navy" in a way a comparative G5 team that may be ranked or have a good record wouldn't be. The service academies are clearly seen as a notch below even other G5 programs whether that's fair or not.
Bingo! You crystallized it better than I did. Annoyance.
 
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