Notre Dame football accomplishes a feat they haven’t in over 4,000 days during their blowout victory over Navy
Notre Dame football throttled the Navy Midshipmen on Saturday 51-14, moving their record to 7-1 overall on the season. It was a well-balanced victory for the Irish, and arguably their most impressive of 2024 outside of their season opener against Texas A&M. All sides of the football had a hand in the victory, with the […]
Notre Dame football throttled the Navy Midshipmen on Saturday 51-14, moving their record to 7-1 overall on the season. It was a well-balanced victory for the Irish, and arguably their most impressive of 2024 outside of their season opener against Texas A&M. All sides of the football had a hand in the victory, with the turnover margin being a big factor during the contest.
The Notre Dame defense forced four turnovers during the victory, including three fumble recoveries and an interception. On top of that, the special teams also recovered two fumbles off of muffed punts, moving the total to six turnovers forced on the day. Those six turnovers were the most forced by the Irish since 2012 during their 13-6 victory over the Michigan Wolverines. That is a span of 4,417 days in between those defensive outputs.
In the time between those defensive onslaughts, the Irish have forced five turnovers on four separate occasions, including 2021 against Wisconsin, 2022 against Boston College, and twice in 2023 versus Pittsburgh and USC. That means since that Michigan game in 2012, Marcus Freeman was on staff for all five of the games where the team forced at least five turnovers, one as defensive coordinator and the rest as head coach.
For a long stretch, the inability to turn the football over had been an area of improvement that the Irish desperately needed. Coach Freeman made it an emphasis early on, wanting to get longer, more explosive, and a ton more disruptive on the defensive side of the football. His initiative was to do so on the recruiting trail.
Along with defensive coordinator Al Golden, we are seeing a new approach from this Notre Dame team. They are one of the more talented, and opportunistic defenses in college football. The depth, speed, and playmaking ability are on a whole other level than we are used to.
