Notre Dame kicked off the season in Ireland with a 42-3 victory over the Navy Midshipmen. The top acquisition to the team, Sam Hartman, had quite the debut for the Fighting Irish.
Hartman completed 82.6% of his 23 pass attempts for 251 yards and 4 touchdowns. He averaged 13.2 yards per completion and 10.9 yards per attempt. It was clear early on that Navy’s defense was overmatched by the Notre Dame offense.
Prior to the game against the Midshipmen, Hartman was No. 14 with 114 career touchdowns. He was tied with Florida legend Danny Wuerffel. However, after throwing for four touchdowns in the win, the Notre Dame quarterback jumped Tim Rattay, Matt Barkley, and Hawaii legend Timmy Chang. He now is just one touchdown behind Luke Falk for No. 10 all-time.
On the passing yards list, the former Wake Forest quarterback was No. 18 overall just behind Texas Longhorns legend Colt McCoy. His 251 yards passing against the Navy defense moved him just ahead of McCoy and behind Corey Robinson. Hartman has a chance to pass not only Robinson this week but also the ACC all-time passing leader Phillip Rivers.
Notre Dame will return home in Week 1 to take on Tennessee State on Sept. 2. This game shouldn’t be much of a contest with Hartman likely getting to sit a majority of the second half. At least, that would be the dream scenario for the Irish as they are set to travel to North Carolina State in Week 2.
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