Tag: Navy

Notre Dame routs Navy: Instant Takeaways

What is your biggest takeaway from the blowout win?

No. 13 Notre Dame spent all day Saturday taking down Navy in the 2023 college football season opener. The Irish scored touchdowns on their first five possessions in the lopsided victory.

Notre Dame’s third win all time in Ireland was the first with the Irish serving as the home team in front of the Irish.

Navy is rebuilding and breaking in a somewhat new offensive style, but a 42-3 victory over anyone is something you’ll gladly take in Week 1.

So what do you take away from this game and what is significant as the calendar flips to September and the season starts to take off?

Here are a handful of instant takeaways from Notre Dame’s dominating victory.

5 stars: The best and worst of Notre Dame’s season opening win against Navy

Not much to complain about this Irish performance

That was fun for Notre Dame football fans, wasn’t it. The Irish dominated Navy, 42-3.

This game was over early in the second half, and, honestly, there wasn’t much to complain about after a win like this. There were many more positives than negatives and that will show below.

It was more than encouraging to see the team play a complete game, especially considering last year’s game saw the Irish struggle mightily in the second half and have to stave off Navy late.

Find out who my five-stars (best) and one-star (worst) were and everything in between breaking down Notre Dame’s season opening win.

Notre Dame cruises past Navy 42-3

1-0!

No. 13 Notre Dame wasted no time getting the 2023 college football season started, doing so quickly and easily against Navy on Saturday night in Dublin.

After Navy deferred to start the game, Notre Dame used a lot of junior running back [autotag]Audric Estime[/autotag] to move easily down field.  Estime totaled 51-yards on the opening possession, capping it with a one-yard touchdown run.

After a couple of decent Navy runs to start their first possession, Notre Dame’s defense quickly tightened and got a fourth down stop.  Navy would threaten to score just once more while it mattered, missing a 37-yard field goal in the second quarter.

Notre Dame starts the year 1-0 after an impressive 42-3 win that saw [autotag]Sam Hartman[/autotag] throw for 251-yards and four touchdowns in his Irish debut.

We’ll have a ton of coverage to come on Fighting Irish Wire so keep it locked here.  Also be sure to check out a handful of the best photos from the game below.

Social media reacts to Deion Colzie’s fourth-quarter touchdown

Mercy.

We’re running out of ways to describe how dominant Notre Dame has been against Navy. The Irish didn’t fail to score a touchdown or fail to put up any points on a drive until [autotag]Spencer Shrader[/autotag] missed a 42-yard field goal attempt late in the third quarter.

That quickly was forgotten as [autotag]Sam Hartman[/autotag] went right back to work once his defense did its job once again. He ended a seven-play, 60-yard drive with his fourth touchdown pass of the day, a 25-yarder to [autotag]Deion Colzie[/autotag] that gave the Irish a 42-0 lead:

Nobody could have asked for a better opening to the season. The Irish have dominated on both sides of the ball, and if this game lasted any longer, there’s no doubt they would continue to pour it on. That’s the main takeaway from this game, and they’ll leave Ireland happy.

Here are the best tweets regarding Colzie’s touchdown catch:

Social media reacts to Jaden Greathouse’s second touchdown catch

Another score.

Scoring a touchdown in your first collegiate game is great. Scoring two in that game is a real thrill.

Notre Dame freshman Jaden Greathouse can make that claim after receiving another touchdown from Sam Hartman, this one from 20 yards out. The Irish have a touchdown on each of their first five possessions, thus increasing their lead over Navy to 35-0:

With little reason to believe the script of this game will be flipped, the second half figures to be nothing more than a showcase for how good this year’s Irish can be. They’ve dominated this one from the beginning, and while it wasn’t unexpected, it nonetheless feels great to witness. Those who made the trip overseas will tell you it was money well spent.

Even with the outcome likely decided, people still took to social media to talk about each touchdown. Here’s what they had to say about the latest one:

Social media reacts to Jayden Thomas’ late first-half touchdown

One more for the half.

Only those who had the utmost faith in Navy believed it had any kind of shot against Notre Dame. At this point, it would take a complete collapse by the Irish for their faith to be rewarded. That happens when the Irish have possession four times in the first half and score a touchdown each time. The last of those touchdowns came on [autotag]Sam Hartman[/autotag]’s 15-yard pass to [autotag]Jayden Thomas[/autotag]:

Irish fans understandably are feeling good about the rest of the game. While 28-0 is not an insurmountable deficit, it’s hard to feel optimistic when Hartman already has exactly 200 passing yards and shows no sign of slowing down. The same can be said for the rest of the team. Barring a complete meltdown by the Irish, it’s no longer a matter of whether [autotag]Marcus Freeman[/autotag] will bring in his backups, but when.

Here are some of social media’s best reactions to Thomas’ touchdown:

Social media reacts to Hartman’s first TD pass to Greathouse

The newbies are doing work.

It was only a matter of time before [autotag]Sam Hartman[/autotag] threw his first touchdown pass in a Notre Dame uniform. Sure enough, it happened in the second quarter of the season opener against Navy. Some people might have expected it to go to one of the Irish’s more experienced receivers. Instead, it went to true freshman [autotag]Jaden Greathouse[/autotag] from 35 yards out, and it extended the Irish’s lead to 21-0:

People might have expected the Irish to blow out the Midshipmen, but it’s unlikely many expected so many first-year players to make such an impact in the first half. We already saw it with [autotag]Jadarian Price[/autotag] scoring his first touchdown. Now, we’re seeing it through the air. It’s a sure sign that this season will be different from the last one.

Social media was ripe with conversation about this latest Irish score. Check out some of the best tweets related to it:

Social media reacts to Jadarian Price’s clean touchdown run

Nice carry, young man.

[autotag]Jadarian Price[/autotag] has a long way to go in establishing himself as a legitimate college player. It takes more than one game to make that distinction, so it obviously can’t happen in your very first contest.

But Price at least put the rest of the country on notice late in the first quarter of Notre Dame’s game against Navy. He avoided a couple of defenders and ran as smoothly as silk for a 19-yard touchdown, putting the Irish up, 14-0:

You never forget your first impact play at the college level, so Price undoubtedly will have this moment playing in his mind forever. But let’s not forget the reactions of those watching the game, too. You only get one opportunity to make a good first impression, and Price certainly did in this game. Check out some of the best reactions that were posted to social media right after Price’s score:

Social media reacts to Estime scoring first Notre Dame touchdown

Nice job finishing it off, Audric.

Notre Dame’s season opener against Navy got off to as good a start as it could have hoped for. Led by new field general [autotag]Sam Hartman[/autotag], the offense ran a nice mixture of runs and passes, most of which went for good yardage.

Add a couple of third-down conversions, and you’ve got a strong chance of scoring. [autotag]Audric Estime[/autotag] did just that, wrapping up a 13-play drive that took nearly half of the first quarter by plunging into the end zone from the 1-yard line for the Irish’s first touchdown:

This touchdown officially signaled to Irish fans that the 2023 season was underway. After waiting many months to react to great plays by their favorite team, they finally had the opportunity once again to take to social media and do just that. Here are some of the best tweets from Irish fans who wished to express their thoughts about this score:

No. 13 Notre Dame vs. Navy: In-game thoughts

Live in-game thoughts during Notre Dame-Navy

Ladies and gentlemen – finally – it’s time.

The off-season has come to an end and college football is set to kick for the 2023 season.

The first game on the last Saturday of August features No. 13 Notre Dame taking on annual rival Navy in Ireland.  It’s the third time the two have met in Dublin as the Irish look to start the season in a big way.

Follow here throughout the contest to check in on the latest thoughts in-game.  We’ll have some social media reaction and information throughout as well.

Get settled in, enjoy the game, and go Irish!

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Let’s go!