Brian Kelly and the Notre Dame Fighting Irish secured their ninth win this season over the Navy Midshipmen on Saturday, 24-17. Following that game, Kelly had his weekly meeting with the media to discuss last week’s game and what’s coming next. The ride has been - for the most part - a good one, and Kelly’s team will look to close the regular season on a high note with a win over Stanford. With that said, let’s just jump right into it.

And Then There Was One

It wasn’t pretty, but is it ever that way versus Navy?

It was a tough, hard fought game for this Irish squad. Ken Niumatalolo and the Midshipmen played the exact type of game needed to take down a superior Fighting Irish team, but it just wasn’t enough. A valiant effort, no doubt, but this Notre Dame team was just a bit too much for Navy to handle this time around.

Navy was “held” to 277 yards on the ground and 3.8 yards per carry. That equates to a solid showing for the Irish defense when you consider that Navy’s averages sit at 360.5 yards per game and 5.63 yards per carry, respectively. Needless to say, the defense showed up to play on Saturday, though it certainly didn’t feel that way at times.

That feeling was likely a product of Navy holding the ball for a whopping 43 minutes in this game, playing a sophisticated game of “keep away” in order to prevent Notre Dame from running up the score. However, Notre Dame did something fairly impressive in coming away with the win:

Notre Dame is the first FBS team to win a game with 17:18 or less possession time since Texas defeated Rice on Sept. 12, 2015 (Longhorns had 15:58 TOP)...



h/t @STATS_Insights #BertschyBits — Michael Bertsch (@NDsidBertschy) November 19, 2017

It goes without saying that it isn’t easy to win when you have the ball for the equivalent of just over a quarter. Greer Martini, Julian Love, and Troy Pride all did their parts to make such a win possible.

Now, the Irish will travel to Palo Alto for their annual matchup with the Stanford Cardinal. Instead of Christian McCaffrey, they’re led by their explosive Heisman candidate: Bryce Love. Stanford’s formidable rushing attack will be far from easy to deal with; Love alone averages 172 yards a game, and it one of the most elusive players at his position in the NCAA.

“Well, he's extremely explosive. Big time player in the sense that he'll turn a 3-yard run into a 60-yard run, just explosiveness at that position, like probably no one else in the country.”

It won’t be easy, and it’s as far from a guaranteed win as a game can get. It will be a test of Notre Dame’s mettle, but that’s what this entire season has been. Navy was, USC was, North Carolina State was, Georgia was, and Miami was. All those challenges have been taken on, one after another, in a rebound season for the Irish.

Each challenge has come and gone.

And then, there was one.

Notes from the Presser: