Relief set in when Irish coach Brian Kelly realized Notre Dame no longer has to spend a week preparing for a team that runs the triple option.

“Thank God,” Kelly muttered when he was reminded Notre Dame’s defense wouldn’t take on a triple-option offense until Nov. 5, 2016. The time spent preparing a game plan for Georgia Tech and Navy dates back to last winter, when the sixth-year Notre Dame coach tasked assistant coach Bob Elliott with the responsibility of finding a way to slow down the system that was a thorn in the Irish defense’s side for so long.

Kelly is right to be relieved, but there should also be a sense of satisfaction that one of the hottest off-season topics among the defensive coaching staff was put to rest in the 120 minutes Notre Dame played against Georgia Tech and Navy. Elliott aced his test. The Irish didn’t only pick up two wins in the process—they created a blueprint for how to defend the triple-option so in about 13 months, when Kelly and defensive coordinator Brian VanGorder create a game plan, a reference point that succeeded is in their back pocket.

The wins over Georgia Tech and Navy won’t only be celebrated in the short-term. Their affect extends beyond 2015 because of what they mean when Notre Dame meets Navy in Jacksonville in November 2016.

“I think that we’ve done an excellent job on defense,” sophomore linebacker Greer Martini said. “There’s always things that we can clean up, but overall I think we have a pretty good scheme against the triple option where we can figure out the numbers. I felt like when we came out for the first series they kind of punched us in the mouth, but then after that we kind of settled down and started playing better.”

Navy gained 70 of its 318 rushing yards on the opening drive. But Notre Dame’s halftime adjustments—moving to a bigger lineup, with linebacker Jarrett Grace replacing James Onwualu chief among them—stopped Navy in its tracks. The Midshipmen gained 79 rushing yards on 21 carries in the second half, compared to 239 on 28 carries in the first.

Navy’s offense as a whole added three points to its first-half total of 21, the second half slump a far cry from the 22-point rally in the second half last season that required Notre Dame to score three fourth-quarter touchdowns to stave off its opponent.

The Irish’s defensive coordinator need to see the full capability of the triple-option in order to understand how to defend it, though.

“I think coach VanGorder the first year, he was telling us he hadn’t seen it that much coming from the NFL and stuff like that, so it was almost foreign to him,” said Martini, tied defensive tackle Sheldon Day with a team-high nine tackles against Navy. “And I think after having a year under his belt, he really has learned what the triple option is and he’s able to get the numbers right, which is the whole thing about defeating the triple option.”

The offensive scout team, which nicknamed itself the S.W.A.G Team (Students With Attitude and Game) during fall camp, was tasked with mirroring the triple-option offenses run by Georgia Tech and Navy. Freshman quarterback and preferred walk-on Robert Regan had the job of replicating Georgia Tech quarterback Justin Thomas and Navy’s Keenan Reynolds for two weeks this season.

Regan’s work was so important, in fact, that he received the game ball after Notre Dame’s win over Navy. Kelly couldn’t remember if he’s ever given the game ball to a scout team player, but I was sure happy to give one to him,” he added. “That's for certain.”

And because of Regan, the Irish accomplished both of their goals set when Elliott began his research last winter.

“I think there's always things that we can work on to get better but I think we have established something that I wanted to establish, and that is a base way of playing the option teams and something that we can carry with us and something that can be repeat able that we can work on in the spring and keep our guys familiar with our system as we defend option,” Kelly said. “I think that that's what we wanted, to win both games—that was first and foremost—and in whatever fashion, if we won by one that would have been fine with me. And then have a system in place that's repeatable and that we can come back to each and every year.”

After Saturday afternoon, Kelly and Notre Dame can check off both boxes next to the triple-option-specific set of goals.