Navy vs. Notre Dame Fearless Prediction, Game Preview

Navy vs. Notre Dame fearless prediction and game preview.

Navy vs. Notre Dame Broadcast

Date: Saturday, November 16
Game Time: 2:30 ET
Live Stream: fuboTV (click to watch for free)
Venue: Notre Dame Stadium, Notre Dame, IN
Network: NBC

– All of the CFN Fearless Predictions

Navy (7-1) vs. Notre Dame (7-2) Game Preview

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What’s Going To Happen

Will Notre Dame be able to sell-out at the last moment to keep the 273-game streak that goes back to 1973 alive?

It needs to, considering these are two top 23 teams according to the College Football Playoff committee.

Start with this – can Notre Dame slow down the run?

It got hammered on by Michigan for over 300 rushing yards, but that was more about a power game in bad weather. Navy isn’t going to blast away. Other than that, the Irish run defense has been a rock after tightening up over the first few weeks. The line is doing a better job at getting into the backfield, and the linebacking corps is in place to clamp down on the outside when Malcolm Perry gets going.

The running back-who-plays-quarterback is past the 1,000-yard mark with five straight 100-yard games. He’s also hitting the deep ball, averaging close to 24 yards per completion when he’s able to catch defenses cheating up.

The Navy running game is working at the highest level, but the Irish aren’t going to get popped in the interior, and expect several plays behind the line to force enough long third down plays to be a problem.

Ian Book and the Notre Dame offense will be more methodical than spectacular, but he’ll be just sharp enough and accurate enough to keep the Perry and company on the sidelines a bit. Navy will still dominate the time of possession battle, and it’ll push the Irish hard, but Book and the O will take over the fourth quarter with a few late scores to pull away and survive.