For the first time in 99 meetings, Notre Dame and Navy are taking their rivalry out of the usual haunts and setting up shop at Gillette Stadium — and this year, Navy actually has the roster to make it interesting.
Bush’s Picks
NDNAVY
NDNAVY
OverUnder
Best BetNotre Dame
Notre Dame is the far more talented roster top to bottom, with a defensive line overhaul and a returning starting quarterback who's already thrown 24 touchdowns against just 6 picks. Navy has been terrific the last two years, but the Irish have won 8 straight in this series and this Notre Dame team is built with the Playoff in mind, not just a good record.
Notre Dame
+CJ Carr returns with 24 TD, 6 INT season
+Added D-tackle transfers Brewu, Gray up front
+8 straight wins in this series
−Lost both lead backs, Love and Price
−Navy's option has beaten ND before since 2007
Navy
+21 wins over last two seasons, best stretch ever
+Braxton Woodson flashed running the option attack
+Favorable schedule builds real Playoff buzz
−Losing three program-defining stars off last year's team
−New DC Eric Lewis untested in the role
−Hasn't beaten Notre Dame since 2016
Notre Dame shows up to Foxborough with national title expectations attached, not just bowl talk. CJ Carr threw for 2,741 yards with a 24-to-6 touchdown-to-interception ratio in his first year as the starter, and the defensive front got an upgrade with transfers Francis Brewu and Tionne Gray joining returning pass rushers Jason Onye and Boubacar Traore. The one real question mark is the backfield, where Jeremiyah Love and Jadarian Price are both gone and someone new has to carry the load.
Navy isn't just the scrappy service academy showing up to get run over anymore. Brian Newberry's Midshipmen have won 21 games over the last two seasons, the best two-year stretch in the program's 130-year history, and they're doing it with the option offense still humming. Braxton Woodson takes over at quarterback after showing flashes running the attack, though Navy has to replace three program-defining stars and broke in a new defensive coordinator, Eric Lewis, this offseason after PJ Volker left for the Ravens.
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ND Notre Dame
NAVY Navy
The venue change is the real story here. Navy is technically the home team, but Gillette Stadium is new ground for both programs in this series — Navy played there once before, in the 2023 Army-Navy Game, while it's Notre Dame's first trip to Foxborough entirely. It's a neutral-site novelty wrapped around one of the oldest rivalries in the sport, and it lands on Halloween this year.
Notre Dame Fighting Irish
Oct 16?@ BYU—
Oct 10?vs Stanford—
Oct 2?@ North Carolina—
Sep 25?@ Purdue—
Sep 19?vs Michigan State—
Sep 12?vs Rice—
Sep 6?vs Wisconsin—
Navy Midshipmen
Oct 16?@ UTSA—
Oct 10?vs Tulsa—
Oct 3?@ Air Force—
Sep 25?@ UAB—
Sep 12?@ Florida Atlantic—
Sep 5?vs Towson—
Recent form.
Notre Dame has won 8 straight in this series, and history says that streak should be respected — Navy's last win over the Irish came in 2016, and the option offense has only cracked the code a handful of times since Notre Dame's infamous 43-game run ended in 2007. But this Navy team is built differently than most of the ones that got run off the field in recent years, and a roster replacing key skill-position pieces of its own gives the Irish a little less margin for error than the name on the jersey suggests.
Notre Dame Fighting Irish
(0)
Fully healthy — no injuries on ESPN's report
Navy Midshipmen
(0)
Fully healthy — no injuries on ESPN's report
Injury report — info via ESPN.
Both programs still have a full slate of games between now and Halloween, so plenty can change — Notre Dame opens against Wisconsin in the Shamrock Series and Navy has to survive road trips to FAU, UAB, Air Force and UTSA first. But as far as measuring-stick games go for a Navy team with real Playoff buzz, this is the one circled on the calendar in Annapolis.
