Baltimore, MD – Coming off a 20-10 loss last weekend at Cincinnati and with their hopes of going to a bowl hanging by a thread, the Navy Midshipmen fell behind early once again, and despite a late rally, came up short against rival Notre Dame, 35-32, on Saturday afternoon at M&T Bank Stadium.
Saturday’s game marked Notre Dame’s first trip to Baltimore to take on their long time rival since 2008, a game the Irish won 27-21.
The two schools aren’t scheduled to play here again at least until 2026, with the next two meetings scheduled for Dublin, Ireland (Week 0 next year with Notre Dame serving as the home team) and East Rutherford, New Jersey in 2024, making this meeting in front of 62,000 in Charm City a rare treat for fans in the DMV.
Despite the Naval Academy being just 30 miles away, Irish fans clad in emerald and gold were well represented, and their team did not dissapoint.
On the first Notre Dame posession, quarterback Drew Pyne marched down the field, connecting all four passes, including a 30-yard score to running back Audric Estime to put the Irish up early.
Navy’s subsequent drive resulted in just 23 yards before the Midshipmen were forced to punt the ball back to Notre Dame.
Pyne capitalized yet again, connecting on an out of this world 38-yard touchdown grab by wide receiver Braden Lenzy, who grabbed the pass from behind a Navy defender on the score.
Down 14-0, Navy rallied as quarterback Xavier Arline, starting his second game after Tai Lavatai was lost for the season against Temple, led the Midshipmen downfield on a 5-play 75-yard drive that was capped off by a 36-yard scamper by fullback Daba Fofana, cutting the Irish lead to 14-6 after kicker Bijan Nichols missed the extra point.
But the Irish brought the “Fighting” with them from South Bend today, as Pyne drove the Notre Dame offense down the field, passing for his third touchdown in as many drives to open the game, this time connecting with running back Chris Tyree on a 5-yard touchdown pass to increase their lead to 21-6.
Navy would answer yet again, as Arline ran it on from 2 yards out on the Midshipmen’s next drive, capping a 7-play 80-yard drive to keep them in the ball game.
However, following some trickeration, Kai Puailoa-Rojas forced a pass that Notre Dame’s Clarence Lewis stepped in front of, giving the Irish the ball back with a short field in front of them.
After Irish running back Audric Estime peeled off a 28-yard scamper to the Navy 11-yard line, Pyne took it the rest of the way, scoring on a run of his own on the very next play.
On Notre Dame’s final posession of the half, Pyne found Jayden Thomas for a 37-yard touchdown to give the Irish their biggest halftime lead since their week 8 matchup with UNLV.
Trailing 35-16 at halftime, the Midshipmen came out of the locker room knowing they needed to score to remain in the game, and that’s just what they did, going on an 16-play 72-yard 10-minute drive that resulted in a 26-yard field goal from senior Bijan Nichols, his first attempt of the season.
Navy’s defense, which looked attrocious in the first-half, began the third quarter by forcing a Fighting Irish punt before intercepting quarterback Drew Pyne on Notre Dame’s subsequen drive.
That interception led to a touchdown pass from quarterback Xavier Arline to Mark Walker. The Mids went for two, succeeding on the attempt – an Arline scramble – cutting Notre Dame’s lead to eleven.
After sacking Pyne three times on the following posession, Navy got the ball back two more times, punting the ball away on both posessions, before the Navy defense gave the offense one final posession to keep the Mids in the game.
After replacing Arline, who left with an injury, senior quarterback Massai Maynor led the Midshipmen down field, capitalizing on a pourous second-half defense by the Fighting Irish, as Maquel Haywood scored on a 20-yard pass from Maynor to make it 35-30.
Another successful two-point conversion attempt cut the Irish lead to three with just over a minute left in the game, but Navy had burned all three of their second-half timeouts, forcing the Mids to attempt an onside kick.
Unfortunately for Navy, it was recovered by Notre Dame, and Pyne took a couple kneel downs to run out the rest of the clock.
Today’s loss dropped Navy to 3-7 on the year, meaning a season that began with such high hopes after two long COVID plagued campaigns, will end without a bowl appearance once again.
It will also add fuel to fire being stoked by those who believe coach Ken Niumatalolo’s time as head coach at Navy should come to an end after three years of dissapointing football.
The Midshipmen have a trip to Orlando to take on American Athletic Conference rival Central Florida at FBC Mortgage Stadium next week, followed by a long hiatus until their season finale against service academy rival Army in Philadelphia on December 10.