The Big Picture
Notre Dame football came out of their bye week with a decisive 35-13 win over Navy in Week 9. The Irish had a 14-13 edge in the game’s first half. They went 7-3 against the Midshipmen in the first quarter and Navy ended the second quarter with a 10-7 advantage. But Notre Dame shut out their opponent in the second half, going 14-0 in the third quarter and 7-0 in the fourth quarter. Through Week 9, the Irish are averaging 10.7 points scored in the first quarter, 12.8 in the second quarter, 7.5 in the third quarter and 9.2
in the fourth quarter.
The team’s average point differential per game is 27, with the Navy point differential sitting at 22. They’re averaging 40.3 points scored per game and 13.4 points allowed by opponents.
Yardage Summary
Notre Dame was +181 in the total yardage category. They tallied up 426 yards of total offense against Navy and are averaging 442.7 yards of offense per game.
The Irish offense produced 222 passing yards in Week 9 and they are averaging 256.7 passing yards per game. The overall passing line included 20 completions on 30 attempts, two touchdown passes and zero interceptions. It was the lowest passing yard production up to this point in the season.
The Irish recorded 204 rushing yards against the Midshipmen and are averaging 186 rushing yards per game through Week 9. It was a higher than average rushing performance for the team and their third highest rushing yard total so far. The overall production came on 29 attempts and 7.0 yards gained per attempt.
The Quarterback Stats
CJ Carr took the majority of Notre Dame’s quarterback stats in Week 9. He closed out the game having completed 19 of his 29 attempts for a 65.5% completion rate and 210 yards. He also threw both of the team’s touchdown passes. Carr is averaging 231 yards thro0ugh the air per game and the Navy game was his second lowest production outing, trailing only the 181 passing yards in the Stanford rout. His utilization came back down to earth with 29 pass attempts this week compared with 49 attempts in the Week 7 loss to BYU. He also got back on track in terms of accuracy and impact. He had a 55.1% completion rate against BYU up to 65.5% this week and zero touchdown passes, back up to two this week.
Noah Grubbs completed his one pass attempt for 12 yards.
The Rushers
For a second consecutive game, Nolan James Jr. led Notre Dame’s rushing group in production and impact.
- James tallied up 107 yards on nine carries and averaged 11.8 yards per carry. He was also responsible for two of the team’s three rushing touchdowns.
- Jonaz Walton finished the Navy game with 12 rush attempts for 51 yards and one rushing touchdown.
The Receivers
- Sophomore wide receiver Jerome Bettis Jr. had a standout game in Week 9 of the 2026-27 season. He led the receiving four with six catches for 78 yards, including one of the team’s two touchdown catches. He’s now sitting at ten total catches for 170 yards.
- Senior wide receiver Jordan Faison walked away from the Navy game with four receptions for 46 yards. Faison has 38 receptions for 497 yards and four touchdowns through Week 9.
- Senior wide receiver Jaden Greathouse pulled down three catches for 26 yards. Greathouse has 22 catches for 289 yards and two touchdowns through Week 9.
- Junior wide receiver Micah Gilbert had two catches for 21 yards and one touchdown. Gilbert is sitting with 24 catches for 430 yards and three touchdowns through Week 9.
The Defensive Stats
Opposing offenses are averaging 236 yards of total offense against Notre Dame’s defense and Navy was slightly above average with 245 yards of offensive production. The Midshipmen only recorded 33 yards through the air but hit a season high of 212 rushing yards by opponents. The closes comparison was the 121 yard the BYU Cougars earned on the ground against the Irish in Week 7.
It was another quiet game for Notre Dame’s defense in terms of impact plays. The unit had zero sacks against Navy but did record one tackle for loss and two pass deflections.
- Freshman defensive lineman was responsible for the team’s sole tackle for loss.
- Senior defensive lineman Boubacar Traore had one pass deflection.
- Sophomore cornerback Jayden Sanders had one pass deflection.
The Flow Stats
The Notre Dame offense had eight full drives and turned five of them into points.
Closing Thoughts
The Irish showed up in a solid way coming off of the BYU loss. It wasn’t the prettiest of wins but it doesn’t look like this is going to be a pretty college football season for any of the major programs. One of the biggest takeaways is that CJ Carr and the Irish offense settled back into something like the consistent form we got used two during the first half of the season. It wasn’t a flashy stats game for the defense but they overcame the annual Navy test, even if there were some notable injury losses.
The shelf life for these stats is probably going to be all of 12 hours before everyone’s attention is turned towards the Miami (FL) showdown next weekend.
