Notre Dame’s Kevin Austin catches 70-yard touchdown pass

After a slow start, the Notre Dame offense clicked en route to a 34-6 win over rival Navy.

Wide receiver Kevin Austin caught a 70-yard touchdown pass from quarterback Jack Coan to give the Irish a 17-3 lead just before half time.

Closing out the first half with a BANG! 🏈@NDFootball | #GoIrish pic.twitter.com/6YrwyUydSF

— Notre Dame on NBC (@NDonNBC) November 6, 2021

Unsurprisingly, Austin was Notre Dame’s top receiver with six catches for 139 yards.

Running back Kyren Williams had another productive day, posting 131 all-purpose yards and two touchdowns on 24 touches.

The quarterback carousel continued, as the Irish used both Jack Coan and Tyler Buchner at quarterback. Coan took the majority of the snaps and finished 23-for-29 with 269 yards and a touchdown.

Navy did not complete a pass last week against Tulsa, and they failed to complete one in the first half of this game as well. They had 57 rushing yards in the first half, and therefore 57 total yards. Quarterback Xavier Arline finished 1-for-2 with 18 yards through the air plus eight carries for eight yards.

In total, Navy rushed for just 166 yards, just three yards per carry. They were averaging 223.4 yards per game on the ground prior to Saturday’s game. The Midshipmen only had 11 first downs.

Navy typically dominates the time of possession because of their style of offense, and Saturday was not an exception. They held the ball for nearly 35 minutes.

8-1 Notre Dame heads to Charlottesville next weekend to play a high-powered UVA offense. It is unclear whether UVA quarterback Brennan Armstrong will play after he suffered a rib injury last week against BYU. The kickoff time has not yet been announced.

Notre Dame should move up multiple spots in the College Football Playoff rankings this week, as both Michigan State and Wake Forest suffered their first losses of the season on Saturday. Both teams fell to unranked opponents.