What Navy coach Brian Newberry said about Notre Dame football

It’s one thing to play the very first game of a college football season at a place as unique as Aviva Stadium in Dublin, Ireland. It’s another thing entirely for the opponent to be the Notre Dame Fighting Irish.

Navy head coach Brian Newberry made it clear Tuesday his players know exactly what they’re walking into Saturday at 2:30 p.m. ET.

“When you play Notre Dame in the opener, it forces you to have a little bit of a heightened sense of urgency,” Newberry said. “We’ve certainly seen that.”

Newberry took over for longtime Navy head coach Ken Niumatalolo after last season. His first career game as a head coach comes against Notre Dame on Irish soil. You couldn’t script something like that in Hollywood, but this is more than a movie-like pipe dream for Newberry.

This is reality.

“We’re not going over there hopeful,” Newberry said. “We’re going over there with some expectations.”

Here is everything else Newberry said about facing Notre Dame in Week 0.

General thoughts on Notre Dame

“They’re good. They’re going to be good. They’ve got a great coaching staff. Great players across the board. A really veteran bunch. On the defensive side, they’ve got some fifth-year starters. A lot of experience coming back. Another year in Al Golden’s system there.

“Offensively, they’re talented. Three really good players coming back up front. I think the tight end is a really good player. They’re talented at wideout. Talented with their running back. The addition of Sam Hartman was huge, obviously. He’s a tremendous player. Tremendous leader, winner. Sounds like he’s really gelled well with that unit over there. Saw he was recently voted captain. For a guy transferring, to be voted captain at Notre Dame is a huge honor.

“They’re big. They’re long. They can run. They’ve got experience in a lot of places. So it’s going to be a huge challenge for us.”

On the Notre Dame offense with new OC Gerad Parker

“You always want to adapt to your personnel and what your strengths and weaknesses are. I think the addition of Sam Hartman at quarterback is going to allow them to open things up and be a little more creative with what they’re doing. When we played them last year, they had committed to being a run-first football team. I think we are going to see a more balanced offense, would be my guess. I think they’re going to spread the ball around a little bit. They’ve been preparing for some time for some things that we do. I would imagine we’d see a decent amount of throwing. I think they’re going to get the ball out quickly, identify pressure, things like that. They certainly have the quarterback to be able to get the ball out and throw it around.”

On the second half of last year’s Navy vs. Notre Dame game

“Last year was last year. This is a different team. A different year. I certainly feel like our players think they can play with Notre Dame. I don’t have any doubts about that. But trying to think too much about last year despite some success we had in the second half has nothing to do with this year’s team, our team or theirs. There are certainly takeaways that you look at. But I don’t think last year’s performance gives us any confidence in our ability to do a job this year. The confidence we have is based on what we’ve been doing since December and the preparation we’ve had for this game.”

On if he expects any Wake Forest offensive concepts to show up at Notre Dame because of Sam Hartman

“It’s a good question. Wake Forest is really unique with what they did offensively with the slow RPO. His ability to read defenses in that system at Wake is going to carry over in things that they’re doing. I don’t know if we’ll see the slow RPO. We’ll certainly see some RPO type of stuff. I don’t think they’re going to change their system to match what he was doing at Wake. Maybe some things he was comfortable doing, they’ll try to incorporate. But not really sure.”

On going against the Notre Dame defense

“We want to get off to a fast start. The important thing is to keep the chains moving and protect the football. We may have to grind it out a little bit. They’re big, long and fast. A play that may be a 10- to 12-yard gain with some may be a three- to four-yard gain against these guys. We have to be patient. We have to peck away. We can’t beat ourselves. And we’re going to have to execute at a really high level to have those 12-, 13-, 14-play drives. And you hope to sprinkle in some explosive chunk plays as well. First game of the year, they’ve had a lot of time to prepare for us, but it’s hard to simulate what we do. It’s hard to simulate schematically. It’s even harder to simulate the speed at which we do it. The speed at which we play and the confidence at which we play is going to be extremely important.”

On playing Notre Dame in Ireland

“It’s a business trip. This is not a bowl game. There is not a whole lot of down time over there. But this is exciting to get to go to Dublin. We have some guys getting on a plane for the first time. Most of our team has never been over the pond. It’s a great opportunity for them to see a different part of the world. We’re not going to be there long. We’re not going to see a whole lot of it. Our primary focus is on the game.

“There is a fine line. You want your players to enjoy it and take it all in, the pageantry of it and all that. But when it’s time to get dialed in and focused we have to drown out the noise and distractions and focus on Notre Dame. It’s an awesome opportunity. It looks like an awesome venue. Excited for our players to have an opportunity to play in a venue like that against an opponent like Notre Dame. Excited about our fans traveling over. Just a great opportunity overall for everybody.”

On matching up against Notre Dame’s talent at wide receiver

“Certainly they are talented. Some big receivers. Some highly recruited receivers. A lot of expectations, I think, on their side. Our secondary may be the most improved group on the defensive side of the football. I’m excited by where we’re at. I do think we match up. Certainly some concerns with their wideouts with some of the speed and size they have. We got to be smart about what we’re asking our guys to do, and we’ll be giving them help. I feel good about the matchup, and I feel as good about our secondary as I have since I got here in 2019.”

On Marcus Freeman watching Kennesaw State film to learn about Navy OC Grant Chesnut

“If you can take anything away from the Kennesaw film it’s Coach Chesnut’s personality in certain situations or field zones and things like that.”

On Freeman saying it’s an advantage for Notre Dame to play Navy in the season opener

“Yeah, they do have a little more time to prepare for us. Are they preparing for the right things will be the question I propose. But yeah, it’s a little bit of an advantage. But like I said earlier, hard to simulate what we do. Hard to simulate the speed of it. I feel good about our plan right now and excited about the matchup.”