Sam Hartman Leads Notre Dame To Lopsided Win Over Navy

Anyone who questioned the potential of Notre Dame’s offense heading into the 2023 season got a glimpse of what’s to come on Saturday in Dublin. New Irish quarterback Sam Hartman highlighted a slew of splashy Notre Dame (1-0) debuts in Notre Dame’s 42-3 win over Navy (0-1) in Dublin, Ireland to open the season.

Hartman played against Notre Dame in the fourth game of his college career when he was a freshman at Wake Forest in 2018. He threw no touchdown passes in that game, but in his debut in a Notre Dame uniform Saturday he threw four touchdowns to three different receivers to tie a program record for most TD passes in an Irish debut.

Hartman connected with freshman receiver Jaden Greathouse for two of his touchdowns. The first, a 35-yard strike, came on the first catch of Greathouse’s career. Redshirt freshman running back Jadarian Price, who missed all of last season with an Achilles injury, scored a 19-yard touchdown on his first career carry.

Hartman finished his day by completing 19 of 23 passes for 266 yards. He connected with eight different receivers.

Notre Dame took the ball first after Navy deferred to take the ball in the second half. Hartman completed three of his first four passes for 48 yards. The only incompletion was a drop by Tobias Merriweather. Audric Estime plunged one yard for the game’s first touchdown after converting two third downs on the drive. The first came an 11-yard run on 3rd and 10, the second was a 22-yard slip pass against a Navy blitz on 3rd and 12.

Navy had early success running the ball with Daba Fofana, but the drive stalled at the Irish 37 when Jack Kiser forced an incomplete pass by Tai Lavatai on 4th down. Price then capped a seven-play touchdown drive with his 19-yard bolt to the end zone for the sophomore running backs first career score on his first career run and a 14-0 Irish lead.

Notre Dame ran for 88 yards in the 1st quarter after running for just 66 in the entire game vs Navy last year. Estime had seven carries for 42 yards. He didn’t play the rest of the half after a fumble that was recovered by a teammate but finished the game with team highs of 16 carries and 95 yards (5.9). The Irish ended the game with 191 yards on the ground - 65 more yards than the Midshipmen.

After forcing the first punt of the game on Navy’s next possession the Irish offense chewed up yardage in chunks on four consecutive plays. Hartman hit Greathouse for the freshman’s first career touchdown on the 35-yard pass over the middle to make it 21-0 Notre Dame. The Irish gained 19, 11, 17, and 35 yards on the four plays of the quick drive.

Navy missed a 37-yard field goal, giving the Irish the ball at their own 20 with 1:55 remaining in the first half. Hartman’s second touchdown pass, a 14-yarder to Jayden Thomas, nine played later capped a drive that lasted 1:42 to put Notre Dame up 28-0 at halftime.

The Fighting Irish rolled up 297 total yards of offense in the first half on four drives that all ended with touchdowns. Navy had 114. Notre Dame had 12 first-half plays that went for at least 10 yards in the half, the longest was the Greathouse touchdown.

Hartman was toying with the Navy defense early in the second half. After Estime ran the ball for 28 combined yards on three carries to start Notre Dame’s first drive of the second half, Hartman hit three straight passes. He eluded the Navy rush on the third to find a wide open Greathouse in the end zone for a 20-yard score and the quarterback’s third TD pass of the day.

Gabe Rubio and Josh Burnham combined to sack Lavatai on third down to force Navy to punt from the back of its end zone. Chris Tyree’s 11-yard return to the Midshipmen 36. Sam Schrader missed a 42-yard field goal but after another Navy punt Hartman hit Deion Colzie with a short pass that the receiver took for 25 yards and Hartman’s fourth touchdown of the day.

Evan Warren’s 30-yard field goal with 3:33to play got Navy on the scoreboard to avoid the shutout.

Sophomore quarterback Steve Angeli saw his first action of the season and attempted and completed his first career pass with about a minute left in the game. He hit freshman receiver Rico Flores Jr for a two-yard gain on what was Flores’ first career catch.

The Irish outgained the Midshipmen 469-169 in the lopsided win. Navy had 43 passing yards.

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