Notre Dame Beats Navy 35-13: a Second-Half Shutout Saves the Irish in Foxborough, but Captain Drayk Bowen Is Hurt
Navy led the No. 6 Irish 13-7 late in the first half and owned the clock. Then Nolan James Jr. broke a 52-yard touchdown run, Notre Dame scored 28 straight — and the win still came at a cost, with defensive captain Drayk Bowen facing an extended absence.
No. 6 Notre Dame beat Navy 35-13 on Saturday at Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, in the 99th meeting of the most-played series in Irish history — but for a half, it did not look like a 22-point game. Navy (2-6) controlled the ball and the clock, led twice, and went ahead 13-7 late in the second quarter on Jackson Gutierrez's 2-yard touchdown run, after field goals of 38 and 26 yards from Nolan Bartley.
The game turned in the final minute of the half. Nolan James Jr. ripped off a 52-yard touchdown run to put Notre Dame (7-1) in front 14-13 at the break, and the Irish owned everything after it: three more touchdowns, a defensive shutout, and 28 consecutive points to close the game. James finished with 107 yards and two touchdowns on nine carries, and Jerome Bettis Jr. caught six passes for 78 yards, including a 31-yard touchdown from CJ Carr in the fourth quarter. Navy's Gutierrez tallied 110 yards and a touchdown on 28 keepers, and the Midshipmen's 212 rushing yards were the most Notre Dame has allowed this season — a stat that flattered Navy's first half and underlined its second, in which it never scored again. Notre Dame has now won nine straight in the series and leads it 85-13-1.
The win came with a real cost. Senior linebacker Drayk Bowen, a team captain and the defense's coach-to-player 'green dot' designee, suffered what multiple individuals with direct knowledge of the situation described to USA TODAY Sports as a 'significant' ankle injury during a first-half scrum, and is expected to miss an extended period. The timing could hardly be worse: Notre Dame hosts No. 1 Miami on Saturday, November 7, in South Bend, a game with enormous College Football Playoff implications — the same Miami team that survived North Carolina 38-35 on Saturday night. Navy, meanwhile, must win out to keep bowl eligibility alive.
