Navy vs. Notre Dame: Game Grades, Analysis for the Fighting Irish

Navy was able to keep things close through the entire first half, but Notre Dame used some great defensive adjustments in the second half to secure an impressive victory against the Midshipmen.

Navy scored just three points in the second half as the Fighting Irish added 17 points en route to a 41-24 victory.

C.J. Prosise put together another great performance in both the running and receiving game, and quarterback DeShone Kizer was efficient throughout the game.  With the Irish putting together a complete team victory, Notre Dame heads into its matchup with USC next week full of confidence.

Let's break down each facet of today's win in our report card for the Fighting Irish.

Here is the box score from today's game, per NCAA.com.

Position	First Half Grade	Final Grade
Pass Offense	B-	B+
Run Offense	B-	B+
Pass Defense	Incomplete	B
Run Defense	C-	B+
Special Teams	A	A
Coaching	B	A

Pass Offense

Last week, DeShone Kizer came out against Clemson and consistently missed his receivers high.  Today, Kizer made some nice adjustments, even after missing his first few throws low.

By the end of the first half, Kizer had found 15 of his 23 targets for 204 yards and a touchdown.  In the end, he finished 22-of-30 for 281 yards as the Irish shifted to the run game pretty heavily as the lead increased after halftime.

The Irish also got C.J. Prosise into the passing game a little more, showing us some of what made him such a great target in the past.  Prosise translated his four receptions into 56 yards.

Run Offense

Prosise was also back to his spectacular ways in the running game, carrying the ball 21 times for 129 yards and three touchdowns.

Jeff Haynes/Associated Press

After struggling last week in the rain against Clemson, Prosise rebounded with solid running and his usual elusive agility that gave the Navy defense fits all afternoon.  Even when he was hit, Prosise continued to show that he's one of the most difficult players to tackle in the nation.

Josh Adams also had a number of nice runs today, showing that the Irish running game doesn't have to be "all Prosise, all the time."  Adams had 38 yards on eight carries.

Pass Defense

It's hard to give a pass defense much of a grade when the opposition only throws the ball six times.  However, one of those six passes was picked off by Elijah Shumate.

There's not much to go over here, but we're not going to penalize the secondary for doing a nice job on the few occasions they were called upon this afternoon.

Run Defense

Navy ran 55 offensive plays today, and 49 of them were run plays (or credited as running plays).

Jeff Haynes/Associated Press

We knew coming in that Navy was a running team, and we knew that this game would hinge on Notre Dame's ability to shut down Navy's triple-option attack.  Through two quarters, Navy had already racked up 239 yards and three touchdowns via the option attack.

Luckily for Irish fans, Notre Dame was able to make some solid adjustments after halftime.  Sheldon Day made multiple plays in the Navy backfield to put the Midshipmen behind the chains, and Navy was forced into uncomfortable situations for most of the second half.

The Irish limited Navy to 79 second-half rushing yards and just three points.  That will doom Navy every single time, as it did today.

Special Teams

Notre Dame hasn't always had the world's greatest kicking game, but today, Justin Yoon showed us some of the great abilities he has.  Yoon kicked the third-longest field goal in Notre Dame history, knocking through a 52-yard field goal as time expired in the first half to give Notre Dame a slim 24-21 halftime lead.

Yoon added another field goal in the second half, and was perfect on his five extra-point attempts.

Coaching

As previously mentioned, Notre Dame made some great halftime adjustments to turn this game into a tale of two halves.  In a close, hard-fought first half, Notre Dame gave up 21 points and 245 yards to the Midshipmen.

After halftime, however, the Irish defense came out and absolutely shut down Navy's attack.  The Midshipmen found just 95 yards and three points.

Joe Raymond/Associated Press

Brian Kelly and Brian VanGorder did something that all great and successful coaches can do: make game-winning adjustments on the fly to turn a tight game into a comfortable victory.

We were hard on the Irish coaching staff following some questionable decisions in last week's loss to Clemson.  It's only fair that we reward them for great decisions today.

Unless otherwise noted, quotes or references to quotes were obtained first-hand by the writer.

Follow Bleacher Report's National College Football Featured Columnist David Luther on Twitter.