To Navy coach Ken Niumatalolo, not much has changed in preparing to play Notre Dame for the 14th time as opposed to when he did it for the first time as a head coach in 2008.
“They’re good,” Niumatalolo said. “They’re a really good football team, like they always are, and we’re going to have our hands full.”
Is Notre Dame as good as it has been in the last five years? No, probably not. The Fighting Irish (7-1) have struggled at times this season, but head coach Brian Kelly’s team has still battled its way to a consensus No. 8 ranking in the Coaches and Associated Press polls.
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“They’re one of the top schools, football-wise, in the country,” Niumatalolo said. “It’s a great honor to play them. But we don’t want it to be a charity deal either. We want to be competitive, but it’s hard to be competitive against them because they have a lot of good players and coach Kelly and his staff are one of the best staffs in the country.
“Coach Kelly is a really good football coach. Smart man, great leader. It’s hard for us to beat them. They have that combination of talented players and great coaching staff, and that’s a bad combination for us.”
This is the seventh time in the last eighth matchups Notre Dame has been ranked when playing Navy. The Fighting Irish has won every time it was ranked in that span and lost the one time it wasn’t (2016).
Navy is in a much different position heading to Notre Dame Stadium than the last time the Midshipmen made the trek there in 2019, meanwhile. Navy was 7-1 then. Now it is 2-6. The Midshipmen just secured their second win of the season last week.
Niumatalolo said the 2019 team was probably the best he’s ever coached, and Notre Dame still easily handed it a 52-20 drubbing. Now Niumatalolo has one of the worst teams he’s ever coached, and Notre Dame is a heavy favorite as a result.
“It’s Notre Dame, it’s always a tough challenge,” Niumatalolo said. “But we have to believe we can beat them. That’s where everything starts. If you don’t have any belief, you have zero chance.”
But belief might only get the Midshipmen so far.
“You have to hope they make some mistakes,” Niumatalolo said. “And you have to get some luck. That’s just the truth. We have to play as well as we can play, and they have to help us a little bit.”
In 2016, that help came in the form of Notre Dame settling for a 31-yard field goal on fourth and four with just over seven minutes remaining. Analytics gurus five years later would say go for it. The Irish kicked, cut the deficit to 28-27 and never got the ball back.
That was just the fourth time since 1964 Navy beat Notre Dame. The Midshipmen haven’t won since, and they’ve lost by an average score of 40-20. Notre Dame is favored in this year’s matchup by 21.5 points according to OddsShark.com
Still, Navy heads to South Bend with as much momentum as it has had all season. The Midshipmen beat Tulsa 20-17 on the road last week. They only lost to No. 2 Cincinnati by a touchdown the week prior. Yes, the same Cincinnati team that beat Notre Dame 24-13 in South Bend Oct. 2.
Niumatalolo never knows what he’s going to get when Navy takes on Notre Dame, though. He has been either an assistant or head coach at Navy for nearly three decades. The Midshipmen battle the Irish every year, but emotions are emotions. And sometimes they’re uncontrollable.
“I’ve played them so many times there that I’ve seen a lot,” Niumatalolo said. “I’ve seen starstruck. In awe. Amazement. And I’ve seen some guys who had steely eyes and were ready to go. They were determined to win, determined to play well.
“But I’ve had looks of bewilderment. It’s an unbelievable atmosphere. One of the best atmospheres in college football. It’s a great opportunity for our guys, but it’s not like we’re going to an amusement park or something just to look at the facility. It’s a great place, but if we go there as tourists they’re going to crush us like they did last time.”
Niumatalolo was asked if the Notre Dame Victory March gets stuck in his head during the week when he’s blasting it through speakers at practice to desensitize his players to the tunes of the song.
His response was priceless.
“No, what’s more in my head is the size of their football players,” Niumatalolo said. “The song can’t beat you.”
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