Notre Dame is in San Diego today for a match-up against long-time rival Navy as the Irish resume their undefeated season after a very needed week off.

After the performance against Pittsburgh two weeks ago, the Irish needed to regroup for the home stretch of the 2018 season.

Tonight’s game is the 92nd consecutive meeting between Notre Dame and Navy. ND dominated until 2007, winning 43 straight games. Navy ended that streak when it upset the Irish in triple overtime. Since then, the Midshipmen have defeated Notre Dame three additional times in the last 10 years.

Although Navy enters tonight’s game at 2-5, they are ranked third in the nation in rush offense. ND has always had problems with Navy’s triple-option offense.

The Midshipmen, who don’t like to pass, but when they do are pretty successful, are not a passing team this year. They are ranked 125th in the nation in passing. They are also 82nd in third-down conversions, usually a strong point for the Midshipmen. On the hand, they are No. 1 in the nation in red zone offense and No. 13 in turnover margin.

Navy’s most impressive win to date is a 22-21 victory over Memphis. The other win was 51-21 over Lehigh. The five losses have been to SMU, 31-30 in OT; Air Force, 35-7; Temple, 24-17; Houston, 49-36; and Hawaii, 59-41.

Starting quarterback Malcolm Perry has been demoted and is now the starting running back. Taking over at the signal caller is Garret Lewis, who has completed 15 of 35 passes for one score. Top rusher is Perry with 632 net yards on 117 carries and six TDs. Nelson Smith has 286 yards on 50 carries and one score and Garret has 204 yards on 47 carries and four scores. The top receiver is CJ Williams with 148 yards on six catches.

ND leads the series, 75-13-1, but the actual series record is 77-13-1, Twenty regular-season wins and two postseason appearances have been vacated under a NCAA penalty imposed on Notre Dame a few years ago. ND won last year’s game, 24-17. Navy last won in 2016, 28-27.

The game will be televised nationally by CBS-TV with a 8:10 p.m. kickoff.

Pitt notes

The Pitt game should have awaken the Irish to the reality that nothing is a given and when you are ranked among the top five teams in the nation and undefeated, it gives your opponent something extra to shoot for, which was the case for the Panthers.

The Irish defense saved the day in the 19-14 win. Ian Book, who regressed in the first half, found himself after the halftime break and led the Irish to the win. His picture-perfect pass to wide receiver Miles Boykin in the fourth quarter with little over five minutes left, gave the Irish the lead and eventual victory. Book also made a mistake on a fourth down play near the end of the game when he slid towards a first down instead of diving forward for the first down.

Book’s mistake led to Pitt getting the ball back with over two minutes to go, but the Irish defense rose to the occasion and stuffed the Panthers and preserved the win.

Book became the first ND quarterback since at least 1950 to complete at 70 percent or more of his passes in a three-game stretch. He finished at 81.3 percent (26-for-32) in the game. That is the second highest completion percentage for an Irish QB attempting at least 25 passes since at least 1996. Book passed for 264 yards and two touchdowns. He also threw two interceptions.

Pitt shut down the Irish running attack, something head coach Brian Kelly and staff had to work on the past two weeks. Dexter Williams had just 31 yards on 13 carries while Book also had 31 yards on 16 carries. The top receiver was Chris Finke with six catches for 62 yards followed by Alize Mack with 31 yards on six catches. Chase Claypool had 61 yards on five catches and Boykin had 84 yards on four receptions. Justin Yoon was two-for-two in field goals of 22 and 41 yards.

Defensively Te’von Coney had eight tackles, TaRiq Bracy seven and Julian Okwara six. Khalid Kareem had the only sack of the day for ND, but it was a key one as he sacked Pitt QB Kenny Pickett for 14 yards in the final minutes.

IRISH NOTES ... Brian Kelly is 20-2 in his career in games immediately following the bye week, including a 9-1 mark while at Notre Dame .... ND moved up to No. 3 in the latest AP poll thanks to an upset loss by Ohio State to Purdue .... Tonight’s game starts a stretch of four games away from ND stadium in a five-week period for the Irish. ND is at Northwestern next week, then play the final game at home for 2018 against Florida State, play Syracuse on Nov. 17 in Yankee Stadium in a Shamrock Series game and finish on the road at USC on Nov. 24 ... Navy, Florida State, Northwestern and USC are all night games. The Syracuse game is set for a 2:30 p.m. start on NBC .... ND’s coaching staff was on the road last week visiting key recruits across the country. Kelly, offensive coordinator Chip Long, defensive coordinator Clark Lea, offensive line coach Jeff Quinn, running back coach Autry Denson, wide receiver coach DelVaughn Alexander, quarterback coach Tommy Rees, defensive back coaches Terry Joseph and Todd Lyght, defensive line coach Mike Elston and special teams coordinator Brian Polian visited schools last week .... Two ND players were named to the Associated Press Midseason All-America Team. Junior cornerback Julian Love, No. 2 nationally among active FBS players in career passes defended, made the first team. Senior defensive tackle Jerry Tillery, tied for 10th in the nation this season in sacks but first among interior defensive linemen, made the second team .... Some personnel matters. Running back Jafar Armstrong resumed practicing this week and will see action tonight. Junior cornerback Troy Pride Jr. is expected back in the starting lineup tonight after missing the Pitt game with an ankle sprain .... Kelly and his offensive staff have been working to reshape the offensive line, which has struggled in the last few games. As a result sophomore left guard Aaron Banks is scheduled to make his first collegiate start, in his home state of California tonight. The Irish rushing game was stopped cold by Pitt. Kelly needs to get it back on track .... Some Ian Book stats. He finished the Pitt game completing 10 passes in a row. He is the national leader in completion percentage at .752 and would need to hit his next 16 attempts tonight to break Everett Golson’s school record of 25 consecutive completions, set in 2014. Reaching the No. 2 position on the all-time list of 14 consecutive completions is not as hard a problem. The position in the ND record book is currently shared by Brady Quinn, current Irish QBs coach Tommy Rees and current ND director of player development Ron Powlus .... It was announced Thursday that the 2020 ND-Navy game, originally scheduled for MetLite stadium in New Jersey will now be played in Dublin, Ireland, and will be the season opener. Plan accordingly Irish fans .... ND is a 24 point favorite tonight, but as it was noted by a writer for the South Bend Tribune a few weeks back, ND seems to play to the level of its opponent. Cases in point, Ball State and Stanford. ND was a heavy favorite in the Ball State game, but the Irish struggled. Against Stanford, they faced a team ranked close to them in the AP poll and they dominated Stanford. ND should be able to handle Navy tonight with an extra week to prepare for the option attack of the Middies. In my preseason picks I have the Irish winning tonight — and they should.