Notre Dame took care of business in Ireland on Saturday afternoon, beating Navy 42-3.

It was a strong debut for quarterback Sam Hartman, who threw for 4 touchdowns in the win. Multiple other offensive players, including Jaden Greathouse and Jadarian Price, also had big performances in their Notre Dame debuts.

The Fighting Irish defense had no issues slowing down Navy’s triple option attack. Navy went just 4-for-14 on 3rd down in this contest.

Here are 3 takeaways from Notre Dame’s victory:

Sam Hartman lived up to the hype

Can this begin anywhere else? Hartman was sensational in his first game in the Blue and Gold. He threw for 251 yards and 4 touchdowns, tying the all-time program record for most TD passes in a Notre Dame debut (Jack Coan and Ron Powlus).

He completed 19-of-23 passes for 251 yards in the game. He also led Notre Dame to convert 6-of-8 attempts on 3rd down. Eight different receivers caught passes from Hartman against the Midshipmen.

Simply put, it was amongst the best performances by a Notre Dame quarterback in recent memory. More importantly, it inspires a lot of confidence in Notre Dame’s offense moving forward for the rest of 2023.

Welcome to the show, Jaden Greathouse

True freshman receiver Jaden Greathouse didn’t take long to introduce himself. He caught a 35-yard touchdown in the first half to put Notre Dame up 21-0 and forever became the answer to the trivia question, “Who caught Sam Hartman’s first-ever TD in a Notre Dame uniform?”

In the 2nd half, Greathouse scored again on a 20-yard pass from Hartman. He ended up wide open in the end zone after Hartman was forced to evade Navy’s pass rush. He finished the game with 3 catches for 68 yards.

Greathouse has put himself in position to earn significant playing time moving forward.

Stout defensive effort

Notre Dame’s offense will earn most of the headlines, but the defense also played exceptionally well.

Through 3 quarters, Notre Dame pitched a shutout and allowed just 107 total yards from the Midshipmen. Navy scratched together just 2.6 yards per play during that span.

Navy didn’t get on the board until a late field goal attempt with 3:33 left in the game.

Linebacker Jack Kiser led the team with 8 tackles. While the Fighting Irish didn’t pick up any takeaways in this game, both Marist Liufau and Cam Hart were credited with forced fumbles. Notre Dame also recorded 5 tackles for loss in the game.