The Navy Midshipmen will need all their talent at 100% as they head on the road to face the No. 10-ranked Notre Dame Fighting Irish in South Bend. However, they could be down arguably their most important player. What happened to star QB Blake Horvath, and will he play in Week 11?
Latest Injury Update on Navy QB Blake Horvath vs. Notre Dame
ESPN’s Pete Thamel announced that Horvath will be out for Navy’s battle with Notre Dame due to an upper-body injury he suffered vs. the North Texas Mean Green last week. In his stead, the Midshipmen will look to Braxton Woodson under center, who beat the East Carolina Pirates last year in his only career start to this point.
Sources: Navy QB Blake Horvath is out for today’s game at Notre Dame with an upper body injury that he suffered toward the end of the North Texas game. Navy will start Braxton Woodson, who beat ECU last year in his only other career start. pic.twitter.com/j4WKIhgEI7
— Pete Thamel (@PeteThamel) November 8, 2025
The team considered Horvath a game-time decision, with his injury reportedly not of the long-term variety. In fact, Horvath was dressed and on the field for warmups. Nevertheless, he could return for Navy’s AAC matchup with the USF Bulls on Nov. 15.
All indications are that the Midshipmen will also give sophomore QB Jackson Gutierrez snaps behind Woodson against the Fighting Irish.
Notre Dame is 6-2 on the year and a massive favorite heading into the contest. In fact, the program owns a massive 81-13-1 all-time series lead against Navy, with their last two victories being by 37 points (51-14 in 2024) and 39 (42-3 in 2023).
As a result, it’s not much of a surprise that head coach Brian Newberry decided to sit his offensive star, who is already nursing an injury. There’s no need to put him in harm’s way, especially with the rainy weather in the low 40s.
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It’s unclear when Horvath originally suffered the injury, with his last play being a downfield interception in Navy’s 31-17 loss to UNT.
Losing Horvath is a brutal blow for a Navy squad that was already reeling after its first loss of the year, but there’s no denying that defeating Notre Dame was a long shot. The best move is to keep Horvath on the sideline, get through this game healthy, and refocus on their AAC title hopes starting with USF next week.
