Notre Dame coach Brian Kelly is using the next two weeks of practice to prepare for Navy.
But while the Irish have turned from camp mode to game-specific practice, the quarterback situation remains the same.
Kelly said Everett Golson and Andrew Hendrix are going to continue to get about the same amount of practice reps as he decides who will start the season opener on Sept. 1 in Dublin, Ireland.
"We had some more things that we wanted to see," Kelly said. "We saw some areas of improvement that we needed. So both of those guys received very similar reps the last couple of days. We're still not there yet, but we're moving in the right direction."
Along with focusing more on Navy, Notre Dame also moved its practices in a new direction this week.
The Irish are practicing in the early evening instead of the morning this week. Notre Dame began classes Tuesday.
"I didn't want to get to the point where our guys were fatigued and getting up at5:30in the morning, I was concerned," Kelly said. "We had a really good schedule. Our guys felt good. Their legs felt good. I didn't want to mess with that, even though the master plan looked really good when we put it together.
"As we go through two weeks of practice and you get a good sense of where your team is, I didn't feel it was necessary for us to go (early in the morning) this week. Of course, it's on our schedule for next week, and I think that's more prudent to be getting the kids up earlier and getting ready for that9 a.m.start on their clock here. But that's what went into it. Getting a feel for the team after two weeks that maybe we didn't need to get up that early this week."
Kelly also said that he will adjust the amount of 11-on-11 work the team has at practice. The Irish had been scrimmaging more at the start of fall camp because the staff wanted to accelerate the development of a number of young players on offense.
The scrimmages also helped give a clearer picture of what the quarterbacks could do in live situations.
"Yeah, we have to because we need to get scout teams prepared, and certainly, that means that you're not going to have as much time going ones-versus-ones," Kelly said of using 11-on-11. "We'll still have a little of it. I always maintain that throughout the season. We'll always go against our defense just for the speed of the game. But that definitely starts to cut back.
"It started to cut back today, in fact, for the first time, and we'll continue to cut that back until we have a balance of Navy versus Notre Dame and Notre Dame versus Notre Dame, within the practice structure."
