SOUTH BEND, Ind. -- Notre Dame running back C.J. Prosise made Navy pay for its turnovers. Prosise scored one play after linebacker Jaylon Smith recovered a fumble by Chris Swain on the Navy 7 and two plays after Devin Butler recovered a fumble by Dishan Romine at the 26-yard line on the opening kickoff of the second half. He finished with three rushing touchdowns as the 15th-ranked Fighting Irish beat the Midshipmen 41-24 on Saturday. EDITOR'S PICKS Notre Dame pulls away in second half to hand Navy first loss "Huge, huge," Notre Dame coach Brian Kelly said of the turnovers. "Those obviously meant a lot in this game." Navy had tied the score at 21-21 with 24 seconds left in the first half after 253-pound fullback Quentin Ezell gashed the Irish for touchdown runs of 45 and 22 yards. But Justin Yoon kicked a 52-yard field goal in the closing seconds of the first half and Prosise put the Irish (5-1) ahead by 10 points with a 22-yard run following the second fumble. The Midshipmen (4-1), who had won eight straight, had been tied for the lead in the nation with just one turnover before Saturday's game. "We had some penalties, some turnovers, some missed assignments, that normally we're pretty clean on those phases," Navy coach Ken Niumatalolo said. "Against a good team like Notre Dame, that spells disaster. That's what happened to us." Prosise, who was held to 50 yards on 15 carries in a loss a week earlier against Clemson, scored on runs of 7, 22 and 11 yards and finished with 129 yards rushing as the Irish amassed 459 yards total offense. "It felt great getting back out there and having some big holes again," Prosise said. "They weren't loading the box like last week, and we just had to be able to make some plays on the perimeter, too." Prosise joins Frank Lonergan in 1902 and Reggie Brooks in 1992 as the only Irish running backs to rush for three touchdowns twice in the same season. DeShone Kizer, who was 22 of 30 passing for 281 yards, inc