Notre Dame vs. Navy

"What was Rockne thinking?" That's a phrase that many Notre Dame fans must have uttered following the events of November 27, 1926. On that day, Notre Dame traveled to Pittsburgh to play the Tartans of Carnegie Tech, a regular opponent on Notre Dame schedules in those days. While the football squad headed east, the football coach headed west.

Instead of going with his team to face Carnegie, a lightly regarded game by everyone, Rockne went to Soldier Field in Chicago to cover that season's annual tilt between Army and Navy. While Rockne watched the clash of two east coast titans, he heard the public address announcer give the final score of the Notre Dame game. Unthinkably, the Tartans had beaten Notre Dame, 19-0, in one of the great upsets in the history of college football. The loss was a costly one for Notre Dame, as it was the only one that Rockne's squad tallied in the 1926 season, potentially costing them a second national title in three seasons.

So what was Rockne thinking? Speculation runs rampant to this day. Rockne was in Chicago to write about the game, as well as to scout players for selection to his All-America team. There was also the fact that Navy was to be added to Notre Dame’s schedule the following season. How much that played into Rockne's decision has never been determined.

Regardless, Rockne left his top assistant, Heartley "Hunk" Anderson, who would ultimately succeed Rockne as Notre Dame’s coach in 1931, in charge of the team with explicit instructions on defensive schemes to employ against the Tartans. Using Rockne's absence as motivation, Tech came out ready to play. When Tech ran plays that Rockne had not expected, Anderson's defense was confused. Yet, Anderson did not switch the defensive set, which Rockne later praised. Indeed, Rockne, perhaps trying to spare Anderson any public criticism, said that he would have fired Hunk on the spot if he had disobeyed Rockne's orders.

Despite the embarrassment of the Carnegie Tech loss, Rockne's team would rebound in the following years, winning national titles in 1929 and 1930, the last two seasons Rock would coach. The year following the Tech debacle, Notre Dame faced Navy for the first time on the gridiron, kicking off the longest running intersectional rivalry in college football history.

This Saturday, Notre Dame and Navy will meet again on the gridiron. This year will mark the 81st consecutive season that the teams will square off. The Irish have met no opponent more frequently than the Middies. Overall, the Irish hold a 70-9-1 record over Navy. The 70 wins over Navy are the most for the Irish over any one opponent. Since junior QB Roger Staubach led the Middies to a 35-14 win over the Irish in South Bend in 1963, Notre Dame has won every game between the schools. The 43 consecutive wins by the Irish over the Midshipmen marks the longest such streak by one opponent over another in the history of major college football.

Given that there is 81 years of history in this series, it stands to reason that there's a bit more to this annual clash than meets the eye. Notre Dame critics frequently criticize the Irish for playing Navy, yet the schools continue to play every year. The reason dates back to World War II. During the war years, many universities faced tremendous financial hardship as current and potential college students were mobilized into the military. Notre Dame, however, continued to function as well as could be expected with the tremendous diversion of so many college-aged men into the armed forces. In great measure, this could be attributed to the U.S. Department of the Navy selecting Notre Dame as one of its five stations for the training of officers during the war. This move by the Navy essentially spared the university from financial ruin during the lean war years. As the story goes, as a sign of gratitude and goodwill, since World War II Notre Dame has left open on its football schedule a spot for the Naval Academy, a gesture that Navy continues to accept each year.

The early years of this series were marked by titanic battles between powerful teams. Navy was the opponent for the Dedication Game at the original Notre Dame Stadium in 1930. Between 1944 and 1950, Navy was one of only two teams to defeat the Irish (Army was the other). In more recent times, the disparity of talent between the schools has become more accentuated, but Navy frequently finds a way to give Notre Dame a tough game, particularly in games in South Bend. In 1997, 1999, and 2003, the Irish managed to win home games narrowly by margins of four, four, and three points, respectively. In the most recent game at Notre Dame in 2005, the Irish ran through the Middies, winning 42-21. Last season, the Irish dispensed with the Middies with relative ease in Baltimore, winning, 38-14.

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-The Irish have never started a season 1-8. They last started a season 2-7 in 1963, when that was their final record. Nineteen sixty-three was also the last season in which the Irish failed to win five or more games, and the last season in which Navy beat the Irish.

-This will be the 30th series game played at Notre Dame Stadium. In the previous 29 games, the Irish hold a 26-3 record against Navy. Navy's only three wins at N.D. came in 1957, 1961, and 1963.

-The Irish have won twenty-one consecutive home games against Navy. Overall, they are 45-7 all-time in games at N.D. Stadium against the service academies.

-N.D. is 36-1 against service academies since the beginning of the Holtz Era in 1986. The only loss came in overtime to Air Force in 1996.

-The Irish have scored 2,178 points against Navy, making them N.D.'s most scored-against opponent.

-These teams will continue to meet every year as they have continuously since 1927.

The game kicks off at 2:30 E.D.T. on NBC.

Go Irish! Beat Navy!
Big Mike