Notre Dame Hands Navy Its First Loss

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. — There’s no secret to Notre Dame’s 41-game winning streak against Navy.

The Fighting Irish are bigger, stronger and faster -- and they showed it again Saturday.

Ryan Grant ran for 114 yards and two touchdowns, and Notre Dame had little trouble extending its NCAA-record winning streak against the Midshipmen with a 27-9 victory at Giants Stadium.

Navy (5-1) came in unbeaten with hopes of finally ending four decades of futility against the Irish. Adding to the optimism for the Midshipmen were their performances against Notre Dame the last two seasons. The Irish needed late-game heroics in both to extend the streak.

“We remember how close this game has been the last two years,” Notre Dame linebacker Mike Goolsby. “That was the thing coach [Greg] Mattison tried to get across to us this week. It doesn’t have to be close.”

The defensive line coach was right. Grant and Notre Dame’s dominant lines wrapped this one up early for the Irish (5-2).

Notre Dame needed two possessions to take a 14-0 lead.

“It kind of set the tone for the game and gave us confidence,” said quarterback Brady Quinn, who completed 11 of 20 passes for 130 yards.

The Irish went into halftime up 17-0, having allowed Navy’s triple-option attack to break midfield only once.

The Midshipmen got their ground game going in the first drive of the second half, marching 81 yards without throwing a pass. But Navy stalled and settled for a field goal to make it 17-3.

Kyle Eckel finished with 102 yards in 22 carries for Navy.

“We’d have to have played mentally perfect to have a chance to win this game, and obviously we didn’t do that,” said quarterback Aaron Polanco, who was held to 19 yards in 24 carries.

Navy came in averaging 267 yards rushing, but led by defensive tackles Greg Pauly and Derek Landri, Notre Dame had six sacks and limited the Midshipmen to 216 yards rushing.

Roger Staubach directed the last Navy win over Notre Dame in 1963, his Heisman Trophy year. There have been a few tight games since, but this game was more typical of the series. During the streak, Notre Dame has won 34 times by double digits.

“It’s not like they’re beating Southern Cal 41 times in a row,” Navy Coach Paul Johnson said. “They’re beating an academy.”