Notre Dame Fighting Irish Football Rivalries - Navy (U.S. Naval Academy)

Navy (U.S. Naval Academy)

Main article: Navy–Notre Dame football rivalry

The Navy–Notre Dame series has been played annually since 1927, making it the longest uninterrupted intersectional series in college football. Notre Dame holds a 71-12-1 series edge. Before Navy won a 46-44 triple-overtime thriller in 2007, Notre Dame had a 43-game winning streak that was the longest series win streak between two annual opponents in the history of Division I FBS football. Navy's previous win came in 1963, 35-14 with future Heisman Trophy winner and NFL QB Roger Staubach at the helm. Navy had come close to winning on numerous occasions before 2007:

• 1984: Notre Dame pulled out a last-second 18-17 win on a field goal that should have been disallowed because the play clock had expired before the ball was snapped and none of the officials noticed.
• 1997: A Navy receiver was knocked out of bounds at the 1-yard line with no time left, keeping him from scoring the touchdown that would have ended the streak and preserving a 21-17 Notre Dame win.
• 1999: Notre Dame needed a controversial first down call on 4th and 9 with 1:37 left to escape with a 28-24 win.
• 2003: A last-second Fighting Irish field goal kept the game from going to overtime and gave Notre Dame a 27-24 victory.

Navy subsequently won the game again in 2009 and 2010.

Despite the one-sided result the last few decades, most Notre Dame and Navy fans consider the series a sacred tradition for historical reasons. Both schools have strong football traditions going back to the beginnings of the sport. Notre Dame, like many colleges, faced severe financial difficulties during World War II. The US Navy made Notre Dame a training center and paid enough for usage of the facilities to keep the University afloat. Notre Dame has since extended an open invitation for Navy to play the Fighting Irish in football and considers the game annual repayment on a debt of honor. The series is marked by mutual respect, as evidenced by each team standing at attention during the playing of the other's alma mater after the game, a tradition that started in 2005. Navy's athletic director, on renewing the series through 2016, remarked "...it is of great interest to our collective national audience of Fighting Irish fans, Naval Academy alumni, and the Navy family at large." The series is scheduled to continue indefinitely; renewals are a mere formality.

The series is a "home and home" series with the schools alternating the home team. Due to the relatively small size of the football stadium in Annapolis, the two teams have never met there. Instead, Navy usually hosts the game at larger facilities such as Baltimore's old Memorial Stadium or current M&T Bank Stadium, FedEx Field in Landover, Maryland, Veterans Stadium and later Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia, or at Giants Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey. During the 1960s, the Midshipmen hosted the game at John F. Kennedy Memorial Stadium in Philadelphia. In 1996 the game was played at Croke Park in Dublin, Ireland. The game returned to Dublin in 2012, where the Aviva Stadium hosted the event won by Notre Dame 50-10. The game was also occasionally played at old Cleveland Stadium.

In years when Navy hosts (even-numbered), it is one of few non-Southeastern Conference games aired on CBS. In years when Notre Dame hosts (odd-numbered), it is carried on NBC as are other Notre Dame home games.