Not that they had much to do with it, but the current members of the Navy football team have a chance to shatter a decades-long losing streak Saturday at Giants Stadium.
Navy has not beaten Notre Dame since a 21-year-old junior quarterback named Roger Staubach led the Midshipmen to a 35-14 victory in 1963. A year later, Staubach was the defending Heisman Trophy winner when Notre Dame, under its new coach, Ara Parseghian, blasted the Middies, 40-0.
A streak was born that day in Philadelphia, and it has grown to 40 straight victories for the Fighting Irish -- an NCAA record for consecutive victories over an opponent.
Every Navy team hears about the streak before it plays Notre Dame. But there seems to be a difference this year. Navy has a good chance to win.
Navy is 5-0 for the first time since 1979. Notre Dame is 4-2 and not ranked. Navy, also unranked, has lost to the Irish by fewer than eight points in their last two meetings. Last season, D.J. Fitzpatrick kicked a 40-yard field goal as time expired to lift the Fighting Irish to a 27-24 victory. Two years ago, Navy lost, 30-23.
Then there was the 1999 game, when the Midshipmen lost, 28-24. On fourth-and-10 with one minute 20 seconds remaining and no timeouts, Notre Dame quarterback Jarious Jackson completed a pass to Bobby Brown that appeared to Navy to be a yard short. But the spot by the officials gave the Fighting Irish the first down by less than an inch, and Jackson went on to throw a game-winning touchdown pass with 36 seconds left.
But that loss, like the 39 others, seems to be part of the distant past for the Midshipmen. They have more important goals to reach.
"I'll take credit for two of them," Navy coach Paul Johnson, in his third season, said of the 40 straight losses earlier this week, "but I don't want credit for the rest."
The potential for Navy to end the streak is compelling enough that CBS will broadcast the game to 92 percent of its affiliates at noon on Saturday. Notre Dame has mystique, but Navy has a cause.
"Those games don't have anything to do with this game," Notre Dame coach Tyrone Willingham said earlier this week. "We're going to play a Navy team that's a very good football team."
If it wins, Navy, an independent, will become eligible for a bowl game, and that seems to be a bigger incentive to the players than ending the losing streak.
A victory on Saturday would certainly impress bowl officials. Navy went to the Houston Bowl last season, its first bowl appearance since 1996.
The Midshipmen are small and run an ancient option offense, but they are effective.
"We are looking at this as a real threat to us," Notre Dame defensive end Kyle Budinscak said earlier this week.
Notre Dame regards Navy as a threat because the Midshipmen have a relentless style.
The senior quarterback Aaron Polanco needs to be the catalyst for the Midshipmen again. Navy already knows that Notre Dame will be trying to stop him.
When it was pointed out that the Fighting Irish would probably pack fewer defenders in the middle to stop fullback Kyle Eckel, Johnson said he already had a plan.
Army remains Navy's fiercest rival, but against Notre Dame, the Midshipmen have a chance to beat a longtime nemesis.
"I don't know if I would call it a rivalry," Johnson said, "because you have to win once in a while for it to be a rivalry. But it has been a pretty good series."
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