Notre Dame-Navy Countdown: 10 To 1
10 Years ago that Navy defeated No. 19 Notre Dame, 23-21, in Notre Dame Stadium to begin a four-game losing streak to end the season for the Irish and lead to the firing of head coach Charlie Weis.
It also marked the first and still lone season since 1958 the Midshipmen defeated a ranked Notre Dame team. One still has to go back to 1957 the last time Navy defeated a Fighting Irish team that finished the year ranked in the AP poll.
9 Ranking nationally for Notre Dame in fumbles recovered this season with 10. Meanwhile, Navy has lost eight fumbles this season, which is tied for 96th in the country.
One or two recoveries by the Fighting Irish defense against the Midshipmen would go a long way toward achieving victory.
8 Times in the nine meetings head coach Brian Kelly has had with Navy that the Midshipmen totaled at least 290 yards rushing versus the Irish, with 292 coming in last year’s 44-22 Irish victory. Navy easily leads the nation in rushing this season with 357.9 yards per game.
7 Opponents Notre Dame will face this season who have had or will have a bye the week before playing the Fighting Irish — with Navy the third straight this month, and Boston College next week the fourth. So far the Irish are 5-0 in such contests.
Under 12th-year head coach Ken Niumatalolo, the Midshipmen are 29-21 (.580) when they have more than one week to prepare for an opponent.
6 Possessions Notre Dame had in its 28-27 loss to Navy in 2016, the fewest in an NCAA football game since eight years earlier when Northern Illinois also had six against the Midshipmen. In 2017, the Irish upped it to seven series in a 24-17 win over Navy, and last year it had 10 full series.
The average number of possessions in a game usually is around 12 or 13, so the shortening of the game by Navy with time of possession places greater pressure on an opponent to capitalize on opportunities presented.
5 Consecutive wins by Navy entering today's Notre Dame game. It hasn’t had six in a row during the same season since a 7-0 start in 1978 — which was ended by a 27-7 loss to Notre Dame.
That game 41 years ago also marked the last time until this season that both the then No. 15 Irish and No. 11 Midshipmen were ranked at the time of the contest.
4 Notre Dame has the fourth-longest active home winning streak in the Football Bowl Subdivision with 16, although the 273-game sellout streak at home — artificially inflated over the years — reportedly will end today.
Only Clemson (21), Central Florida (20) and Ohio State (19) have won more consecutive home games than the Fighting Irish, whose current streak is the third longest at Notre Dame Stadium since opening in 1930.
3 Victories by Navy boss Niumatalolo versus Notre Dame (2009, 2010 and 2016), which ties him with Army’s Earl Blaik, Navy’s Wayne Hardin and Air Force’s Fisher DeBerry for the most by a head coach at a military academy.
Meanwhile, Kelly will try to avoid becoming the first Notre Dame head coach to lose three times to the Midshipmen. Four others also lost twice: Elmer Layden (1934 and 1936), Terry Brennan (1956 and 1957), Joe Kuharich (1960 and 1961) and Weis (2007 and 2009).
2 Straight games that Notre Dame senior quarterback Ian Book has set a unique record within the program.
In the 21-20 win versus Virginia Tech (Nov. 2) he became the first Fighting Irish quarterback to win a game while eclipsing 50 passes (53). The team previously had been 0-10 in such outings. Last week at Duke, Book became the first Notre Dame signal-caller to rush for at least 100 yards while throwing for more than two touchdowns (4) in the same game.
1 This is the nation’s longest uninterrupted non-conference college football rivalry overall, with this year’s 93rd consecutive meeting dating back to the start of the series in 1927.
Only the conference rivalries between Minnesota versus Wisconsin (since 1907) and Kansas State vs. Iowa State (since 1917) are longer.
----
• Talk about it inside Rockne’s Roundtable
• Subscribe to our podcast on iTunes
• Learn more about our print and digital publication, Blue & Gold Illustrated.
• Follow us on Twitter: @BGINews, @BGI_LouSomogyi, @BGI_MikeSinger, @CoachDeDario and @AndrewMentock.
• Like us on Facebook.