Saturday marked the 79th consecutive meeting between the Navy Midshipmen and the Fighting Irish of Notre Dame.  Navy came in with a solid 5-3 mark and were looking for their first victory against the Irish in 41 tries.  Not since the days of Roger Staubach had the Midshipmen defeated Notre Dame, and with the foundation that Charlie Weis is building in South Bend, it may be another 40 years before the Naval Academy can claim victory against its long time foe.

For a moment, it looked if the Midshipmen (5-4) were going to make a legitimate run at ending their NCAA record 41-game losing streak.  Through one period of play, Navy was playing Notre Dame (7-2) close as the long time rivals were all knotted up. Brady Quinn and the Irish would strike first when Quinn hooked up with senior wide out, Maurice Stovall for a fine-looking 31-yard touchdown pass that the 6’5” Stovall made an eloquent one handed grab on.

“They have two guys at receiver who are both 6’-5” and they both did a really good job today,” Navy linebacker Rob Caldwell said. “They would run a lot of underneath routes and then we would bite on that. Then, they would go over top and make plays. You see some of their receivers going up and catching it with one hand and those guys are going to be playing on Sundays.”

Navy would answer on their ensuing drive as Adam Ballard would carry it in from nine-yards out to tie it up at 7-7.  The Midshipmen would get no closer as Quinn not only assaulted Navy’s secondary but the Notre Dame record books as well throughout the remainder of the contest.

Quinn and the Irish began their 21-point romp through the second quarter when Travis Thomas ran in from 12-yards out to put the Irish up, 14-7.  Quinn would account for 38 of the 71-yards on the drive as he completed 2-of-4 passes on the drive, both to Stovall.

Notre Dame would quickly add to the lead as a result of a fumble by Navy QB Lamar Owens.  Darius Walker who has been quite of late would capitalize on the Midshipmen error as he scored from 13-yards out to put the Irish up, 21-7.  The running game was more relevant today than in weeks past and Coach Weis touched upon that after the game.

“Going into the game, we were hoping that would be the case, said Weis. “We wanted a more ball-controlled game, especially towards the end of the season because you don't know what the weather is going to be like so you can't just go out there thinking you can sling it on every play. We wanted to have some balance out there and we wanted to be running it a little more than we were throwing it. I think we ran it pretty efficiently.”

Walker rushed for 118-yards on 19 carries and the abovementioned touchdown.  It marked the sophomore tailbacks first 100-yard game since he opened the season with four consecutive such games.

Defensively, Notre Dame played Navy’s option offense very well despite giving up nearly 250-yards on the ground.  Senior defensive tackle, Derek Landri had an exceptional performance against the versatile Midshipmen offense recording seven tackles and spending much of his afternoon in the opponent’s backfield.

“It is a great challenge for the whole defensive side of the ball,” Landri said of defending Navy. “You basically have to run a whole different scheme yourself. That is what we put in this week. They have a great offense. They run what they run with perfection. We played hard and we played well and if you don't do that in this game, against them, then you will be the victim of them putting up a lot of points.”

As for Quinn and the record books, the junior signal caller claimed yet another record for his own on Saturday as he surpassed Jarius Jackson’s single season mark of 2,753 passing yards, setting the new mark at, 2,931.  With two games remaining Quinn looks to shatter that mark and also pass Ron Powlus’ career yardage mark of 7,602, needing only 254-yards to do so.  Quinn went 22-of-31 on the afternoon with 284-yards and four touchdowns. 

“He continues to do a great job and put us in great situations, tight end Anthony Fasano said of his quarterback. “He was kind of quiet today and still had four touchdowns.”

With Saturday’s victory, the Irish extended their NCAA record winning streak against a single opponent to 42. Notre Dame will now play their final home contest of the season next Saturday when they square off against Syracuse.  For players like Fasano and Stovall, it will be their final game played at historic Notre Dame Stadium and should prove to be an emotional contest as the Irish continue their push for a BCS bowl birth.