Sorry to bring up such a bad memory for all but when you think of Notre Dame versus Navy, is there any other memory that pops up first?
2007 was a trying year that we went over last week in remembering the only home victory that season, a 28-7 take-down of Duke in perhaps the worst match-up to ever take place in Notre Dame Stadium.
A few weeks previous Notre Dame hosted Navy, a team that hadn’t the Irish in their last 43 tries despite a few very close calls.
Tied at 28 with just 52 seconds remaining the Irish faced a third-and-eight at the Navy 24. Kicker Brandon Walker was far from special that season, converting just six-of-twelve attempts that season but the game and the streak seemed to lay in his balance, especially after Weis called a run to Armando Allen on third down that barely got back to the line of scrimmage.
Fourth-and-eight, the game on the line and a kick well within the distance of your kicker, even if he struggled.
Instead Weis decided to go for it with his backup quarterback Evan Sharpley who was a prime-example of “no great shakes” that afternoon. Against a hardly daunting Navy defense, Sharpley wound up 17 of 27 for 140 yards that day, for all of 140 yards. I’m no math-wizard but 5.2 yards per pass attempt seems far from, um, special.
Sharpley never saw the blitzing outside-linebacker who tipped his hand before the snap and went airborne over Allen to sack Sharpley for a loss before he could even start to look downfield.
Three overtimes later the game was over and so was the streak, 46-44 Navy.
Of the losses under Weis, and god-knows there were plenty of them (21 in his final three seasons to be exact), this was the worst. Not a home game against a Syracuse team who had already fired their coach a year later and somehow not a home contest against Connecticut (they have a football team?!) in 2009.
That loss to Navy was laughable and anyone with any sense saw how over-matched Notre Dame had become, not in terms of talent, but in terms of employing a know-it-all coach who actually couldn’t tell a sneeze from a wet fart while on a sideline.
The Irish fell to 1-8 that afternoon and have since lost three more times to Navy.
Notre Dame didn’t lose to the Naval Academy for 43 years, but the Charlie Weis-led Fighting Irish managed to do so twice.
In consecutive home-matchups.
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NwGfPvt2XNg?start=7300&w=560&h=315]