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Mids Get 'Special' Treatment
Streak-Busting Win at Notre Dame Is Honored Back Home
By Christian Swezey
Washington Post Staff Writer
Monday, November 5, 2007; Page E07
SOUTH BEND, Ind., Nov. 4 -- Following a 34-16 loss to Notre Dame in 2001 --
number 38 in his team's losing streak in the series -- Navy interim coach
Rick Lantz said: "One day, Navy is going to beat Notre Dame. And when they
do, it's going to be very special."
That day came on Saturday, when the Midshipmen defeated the Fighting Irish,
46-44, in three overtimes before 80,795 at Notre Dame Stadium.
It ended Navy's 43-game losing streak to Notre Dame, the longest such streak
in NCAA history.
And as Lantz predicted, it was a special moment. Coach Paul Johnson said the
team received a warm welcome when it arrived back in Annapolis late Saturday
night.
"There were a lot of midshipmen there" to greet the team, Johnson said.
"They seemed pretty excited. It was a fun time."
The magnitude of the victory will continue growing for a couple of days.
Johnson almost certainly will have a deluge of e-mails waiting for him.
Monday's classes were canceled at the school to honor the victory, Navy's
first in the series since 1963.
There were several memorable moments on Saturday. When the Navy team took
the field, the Notre Dame student section stood and politely cheered.
Following the game, Notre Dame Coach Charlie Weis made sure his team stood
at attention behind the Navy players during the traditional playing of
Navy's alma mater.
Afterward, he shook the hands of the Navy players around him.
In the third overtime, the Midshipmen took an eight-point lead on a 25-yard
touchdown pass from junior Kaipo-Noa Kaheaku-Enhada to senior captain Reggie
Campbell; the pair also combined on the two-point conversion attempt that
becomes mandatory starting in the third overtime.
Navy's defense gave up a five-yard touchdown run by senior Travis Thomas.
But it withstood a pass interference penalty and stopped Thomas short of the
end zone on Notre Dame's two-point play.
"I'm very proud of our guys," Johnson said. "They kept fighting. It wasn't
easy. We just made one more play than they did. We made our two-point
conversion; they didn't."
The Midshipmen finished with 257 yards rushing, the third most against Notre
Dame since at least 1963; their first 27 plays were runs. Yet an in-game
adjustment to the passing game by Johnson and his staff worked well on
Saturday.
On the second possession of the game, Johnson went to a tight formation,
with the wide receivers lined up next to the tackles. The wide receivers
crack-blocked on the Notre Dame outside defenders and initially gave the
Navy running backs room to the outside.
The Irish adjusted at halftime. They began sending their cornerbacks on
blitzes designed to tackle the option pitch recipient before his lead
blocker was in position.
Navy adjusted to that, too. Late in regulation and in overtime, Johnson
began calling pass plays to the slot backs and fullback; the logic was that
the backs would be open in the area in which the cornerback had blitzed. The
winning touchdown came on such a pass play.
"I think Navy was more comfortable when the score got in the 40s," said Omar
Nelson, Navy's radio analyst and a player at the school in the 1990s. "Notre
Dame had been playing a lot of low-scoring games. I felt like at halftime
that Charlie Weis had practically emptied his playbook."
The Midshipmen showed a bit of moxie, too. Several times, including on a
crucial drive in the fourth quarter and before a fourth and one in the first
half, Kaheaku-Enhada was seen playfully telling the Notre Dame fans to make
more noise.
"This is such a great atmosphere, and Notre Dame has great fans,"
Kaheaku-Enhada said after the game. "We were all so pumped to be playing
here."
Midshipmen Notes: Saturday marked the first time since he came to Navy in
2002 that defensive coordinator Buddy Green spent the game in the coaches'
box rather than on the field. Johnson said the move was made to help Green
see the field better, and that Green likely will be upstairs for the game
against North Texas on Saturday. . . .
Freshman safety Wyatt Middleton suffered a slight neck injury that may keep
him out of practice for a couple of days, though he is likely to play
Saturday, Johnson said.