2007 Navy vs. Notre Dame football game

The Navy–Notre Dame football rivalry is the longest running college football series between two teams not in the same conference. The 2007 Notre Dame Fighting Irish football team began the season with a 33–3 loss to Georgia Tech. It was the most lopsided loss Notre Dame had ever suffered in a season-opening game. Notre Dame then lost to Penn State, Michigan (38–0), Michigan State, and Purdue It was the first time in school history for Notre Dame to open the season with five losses. Notre Dame's worst opening before 2007 was 0–3. The Fighting Irish snapped their losing streak with a win at UCLA but then lost to Boston College and USC to fall to 1–7. With only four regular season games remaining, Notre Dame was assured of a losing season and they were out of contention for a bowl game. The 2007 Navy Midshipmen football team was off to a better start. They had achieved victories against Temple, Duke, Air Force, and Pittsburgh. Losses against Rutgers, Ball State, Wake Forest, and Delaware put them 4–4 on the season. With four games remaining in the season, Navy needed to win at least two in order to be invited to a bowl game. The Poinsettia Bowl had arranged for the Midshipmen to play in that bowl if they reached six wins. At the time, both teams played NCAA Division I FBS football as independent teams, unaffiliated with any conference. The game was televised nationally by NBC, which has the exclusive TV broadcast rights to Notre Dame home games. ==Game summary==

Notre Dame made the first score of the game, a 3-yard touchdown run by Robert Hughes. It was the only score of the first quarter. Each team scored a pair of touchdowns in the second quarter, to give the Irish a 21–14 lead at halftime. Navy scored a touchdown in the third quarter but they missed the potential game-tying extra point. It was the only score of the third quarter. In the fourth quarter, Navy's Chris Kuhar-Pitters collected a fumble at the Notre Dame 16 yard line and ran it in for a touchdown. Kaipo-Noa Kaheaku-Enhada rushed for the two-point conversion to take a 28–21 lead – their first of the game. Notre Dame tied the score with a touchdown. The game eventually went to overtime, In the first overtime, Notre Dame won the coin toss and elected to go on defense. Navy scored a touchdown and their extra point was good. The Irish replied with a touchdown and extra point to bring up the second overtime. This time, each team scored a field goal, necessitating a third overtime. ==Analysis==

The game ended the longest streak for most consecutive wins by one team over another in college football. Prior to the game, Notre Dame had achieved 43 straight wins against Navy since the last loss in 1963, when Roger Staubach was quarterback for Navy. The game was the fifth straight home loss for the Irish, establishing a new school record. reached 26 before the Wildcats ended that streak on November 26, 2011. The Wildcats' losing streak against Florida, which was 20 at the end of the 2006 season ended in 2018 at 31 games. Temple had a 31-game losing streak to Penn State in a series played discontinuously since 1941, though it ended in 2015. ==See also==