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The 5 Best Games in Notre Dame vs. Navy History

By Daniel Morrison

SOUTH BEND, IN - NOVEMBER 02: The U.S. Navy Blue Angels perform a stadium flyover before the Notre Dame Fighting Irish take on the Navy Midshipmen at Notre Dame Stadium on November 2, 2013 in South Bend, Indiana. (Photo by Jonathan Daniel/Getty Images)
SOUTH BEND, IN - NOVEMBER 02: The U.S. Navy Blue Angels perform a stadium flyover before the Notre Dame Fighting Irish take on the Navy Midshipmen at Notre Dame Stadium on November 2, 2013 in South Bend, Indiana. (Photo by Jonathan Daniel/Getty Images) /
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3. 1984 Notre Dame 18, Navy 17

In 1984 it had been two decades since Navy beat Notre Dame. In that time, Notre Dame had won 3 National Championships under two different College Football Hall of Fame coaches. This was after them, though, and before the next great Notre Dame coach would come to South Bend.

This was during the Gerry Faust era. 1984 was a disappointing 7-5 season, where the Irish bounced in and out of the rankings. Still, there was talent on this Notre Dame team. They were coming to Giants Stadium for the game off of an upset win at LSU. They were ripe for a letdown game, and that’s just how Navy needed them.

The Midshipmen had been nobodies since Roger Stabauch graduated. Navy had only made three bowl games since then. 1984 was similarly difficult. Coming into the game with Notre Dame, they were 3-3-1.

Looking back on the game, Notre Dame should have lost the game several times over. The first reason is that the Irish turned the ball over a total of six times. Notre Dame was also down 17-7 with just over two minutes left in the game.

Notre Dame scored a touchdown and two point conversion. Then, the Irish went on to kick a game winning field goal with 18 seconds left in regulation. Still, Navy argued that Notre Dame had not gotten the play off on time, and should have received a delay of game call. That would have pushed the kick back 5 yards and closer to the edge of field goal range.

Add in a no-call roughing the punter that came as Navy punted to Notre Dame before the final drive, and coach Gary Tranquill was furious. He felt the game had been stolen from his Midshipmen.

Tranquill may very well have been right, too. The referee admitted to not being able to see the play clock on the final field goal. However, he was sure it had not hit zero. Notre Dame fans know how to respect the officials and have chosen to agree with this assessment of the situation.

At any rate, it was an exciting and controversial finish.

Notre Dame, captained by the likes of Mike Golic, would go on to make and lose the Aloha Bowl against SMU. The mediocrity under Faust would only continue into 1985, when the Irish went 5-6, and Faust lost his job. They brought in some guy named Holtz after that. Jury is still out on him though.

Winning the game could have given Navy the momentum they needed to start winning under Tranquill. Unfortunately for the Midshipmen, that didn’t happen. Navy wouldn’t win more than 4 games again under Tranquill, who only had one 6-win or more seasons at Navy. He was fired after 1986.

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