Posted at 3:08 p.m., Wednesday, November 7, 2007
CFB: Navy sails to a big off-day
By Wendell Barnhouse
McClatchy Newspapers
Sometimes, though, there's a reason to celebrate.
Classes were canceled Monday at the United States Naval Academy. Navy's 46-44 triple-overtime victory at Notre Dame on Saturday ended the Midshipmen's 43-game losing streak to the Irish.
Navy's last victory over Notre Dame came in 1963 when Roger Staubach was the quarterback and on his way to winning the Heisman Trophy.
Saturday the Staubachs hosted about 70 guests for a pre-planned dinner party. The NASCAR team Staubach co-sponsors with Troy Aikman was in town for the race at Texas Motor Speedway.
"It was a great game; everybody was going crazy," Staubach said yesterday. "It was a heck of a way to end the streak. We had a few other TVs and people were trying to watch other games. But Navy-Notre Dame had the big screen."
Navy quarterback Kaipo-Noa Kaheaku Enhada said the victory was bigger than beating Army. Well, sink my battleship.
"The pressure has been on the team every year to end the streak," Staubach said. "The Army-Navy game is still the big game, but the circumstances of this game . . . they wanted to get that record off the books."
The last time classes were canceled at Annapolis? Staubach was involved with that, too. He was giving a lecture in 2005 when he said the Midshipmen deserved the next day off.
