Notre Dame has beaten Navy in 82 of their 96 meetings going back to 1927. It has won the last six games by an average of 23.5 points. It reflects college football Darwinian theory that the strongest survive.

Pete Bevacqua is on record that Notre Dame owes it to NBC to create compelling matchups to hold up its end of the agreement. NBC gets USC and Texas A&M at Notre Dame Stadium next year. It gets Miami and Wisconsin on the network in 2026. This year’s schedule didn’t deliver for NBC, but the next two will.

The last time Notre Dame and Navy played, it was late August 2023 and the game was held in Ireland. Notre Dame partied, posting a 42-3 win for its sixth straight victory in the long series.