Yesterday, someone used the word “schmaltz” to describe the annual game with Navy and it’s the perfect word to use. By kickoff, I had grown exhausted by the swirling drums and pastiches of fly-overs and broadsides. Of the explanation for the series’ longevity and how Navy saved Notre Dame back during the Big One. Of the base-layer the players were wearing and of the word “respect,” itself.
There was time when Navy was a reliable port in the season’s storm, a game you circled as a comfortable win. Sure, there were scares, e.g. 1984, but from 1964 through 2006, Navy was a “win” for Notre Dame.