Editor’s Note: The original intention of the “30 Years of Notre Dame on NBC” series was to set the stage for the 30th year of the partnership. But then 2020 intervened with a fury, and the season did not grant the time to publish the last half dozen entries. As 2020’s reach lengthens 2021’s winter doldrums, there is no reason not to walk down those memory lanes now.
Unfairly but understandably, the loss is remembered more than the 43 straight wins that preceded it. When Notre Dame finally fell to Navy in triple overtime in 2007, it ended the longest such winning streak against a single opponent in NCAA history.