Navy has taken a step backward the last couple years, and in an odd reflection of its decades of struggles against Notre Dame, a steady schedule may be a piece of the problem.
The Midshipmen won 20 games their first two years in the American Athletic Conference, going 14-3 in conference competition and reaching the conference title game. Those 11- and 9-win totals then fell to 7 and 3 the last two seasons, including a 6-10 mark in the conference.
The Irish learned to incorporate triple-option planning into their offseason calendar decades ago. While Navy remained independent, few other schools did such, at least not as effectively.