SOUTH BEND, Ind. — No one on No. 19 Notre Dame needs convincing about how tough Navy is to play.

The Fighting Irish (6-2) remember how the Midshipmen gave them a scare last season by recovering two onside kicks and scoring two touchdowns in the final 99 seconds before the Irish held on for a 27-21 victory.

Just as vivid is a season earlier, when Navy beat Notre Dame, 46-44, in three overtimes to end a 43-game losing streak to the Irish.

"That was kind of the low point of my career," Irish center Eric Olsen said. "Obviously that season wasn't a season that any of us really want to remember. But when you have a streak that long against a team, you hate to be the team that gives that streak up."

The Midshipmen (6-3) say the memory of ending the NCAA's longest losing streak by any team to a single opponent gives them confidence going into today's game.

"We'll keep that in the back of our minds as a reminder that we have done it before," cornerback Blake Carter said. "We know that we have the ability to beat Notre Dame."

ARMY-AIR FORCE

The triple-option offense of Air Force is Army's biggest challenge, not the higher altitude or the thunderous crowd.

That's the message first-year Army coach Rich Ellerson, a former University of Hawai'i assistant, tried to convey to the Black Knights, who face the Falcons at Air Force Academy, Colo.

Sure, the crowd will be noisy — always is for a Commander-in-Chief's Trophy contest. And yes, Air Force, at close to 6,700 feet, is quite a bit higher in elevation than West Point, N.Y.

But those are simply obstacles out of Army's control.

"None of those are the challenge," Ellerson said. "The challenge is Air Force's football team, and that's where our focus is. Any of those other things are just a distraction and we are not going to spend 30 seconds on those things."

Instead, the Black Knights (3-5) spent their bye week revisiting the basics and breaking down film of the Falcons (5-4, 4-2 Mountain West).