By David Ginsburg
The Associated Press

BALTIMORE - Once upon a time, Navy's football program was every bit as good as that of Notre Dame. Maybe even better.

That's why, in the mid-1920s, the schools decided it would be a good idea to play each other on an annual basis.

College football's longest intersectional rivalry began in Baltimore on Oct. 15, 1927 when the Knute Rockne-led Irish cruised to 19-6 victory over the defending national champions.

Even then, the Midshipmen could not beat Notre Dame.

These days, the so-called rivalry is as lopsided as the diversity in the two programs. Navy (1-7) will be seeking to end a 38-game losing streak against No. 9 Notre Dame (8-1) Saturday in a series that stands at 65-9-1 in favor of the Irish.

Navy has managed only two winning seasons since 1982 and is seeking to downgrade its schedule to include several Division II opponents. But this game means almost as much to the Midshipmen as their annual meeting against Army.

"There's a lot of guys that play college football that never have the opportunity to measure themselves against a Top 10 team, let alone on national television with 70,000 people in the stands," Navy coach Paul Johnson said.

There are probably no more than a handful of Midshipmen who could make the Notre Dame roster, but at least they get to compete against the storied program on a yearly basis.

"As a little kid, you watch Notre Dame on TV and dream of one day playing college football at that level," Navy quarterback Craig Candeto said. "Notre Dame has such great tradition, so much mystique ... it's a great opportunity, just to get a chance to line up against Notre Dame."

So what do the Irish get out of the deal, except perhaps another notch in win column? The last time Notre Dame lost to Navy was in 1963, when Roger Staubach led the Mids to a 35-14 victory.

"The truth of the matter is, this relationship is a little bit deeper than just a football game, if I am correct," Notre Dame coach Tyrone Willingham said. "Therefore, there is great precedence for this game and this rivalry to take place."

The Rev. Theodore Hesburgh, who served as president of Notre Dame from 1952-87, said the two schools have a special relationship that goes beyond the annual game. It started during World War II, when Notre Dame was struggling financially and the Navy put a half-dozen programs on the South Bend campus.

"If it hadn't been for the Navy, we could have gone under," he said.

Notre Dame and its football team are now flourishing. The Irish come in as 28-point favorites against a Navy team looking to end a run of 33 straight losses against ranked opponents.

"I think it would be tremendous for our program, for everybody involved with Navy football. It's been so long since Navy beat Notre Dame," Johnson said. "It would be astronomical for these young guys, after all they've gone through. It's like I've told them all week: It's a great opportunity. Nobody expects us to win except for the guys on the team."

Defeating Notre Dame would be difficult enough under normal circumstances, but Navy is facing a team still smarting from its first defeat of the season, a 14-7 upset at home against Boston College last week.

"We need to take our anger out on somebody. What better than on Navy?" Irish defensive tackle Darrell Campbell said.

Notre Dame still has hopes of playing for the national championship, and the Midshipmen represent the first of three remaining obstacles on the regular-season schedule.

"If we want to be a great football team and have a great football season, we must win this football game. That's regardless of who the opposition is," Willingham said.

And, regardless of the disparity in the teams, the Midshipmen remain hopeful of an upset.

"It's a challenge, a great opportunity," Johnson said. "Hopefully this is why they came to the Naval Academy, from the football aspect of it, to play in games like this. The thing that I've tried to sell them on is that it can happen. It happened last week. You just have to go out there, play to the best of your ability and see what happens."