For Navy football coach Paul Johnson, details matter. So it wasn't surprising this week to see him stop in mid-sentence and correct himself when asked what makes the annual Navy-Notre Dame game special.
"It's a great rivalry," Johnson started to say, only to hesitate for a moment before backing up. "Or, I mean, it's a great series. I think both schools stand for something, and that's what's neat about college football."
Though the change was a subtle one, it was an indicator that Johnson understands reality. Though Navy and Notre Dame will meet for the 76th straight year Saturday - college football's longest continuing intersectional series - it's tough to call it a rivalry, if only because rivalries should be evenly matched affairs. That hasn't been the case lately. The last time the Midshipmen defeated the Irish was Nov. 2, 1963.
The world has changed a lot since then, but the outcome of the Navy-Notre Dame game has not. Since Roger Staubach led the Mids to that 35-14 win in '63, Notre Dame has defeated Navy 38 consecutive times (an NCAA record for consecutive wins by one team over another) by an average score of 35-11.
It's not just Notre Dame that has given Navy trouble. The Mids haven't defeated a ranked opponent since 1985, and have been to one bowl game in the past 20 years. Yet each season, Navy remains committed to playing some of college football's top teams. At the end of the year, the Mids likely will have faced six teams that are going to bowl games: N.C. State, Air Force, Boston College, Tulane, Notre Dame and Wake Forest.
The question is: Why? With military requirements and strict admission standards, why does Navy continue to play teams it has little chance of beating, especially when it's trying to rebuild its program? Could a softer schedule help the Mids be more successful? And what changes can the academy make to shake the label of the scrappy, overachieving team that ends up playing for pride against the big boys six times a season?
It's not as simple as just scheduling easier games, said Navy athletic director Chet Gladchuk, though for the first time in a long time, that's part of the plan at Navy.
"We want to give our guys a chance to succeed," Gladchuk said. "What does that mean? Well, we need to be smart about our scheduling. We need to have eight or nine games a season that we can look at and say there is no question we can compete. Then, we have two ballgames that are what you call program makers. It's a game you play up, you get excited about, and if you pull off the upset, it's a great thing for the institution."
No one, however, is suggesting Notre Dame be dropped.
"We're going to play Notre Dame every year," Gladchuk said. "That's a given. It's something that's been part of our tradition, and it's going to continue."
Johnson said the academy may have reached "a point where you face reality."
"Don't play N.C. State and then Boston College and then Stanford and then Maryland and then go, 'Oh, wow, we're not winning any games; I wonder why?' "
Johnson pointed out Army plays a Conference USA schedule this season that includes Buffalo, East Carolina, Memphis, Cincinnati and Alabama-Birmingham.
The problem in diluting the schedule, Gladchuk said, is financial. College football is almost entirely driven by the Bowl Championship Series, which distributed more than $98.4 million to different conferences this year, according to NCAA figures. Navy, because it chooses to remain independent, doesn't get any of that money. Navy opponents such as Wake Forest, Duke and N.C. State, on the other hand, get a share of the $14.6 million given to the Atlantic Coast Conference.
"The BCS has become so lucrative that some of these institutions can just show up on Saturday afternoons and get their check for $6 [million] or $7 million," Gladchuk said. "As a result, they've been able to put together the resources to build better facilities, expand stadiums, build better weight rooms and pay big dollars for coaches. Their programs have gotten better across the board as a result."
Navy can't completely stop playing those teams, Gladchuk said, because a big part of the program's revenue comes from ticket sales. If you drop Boston College and replace it with the University of Buffalo, how many people will come and watch?
"People want to buy a seat in a venue that's got a quality program playing a quality opponent. If you drop the quality, then fan and alumni interest drops down," he said.
Reduced football revenues also would spell trouble for the academy's 29 other varsity sports. Gladchuk said money from football (including $2.1 million from television contracts for the Notre Dame and Army games) provides 75 to 80 percent of the funding for the athletic department's $18 million budget. When people suggest that Navy drop down to Division I-AA, they don't realize that would be financial suicide, he said.
"I don't see how you could even consider dropping down when Air Force and Army would be Division I," Gladchuk said. "Football pays for itself and pays for a majority of what we do. There is no reason why we can't compete at this level."
For Navy, it's about finding the right balance, and Gladchuk said he's working at it.
"I've only been aboard a year, so I haven't really had a chance to put my fingerprints on scheduling," he said.
Gladchuk did, however, manage to replace next year's game against Washington, a perennial Top 25 team, with a game against VMI. He said he only did it because he realized Navy was slated to play seven of its first eight games on the road in 2003, but either way, it fits in with his and Johnson's philosophy.
"I couldn't see how playing on the road for the first two months of the season put us in a position to be successful," Gladchuk said.
Even the players, who often get lost in the discussion, seem to understand it's a bit of a reach to play teams with vastly superior talent each week.
"I think winning is the main thing," said Navy quarterback Craig Candeto. "You want to play who you can compete with. ... You still want to play the big guys when you have a chance like Notre Dame and Boston College, but I think right now it's pretty evident we're not on the same level as them."
Getting to that level, in many respects, means recruiting better athletes, which Johnson has made a priority. However, it's not easy to nail down top athletes when you're also asking them to commit to five years of active military duty after graduation. If a kid sees himself as a future pro athlete, it stands to reason he's not going to want to wait five extra years to play professional football.
But in recent years, Army, Air Force and Navy have formalized a policy change that allows for releasing potential pro athletes from the military after two years of active duty instead of five. Previously, that kind of waiver was only granted in rare situations, if at all. Johnson said explaining that to a potential recruit rarely makes a huge difference, but it can make a small one in certain cases.
"A kid that thinks he's going to play in the NFL might not have much of a chance, but he's not going to like you too much if you tell him that," Johnson said. "Where it might help you is with a kid who's kind of a tweener. If he might have a shot, it doesn't hurt to know that option is there for him."
Former Navy running back Travis Williams, who graduated in 1999, is the only academy graduate to take advantage of the policy so far, but he was returned to active duty after the Green Bay Packers cut him in training camp this July. Air Force graduates Steve Russ, Chris Gizzi and Bryce Fisher got early releases after two years for a chance to play professional football.
In fact, if there is one school Navy likely will try to use as a model, it's Air Force.
"They've got a good program and they're investing money in weight rooms and facilities," Gladchuk said.
On the other hand, the Air Force recruiting practices are being scrutinized by congressional investigators after an internal study found that a growing number of recruits failed to meet the academy's strict academic standards.
With Navy's schedule mostly set until 2005, there isn't a lot that can change right away. In the meantime, Navy will continue to battle with college football's elite, and more than likely take some lumps along the way.
Notre Dame has 17 Parade magazine high school All-Americans on its roster, but Navy doesn't have a single player who was offered a Division I scholarship from another school.
"I think it will be a great experience for everyone," Gladchuk said. "The place will be close to full, and hopefully the guys will come out of the blocks and give it the good, old college try."
Sun staff writer Ariel Sabar contributed to this article.