The 282-space parking lot near Pratt and South Eutaw streets was nearly full at 10 a.m. yesterday. Navy and Notre Dame fans paid $20 to park near Ravens Stadium for the game, attended by a crowd of 70,260, a sellout. Tables, grills and folding chairs filled the few spots with no cars in them.

Although a few people played fight songs on their stereos, for the most part the traffic on the nearby streets was the loudest sound. Its rumble mingled with the voices of the fans catching up with friends and family. They were far more focused on having fun than on who would win the afternoon's game.

"The game's not going to be any good," said retired Navy Capt. Ken Kuehne, a season-ticket holder whose two children went to the Naval Academy.

Kuehne, a Severna Park resident, had been out in the parking lot since 9:30 a.m. with two other retired officers and their families, friends since they were stationed overseas.

In a corner of the lot, they had set up three tables covered in blue tablecloths, laden with everything from sausage balls to chili to fruit salad, and several flasks of coffee and Bailey's Irish Cream.

"Egg salad sandwiches are the specialty of the day," said retired commander Paul Striffler, also of Severna Park.

The group tries to go to all the games, but said the main goal of the season is to beat Army. "None of these other games really count," Striffler said.

Two rows away, six other longtime fans, most in Navy sweatshirts, were taking photographs to send to their children, who are stationed with the Navy in the Middle East.

"We're proud to be Navy families," Carleen Giannotti said.

Giannotti, her husband and the two other couples, all Annapolis residents, said they would support the team win or lose.

"We expect to win," Susan Gottschalk said. "That's our theme for the year."

Her husband and two of his friends, who now work at the Naval Academy, have been fans of the team since they were midshipmen. The three couples said they have all had season tickets for around 15 years and attended all the games unless they were deployed elsewhere.

Yesterday they were in the parking lot at 9:30, with so much rolls, vegetables, chicken and cookies to eat that they invited other Navy fans from nearby cars to join in.

The pennants decorating car antennas and the sweatshirts people wore seemed to imply that more than twice as many Notre Dame fans as Navy fans were out in the warm sunshine.

"They're everywhere," Jim Parnick said of the Notre Dame fans. He drove down from Terre Hill, Pa., yesterday morning on a family trip led by his father. About half the assortment of cousins, who had arrived around 9:30 a.m., were cheering for each team, they said.

Parnick said his father goes to many of the Notre Dame games and has a dog named Irish. He could not explain why his father, who grew up in Michigan and gets discounted tickets to Navy games because he is a veteran, is a Notre Dame fan. None of the family members are Notre Dame alums or Indiana natives, and some are Michigan fans.

While yesterday's game was the elder Parnick's third Notre Dame game this season, it was his son's and his granddaughter's first game ever. Sheldon Parnick, 10, said she's not much of a football fan but has watched it on television. Asked who she thought would win, she said, "I'm not quite sure. Probably Michigan."