The grudge match between LSU and Alabama was certainly the most watched big college football game of this past weekend. But for my money, the most interesting game of the weekend was Navy’s dramatic 46-44 triple overtime victory over Notre Dame at South Bend, ending a 43 year losing streak by the Midshipmen against the Fighting Irish. The win was made even more satisfying for the Middies because a blatant “hometown” pass interference call by one of the referees gave Notre Dame another chance to tie the game at the end of the third overtime, but Navy stuffed the Irish on the retry to preserve the victory.
John Feinstein provides this excellent analysis of what Navy’s victory means:

Skeptics will point out that this is a bad (now 1-8) Notre Dame team. It doesn’t matter. Every Notre Dame team should dominate Navy on the football field. At one point during the game, NBC — also known as the Notre Dame Broadcasting Co. because it pays the school millions of dollars a year to televise all its home games — did a promo for a high school All-Star game it televises in January. Only the country’s top-rated high school seniors are invited to play.
“Twenty-one of the current Irish players have played in that game in past years,” NBC play-by-play announcer Tom Hammond said.
That would be exactly 21 more than are currently playing at Navy. Or, as Hammond’s partner Pat Haden pointed out: “With all due respect, Navy doesn’t get to recruit blue-chip football players.”
Just blue-chip people. [. . .]
The best description I ever heard of what it is like to play football at Navy, Army and Air Force came from Fred Goldsmith, who coached at Air Force: “At a civilian school the hardest part of a football player’s day is football practice,” he said. “At an academy, the easiest part of a football player’s day is football practice.”
Navy can’t possibly beat Notre Dame. Except on Saturday a group of youngsters who were too small or too slow (or both) to play big-time college football did just that.
With all due respect to Notre Dame and all its blue-chip players, Navy’s celebration should be our celebration.

By the way, the game included one of the worst coaching calls that I’ve ever seen. Notre Dame’s Charlie Weis decided to go for it on 4th and 8 at the Navy 24 yard line with 45 seconds remaining in regulation instead of attempting a 41-yard field goal that could have won the game. If a 1-8 record at Notre Dame doesn’t get Weis fired, then that type of coaching decision almost certainly will.