Croke Park, 2 November 1996

Navy Midshipmen 27 Notre Dame Fighting Irish –while this was officially a Navy Home Game, the Midshipmen’s Head Coach said it did not feel like that as the Notre Dame Fighting Irish – the Irish Roman Catholic College in South Bend, Indiana, near Chicago – left the United States of America to play a Football game for only the second time ever. The win for the Irish gave the legendary Lou Holtz – the most successful College Football coach ever – a send-off that was worth remembering in his last year in charge, as he retired at the end of the season.

The Irish coped well with the Midshipmen’s ground game, shutting down Quarterback Ben Fay and Option Quarterback Chris McCoy for almost no yardage eeverytime they kept the ball to run at the Notre Dame defense, even though Navy’s aerial attack was proving successful. After a slow start Marc Edwards ran in from 5 yards out in the first quarter to give Notre Dame the go-ahead score. In the second quarter Pete Chrydlewicz received a toichdown pass from the promising Ron Powlus at Quarterback, a star in College Football circles in the USA, and Autry Denson, the big running back, added one from 33 yards out with 30 seconds to go in the half, as Navy could only manage one score – a run from Omar Nelson – leaving the score 21-7 at the half.

In the second half Renaldo Wynn scored a 24-yard Interception Return off of a long 50-yard pass from the Navy QB to put Notre Dame 28-7 up, a score that the Navy Coach said broke the backs of the Midshipmen. After that Notre Dame put up four more scores – two from Marc Edwards and one each from Autry Denson and Jamie Spencer – as Navy only managed three scores and the game ended 54-27 to Notre Dame.

Commenting after the game Lou Holtz said next time they might seek a Garda Escort as they spent so much time in traffic, saying it was worse even than New York’s, which he thought was bad, and remarked that Irish people must spend half their lives in their cars. Following the win Quarterback Ron Powlus, and Running Back Marc Edwards headed out to Dublin’s main entertainment district, Temple Bar, where they sample Guinness and were mobbed by girls who had travelled over from America to catch the game.

Navy Midshipmen Starting Line-Up

Notre Dame Fighing Irish Starting Line-Up

Final Rankings

Report

Notre Dame Fighting Irish, the Irish Roman Catholic College in South Bend, Indiana, near Chicago, finished in 12th place in legendary College Football Coach, Lou Holtz’s last season in charge. The Fighting Irish were not satisfied with the cost/payout relationship in the lesser bowls at the end of the season, and despite numerous invites to Bowl Games, did not take part in any, casting a lull over Holtz’s last year in charge.

References

Magazines

[1] Anon. (1997) College Countdown: Bowl Results / Touchdown’s End of season Power Ranknigs Touchdown. February 1997. No. 22. pg. 37

Newspapers

[2] (1996) First Down, No. 543, 9 November 1996, pg. 16-17.

[3] Carl Davidson (1996) Notre Dame First Down, No. 542, 2 November 1996, pg. 16.

[4] Ben Saunders (1996) Navy First Down, No. 542, 2 November 1996, pg. 16.

Images

[5] Croke Park Twitter (2016) Tweet, November 2, 2016: CwSFSI6XEAQV2RM [Internet] Available from: https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CwSFSI6XEAQV2RM?format=jpg&name=900×900 [Accessed 27 October 2020]

[6] Croke Park Twitter (2016) Tweet, November 2, 2016: CwSFSH3WEAAjXL4 [Internet] Available from: https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CwSFSH3WEAAjXL4?format=jpg&name=900×900 [Accessed 27 October 2020]

[7] Shamrock Classic 1996 Official Programme – Authors’ Personal Collection

Acknowledgements

Thanks to Todd Zboyan, Bart Barden, Rick Kelley and Tim Leadingham

About this document

Researched, compiled and written by Enda Mulcahy for the

Eirball | Irish North American and World Sports Archive

Last Updated: 27 October 2020

(c) Copyright Enda Mulcahy and Eirball 2020

You may quote this document in whole or part provided that proper acknowledgement is given to the authors. All Rights Reserved.