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.

Croke Park	Q1	Q2	Q3	Q4	Total
Notre Dame Fighting Irish	7	14			54
Navy Midshipmen	0	7			27

Team	Scorer	Score
	1st Quarter
NDFI	Marc Edwards 5yd Run	7-0
	2nd Quarter
NDFI	Pete Chrydlewicz 14 Pass from Ron Powlus	14-0
NM	Omar Nelson 5 Run	14-7
NDFI	Autry Denson 33 Run	21-7
	2nd Half
NDFI	Renaldo Wynn 24 Int Return	28-7
NM	Omar Nelson 1 Run	28-14
NDFI	Autry Denson 22 Run	35-14
NM	Schemm 55 Pass from Ben Fay	35-21
NDFI	Marc Edwards Run
NDFI	Marc Edwards Run
NDFI	Jamie Spencer Run
NM	?? TD	54-21

Navy Midshipmen Starting Line-Up

No.	Position	Name
	Offense
11	Wide Receiver	Astor Heaven
76	Left Tackle	Alex Domino
69	Left Guard	J.D.Gainey
55	Center	Brian Drechsler
71	Right Guard	Jeff Smith
70	Right Tackle	Scott Zimmermann
84	Wide Receiver	LeBron Butts
34	Switchback	Pat McGrew
7	Switchback	Chris McCoy
8	Quarterback	Ben Fay
5	Fullback	Omar Nelson
	Defense
99	Left End	Tom Poulter
95	Left Tackle	Chad Holzapfel
97	Right Tackle	Jason Snider
92	Right End	Michael Ogden
51	Switch Linebacker	Clint Bruce
50	Middle Linebacker	Travis Cooley
29	Left Center	Sean Andrews
18	Strong Safety	Adam Crecion
6	Free Safety	Garvy Alota
10	Wide Safety	Rashad Smith
21	Right Center	Robert Green

Notre Dame Fighing Irish Starting Line-Up

No.	Position	Name
	Offense
18	Strong End	Cikai Champion
75	Left Tackle	Chris Clevenger
76	Left Guard	Jeremy Akers
57	Center	Rick Kaczenski
79	Right Guard	Mike Rosenthal
73	Right Tackle	Mike Doughty
98	Tight End	Pete Chryplewicz
5	Free Linebacker	Emmett Mossley
3	Quarterback	Ron Powlus
44	Fullback	Marc Edwards
23	Tailback	Autry Denson
	Defense
13	Outside Linebacker	Bert Berry
48	Left End	Renaldo Wynn
85	Nose Guard	Antwon Jones
51	Right End	Melvin Dansby
4	Outside Linebacker	Kory Minor
6	Inside Linebacker	Lyron Cobbins
2	Inside Linebacker	Kinnon Tatum
15	Cornerback	Allen Rossum
14	Cornerback	Ivory Covington
39	Strong Safety	Benny Guilbeaux
30	Free Safety	Jarvis Edison

Final Rankings

Rank	School
1	Florida Gators
2	Ohio State Buckeyes
3	Nebraska Cornhuskers
4	Florida State Seminoles
5	Arizona State Sun Devils
6	Colorado Buffaloes
7	North Carolina Tar Heels
8	Tennessee Volunteers
9	Penn State Nittany Lions
10	Brigham Young Cougars
11	Washington Huskies
12	Notre Dame Fighting Irish
13	Syracuse Orangemen
14	Kansas State Cowboys
15	Virginia Tech Hokies
16	Alabama Crimson Tide
17	Michigan Wolverines
18	Iowa Hawkeyes
19	Miami Hurricanes
20	Louisiana State Tigers
21	Wyoming Cowboys
22	Southern Mississippi
23	Texas Longhorns
24	Auburn Tigers
25	Army Black Knights
26	East Carolina Gamecocks
27	Texas Tech Red Raiders
28	West Virginia Mountaineers
29	Northwestern Wildcats
30	Utah Utes

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.