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EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. - There's no secret to Notre Dame's 41-game winning streak against Navy. The Fighting Irish are bigger, stronger and faster - and they showed it on Saturday. Ryan Grant ran for 114 yards and two touchdowns, and Notre Dame had little trouble extending its NCAA-record winning streak against the Midshipmen with a 27-9 victory.
Navy (5-1) came in with hopes of finally ending four decades of futility. Adding to the optimism for the Midshipmen was their performance against Notre Dame the past two seasons. The Irish needed late-game efforts in both to extend the streak.
"We remember how close this game has been the last two years," Notre Dame linebacker Mike Goolsby. "That was the thing coach (Greg) Mattison tried to get across to us this week. It doesn't have to be close."
The defensive line coach was right. Grant and Notre Dame's dominant lines wrapped this one up early for the Irish (5-2), who needed two possessions to take a 14-0 lead.
"It kind of set the tone for the game and gave us confidence," said quarterback Brady Quinn, who was 11-for-20 for 130 yards.
The Irish went into halftime up 17-0, having allowed Navy's triple-option attack to break midfield just once.
The Midshipmen got their ground game going on the first drive of the second half, marching 81 yards without throwing a pass. But Navy had to settle for a field goal.
Kyle Eckel finished with 102 yards on 22 rushes for Navy, but playing from behind just doesn't suit the Midshipmen. Navy completed just three passes for 44 yards.
"We'd have to have played mentally perfect to have a chance to win this game, and obviously we didn't do that," quarterback Aaron Polanco said.
Notre Dame had six sacks and limited the Midshipmen to 216 yards on the ground.
NO. 21 BOISE STATE 45, TULSA 42: Antwaun Carter scored on a 2-yard run with less than two minutes remaining, and Tyler Jones kicked a 46-yard field goal with 3 seconds left for the visiting Broncos. Boise State (6-0, 3-0 WAC) won its 17th consecutive, the longest winning streak in the nation, and has now won 21 straight in conference. The Broncos haven't lost since falling 26-24 at Oregon State Sept. 20, 2003.
TOLEDO 31, OHIO 13: Bruce Gradkowski ran for a touchdown and passed for another for the host Rockets (5-2, 4-0 MAC). Gradkowski completed 26 of 37 passes for 285 yards and an 11-yard scoring pass to Lance Moore. Ryan Hawk came off the bench to throw a 4 yards to Corey Logan for the only touchdown by Ohio (3-4, 1-3).
MIAMI (OHIO) 25, BUFFALO 7: Josh Betts completed 25 of 36 passes for 306 yards and two touchdowns for the visiting RedHawks (4-3, 3-1 MAC). Luke Clemens rushed for 96 yards and two touchdowns for the Bulls (1-6, 1-4).
JAMES MADISON 24, MAINE 20: Justin Rascati completed 19 of 28 passes for 197 yards and two touchdowns, including a game-winning 23-yarder to D.D. Boxley with 47 seconds remaining for the visiting Dukes (5-1, 4-0 Atlantic 10).
HOWARD 42, MORGAN STATE 35 (OT): Marcus Moreno ran 6 yards for a touchdown in the extra session for the host Bison (3-2, 0-1 MEAC). Nathan Keever kicked a field goal for Morgan State (2-4, 1-2) in the final minute to force overtime.
HARVARD 41, NORTHEASTERN 14: Clifton Dawson ran for 111 yards and two touchdowns while Ryan Fitzpatrick threw two more touchdowns for the visiting Crimson (5-0).