I'm a Navy fan. My parents met at the Naval Academy and my Dad was a Marine after graduating Annapolis. It's in my blood to root for Navy football no matter what. It's often a hapless task.

Thankfully, it’s made easier by the fact that the Midshipmen only require fanatical devotion two Saturdays out of the year. As much as we love cheering our boys on in bowl appearances, Navy fans aren’t in it for the post-season. Nor are we in it for the season. really. We’re in it for two games, and two games alone: Notre Dame and Army.

As long as I’ve been alive, Notre Dame has preceded Army on the schedule.

The pre-game mantra: “This is the year.”

Inevitably, we lose a heartbreaker, and the mantra changes: “There’s always Army.”

If we lose to Army, the mantra changes again: “There’s always next year.”

If Navy went 9-2 with the two losses coming at the hands of Army and Notre Dame, the season might still be considered a wash by die-hard fans. That’s how fanatical the rivalries against these two teams are.

No matter how fanatical a Fighting Irish fan you are, there’s no denying that Notre Dame is terrible this year. And no matter how painfully aware of this fact Notre Dame Nation is, Navy fans were even more aware of it coming into the game. When my mom claimed “This is the year,” it wasn’t out of an underdog’s determination, but out of genuine possibility. My family and I sat down to the game actually optimistic about the outcome. We tried to keep away the thought that many a fan before us had felt the same, only to come away disappointed.

That familiar sinking feeling rose up in me all throughout the first half. Every time Navy tied the score, Notre Dame surged ahead. Sure, Navy wasn’t failing miserably, but we were on the wrong end of trading touchdowns. But the fans kept the faith.

My faithful spirit was shaken when we missed the PAT kick in the third quarter: visions of losing yet again by a tiny margin had begun to take shape. But when Chris Kuhar-Pitters rumbled into the end zone on a fumble return giving Navy the lead, all my bravado returned. When we got the two-point conversion, I went bonkers. Even my dad, historically jaded to the possibility of a Navy win, was guardedly optimistic.

When Notre Dame tied it up, my fingernails started going. My cuticles really got it bad when Notre Dame decided to go for it on a 4th and 8 at the Navy 24 yard line.

It came down to a play of bad defense vs. worse offense. The battle that people had commented on all leading up to the game and all throughout the game would decide the game or force it into overtime. I tried to battle back despair as I paced back and forth throughout the Navy timeout preceding the play. I hoped that somehow we would hold, and that the game wouldn’t be just another close call. I didn’t want yet another heartbreak in a long string of heartbreaks.