Insider: Johnson rights Navy's ship

"I knew it was a tough and hard job," Johnson said. "People that told me I couldn't do it, the more I wanted to do it."

So here we are at Notre Dame week once again. Lots of tough talk but still no results since the Kennedy administration. You'd think that the law of averages would apply at some point.

Steve Belichick still grumbles about bad spots, bad luck and horrible officiating over the years in the Notre Dame game. None of it ever went Navy's way. He was a young man when victory over the Irish last graced the Midshipmen in 1963.

"In our starting 11 we had seven guys who probably could have started at Notre Dame or anyplace else in the country," Belichick said. "(Then) we went through some tough times."

O'Brien's is packed again this week because they want to hear from Johnson about how and if the streak is going to end. Along with honor, courage and commitment there is anticipation, doubt and hope.

"It would be huge ...," Johnson said. "I don't know if anybody expects us to win."

The tough guy

Meet the running back who breaks all the stereotypes.

Kyle Eckel grew up in South Philadelphia, about four blocks from Veterans Stadium. Dude has a crooked nose, which you can bet was man-made by some antagonist's fist. One of his favorite movies is Rocky. Eckel being at Navy makes about as much sense as Pee Wee Herman doing Shakespeare.

"Nothing negative toward Kyle," Rick Knox, Eckel's high school coach, told the Virginian-Pilot. "(But) he's all South Philly. When he came to school here, well, his buddies from his old neighborhood would show up shirtless with E-C-K-E-L painted on their chests."

The family eventually moved out to the suburbs, where Eckel met a new friend whose three brothers played at Navy. No way, thought Eckel, until the friend told him that Navy played Notre Dame each year.

That sold the 5-foot-11, 240-pounder who, as an 18-year-old plebe, suddenly found himself taking crap from 150-pound upperclassmen. On the streets of Philly, he would have backhanded those kinds of guys to the pavement. At the academy, Eckel had to take it.

He found a way to lash out on the field. As a fullback in the spread option, Eckel is Navy's main ball carrier. A soldier, if you will, dealing out the pain every week. Eckel rushed for 1,249 yards last year, 152 of them while earning MVP honors in the Army-Navy game.

And tough? At halftime of the Duke game, Eckel took off special chest pads he had been wearing to protect bruised ribs. They got in the way and caused him to fumble twice in the first half. Unencumbered but less protected, Eckel scored two touchdowns in the second half.

Only the sixth player in Navy history to rush for more than 2,000 career yards, Eckel is rated as high as No. 2 among fullbacks on some NFL Draft boards. If it happens Eckel would be the first Navy graduate to be drafted in 12 years.

Future employers should be notified, though. If Staubach is the Navy ideal, Eckel is the ideal's bodyguard.

The sacrifices

For all of its glorious history, Notre Dame doesn't have to recruit against war. Navy (and the other service academies) are in the business of training warriors. Real warriors, not just game-day heroes.

Joe Bellino (1960) and Staubach (1963) combined to win Heismans twice in a four-season period. Staubach was the toast of the country in '63 as the Middies finished No. 2, beating Michigan, Notre Dame and Maryland.

Then it was off to Vietnam for four years before Staubach started his NFL Hall of Fame career with the Cowboys.

The grim reality has hit the academy hard the past two months: Two former players were lost. Lt. Cmdr. Scott Zellem, a linebacker from the Class of '91, died in a jet crash; a roadside bomb killed Lt. Ron Winchester, a lineman who graduated in 2001, on Sept. 3 in Iraq.

Winchester once played half a season with three broken ribs. The family has asked the team to play this season with his same dedication.

"Being on an athletic field, it is a relief in a way," said Staubach, who lost a teammate in Vietnam.

From 3:45 p.m. to about 6:15 p.m. each day practice is a salvation, a mental and physical oasis for Navy men. Notre Dame is just another obstacle. The only assurance at Navy is there have been and will be much bigger ones.

"We're not going to be in a BCS bowl this year but who knows? I shouldn't say that," Staubach said. "They might figure out a way to get us in there."