It was a question they knew was coming and a game the Notre Dame captains would probably like to forget.

But when defensive captain Kyle McCarthy, special teams captain Scott Smith and co-offensive captain Eric Olsen were asked about the 46-44, triple-overtime loss to Navy in 2007 that ended the Irish's 43-game winning streak against the Midshipmen, here is what the captains had to say:

McCarthy: "Obviously we kind of expected that to be brought up this week. It's something that you don't want to look back on, but you need to learn from it. Navy is the type of team that is going to come in here and not be intimidated. They play hard and play for 60 minutes and, probably more, if its needs to be. You saw what they did to Ohio State this year. They took them down to the wire, and Ohio State is one of the best teams in the country. We need to be ready to play."

Smith: "Not wanting to get too much into the past, but it's the same thing after you lose any game. Just being dejected, upset, thinking about what you could have done differently and what the team as a whole could have done differently. Some of the older guys use that as motivation. The last time (Navy) was in Notre Dame Stadium, they came out with the victory. Especially this year trying to make the next steps toward our goals, we want to make sure that doesn't happen."

Olsen: "No offense to Navy, but that was kind of the low point in my career. Obviously, that season wasn't a season that any of us want to remember, at all. When you have a streak that long against a team, you hate to be the team that gives that streak up. It is nothing personnel against them, it just so happened they were the team we had that streak against. It just speaks about our inexperience as a team and how young we were back than, and (Navy's) effort."