Notre Dame beats Navy for the 40th straight time.

SOUTH BEND, Ind. (AP) – D.J. Fitzpatrick kicked a 40-yard field goal as time expired to give Notre Dame a 27-24 victory over Navy on Saturday, extending the Irish’s NCAA record for consecutive wins against one team to 40.

Julius Jones ran for 221 yards and two touchdowns to pace the Irish (3-6), who ended a three-game home losing streak – just the fifth such streak in school history – and avoided tying the school record of four straight home loses set in 1960.

Kyle Eckel scored on runs of 1 and 5 yards in the second half to give Navy (6-4) a chance at the upset, but the Midshipmen came up short.

The Irish players swarmed Fitzpatrick, who earlier missed two field goals, as they celebrated the win as if they had just beaten an archrival, not a team they haven’t lost to since Roger Staubach won the Heisman Trophy in 1963.

Navy grabbed the momentum when Eckel scored on a 1-yard run with 9:53 left. But Jones rattled off runs of 16, 13 and 11 yards, but the drive stalled and Fitzpatrick kicked a 30-yard field goal to tie it.

After the Irish defense held Navy, Jones got the Irish going again with a 9-yard run. But the key play was a short screen from Brady Quinn to Rhema McKnight for 8 yards that got the Irish within field-goal range. Jones then had a 7-yard run to get the ball to the 23.

Navy called timeout twice to try to freeze Fitzpatrick, but he made the kick and the celebration began.

It was the fourth straight 100-yard rushing game for Jones against Navy. His best run of the day came on a 48-yard run around the right end in the first quarter to open the scoring. He also scored on a 12-yard run late in the third quarter to give the Irish a 21-17 lead.

Jones became just the fourth Irish back to run for 200 yards twice in one season.

Tony Lane, who had a 65-yard TD run, led Navy with 96 yards on 18 carries. Eckel ran for 53 yards on 13 carries and Craig Candeto had 71 yards on 9 carries. Candeto threw just five passes, completing four for 46 yards.

Quinn was 14-of-27 passing for 137 yards for the Irish, who had 417 yards total offense to just 284 for Navy.

The Irish have dominated the series, but have had a number of close calls the past six years. The closest came in 1997 when Irish cornerback Allen Rossum shoved Pat McGrew out of bounds on the 1-yard line on the final play of game as Notre Dame won 21-17. Four years ago the Irish got a favorable spot by officials on fourth-and-10 to keep the game-winning drive alive by an inch or so. The Irish scored 10 points in the final 4:23 to pull out a 30-23 victory last season.

The Midshipmen, who haven’t played in a bowl since 1996, still need one more win to become bowl eligible.

AP-ES-11-08-03 1817EST