On the broad scale of coincidences, it’s hardly an earth-shaker that Navy will meet Notre Dame and Kansas University will collide with Nebraska in college football Saturday.

Notably, though, Notre Dame owns 39 consecutive wins over Navy, and Nebraska has defeated KU for 34 years running. Why notable? Because those are the two longest current streaks in NCAA Division I-A.

The third-longest skein going into this season was Nebraska’s 24 straight over Missouri, but that domination ended a month ago when the Tigers thumped the Cornhuskers, 41-24, in Columbia, Mo.

In Saturday’s games, Nebraska is favored by 18 points over Kansas — no surprise there — but Notre Dame’s eight-point edge over the Midshipmen is a bit of an eyebrow-raiser because Navy’s record is 6-3 and Notre Dame is stumbling along at 2-6.

Navy coach Paul Johnson wasn’t surprised, though, quipping that Notre Dame “…probably has 35 Parade All-Americans and we have 35 guys that marched in a parade.”

Kansas doesn’t have 35 Parade All-Americans, and the Jayhawks don’t have 35 players taking Navy ROTC, but the Jayhawks do have offensive weapons and aren’t about to concede to the mighty Cornhuskers.

Still, it was defense that enabled KU to defeat Nebraska the last time in Lawrence, and the Jayhawks’ defense hasn’t ennobled itself lately. The score of that last KU win here, incidentally, was 10-0. The year was 1967. A year later, Kansas went to Lincoln and posted a 23-13 triumph

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on the way to a co-Big Eight championship and a trip to the Orange Bowl.

Kansas hasn’t defeated the Huskers since, but records are made to be broken and streaks never last forever. The Jayhawks are on a collision course with the end of the slide, the only question is when.

While pondering when that might be, why not take time out to enter the Wanna Whack Woodling contest? Every week I pick the winners in games involving Big 12 Conference schools, and you can guess on KUsports.com. Enter the contest and you might win a “We Whacked Woodling” T-shirt.

Here are this week’s selections:

Oklahoma 33, Texas A&M 20 — Sooners bound to be flat following Bedlam Series bashing of Oklahoma State, but Aggies don’t have enough defense to deter Sooners from making their appointed rounds in New Orleans later this year.

Colorado 51, Missouri 41 — Buffaloes have only one win in last seven weeks — that 50-47 OT decision over Kansas — but Missouri plays like Tarzan in Columbia, like Jane on road, and this one is in Boulder.

Kansas State 33, Iowa State 22 — Wildcats could be caught looking ahead to showdown with Nebraska, but Iowa State is too feeble to force the issue. Offensively challenged Cyclones have dropped six straight after starting season 2-0.

Texas Tech 59, Baylor 29 — Red Raiders quarterback B.J. Symons was off-limits to media this week after throwing five interceptions against Colorado. Baylor, meanwhile, has been off-limits to the win column for a month.

Oklahoma State 27, Texas 16 — With this one in Stillwater, Cowboys won’t have any trouble refocusing after lopsided loss to Sooners. Longhorns unbeaten on road, but Baylor, Iowa State and Rice aren’t exactly murderer’s row.

Nebraska 42, Kansas 25 — Hard to believe Kansas once knocked off the Colonels of Kernel two years in a row. Of course, that was in 1967 and 1968, and didn’t they wear leather helmets and run the single-wing in those days? Telltale stat: Nebraska has 35 takeaways this season. Kansas has 13.