that's consistent with what I've heard from ND friends too, though some older guys put Michigan State equal to michigan since that rivarly goes back to the earliest days of Irish football while Michigan goes back to 1980 or so. What I have heard about Navy, and nobody seems to know exactly why, is that Notre Dame made a committment back around 1945 that they would always play Navy as long as the Middies wanted the game. That committment was renewed in the 1970s when Navy was going through a major down period, and again a few years ago. I've heard this from Navy folks and from ND folks. Though nobody seems to completely know the origins of the agreement.
As far as UCONN's situation, I have this feeling that UCONN is in a situation somehting like where Syracuse found itself in 2004. More or less biding its time until the ACC comes calling. I think it took longer than they had hoped but it came.