Setting the Stage
• Navy and Notre Dame will meet for the 86th time on the gridiron on Saturday, Sept. 1 in the Emerald Isle Classic at Dublin, Ireland’s Aviva Stadium. The game will kick at 2:10 pm in Dublin (9:10 am ET).
• The Navy-Notre Dame football game is the longest continuous intersectional rivalry in the country. This will be the second meeting between these two schools in Dublin with Notre Dame beating Navy, 54-27, in 1996 at Croke Park.
• CBS Sports will broadcast the game back to the United States to 100 percent of the country. Air time will be 9:00 am (ET), 8:00 am (CT), 7:00 am (MT), 6:00 am (PT) and 3:00 am in Hawai’i, the home state of Navy head coach Ken Niumatalolo. Verne Lundquist (play-by-play), Gary Danielson (analyst), Tracy Wolfson (sideline) and David Feherty (sideline) will call the action.
• ESPN America will take the television feed from CBS and air the game in 66 countries in Europe, the Middle East and Africa. For a list of countries that get ESPN America, go to: www.espnamerica.com
• American Forces Network will also carry the CBS television feed. The AFN worldwide radio and television broadcast network serves American service men and women, Department of Defense and other U.S. government civilians and their families stationed at bases overseas, as well as U.S. Navy ships at sea. The game will be available in 175 countries and U.S. territories thanks to AFN.
Pregame Festivities
• Pregame festivities will get underway at approximately 1:49 pm in Dublin with the march-on of the Brigade of Midshipmen. Nearly 1,000 of the 4,400 members of the Brigade of Midshipmen have paid their own way to be at the game.
• The United States and the Irish National Anthems will be sung by the Naval Academy Glee Club at approximately 1:56 pm.
• The Notre Dame marching band will perform at halftime.
Navy-Notre Dame Series
• Notre Dame leads the all-time series against Navy, 72-12-1, which includes a 56-14 win over the Mids in South Bend a year ago. Navy had won three of the previous four meetings against the Irish prior to last year’s loss.
• In 2007, Navy defeated Notre Dame, 46-44 in triple overtime. The win by Navy broke Notre Dame’s 43-game winning streak over the Mids which marks the longest winning streak by one team over another in NCAA history.
• Navy head coach Ken Niumatalolo is one of just three Navy coaches to beat Notre Dame in back-to-back seasons (2009-10), joining Eddie Erdelatz (1956-57) and Wayne Hardin (1960-61).
• Hardin is the only Navy coach to beat Notre Dame three times over the course of a career, defeating the Irish in 1960 with Heisman Trophy winner Joe Bellino (14-7), 1961 (13-10) and in 1963 with Heisman Trophy winner Roger Staubach (35-14).
Why Navy And Notre Dame Play
• While World War II raged in Europe during the early 1940s, it was becoming evident that the United States isolationist policy from entering the war would be in jeopardy.
• In need of better cash flow as a private school, Notre Dame president Rev. Hugh O’Donnell offered the school’s facilities to the armed forces as a training ground. During World War I, the Army operated a Students Army Training Corps program on the Notre Dame campus. This combined military training for students who also were majoring in their college courses.
• However, in the early 1940s, the Army did not respond to O’Donnell’s invitation -- but the Navy did. In Sept. 1941, it established the Naval Reserve Officers Training Corps where approximately 150 Notre Dame students per year enrolled.
• In early 1942, Notre Dame turned over four of its resident halls to the Navy for its V-7 program, which also was known as the Midshipmen’s School.
• During that transformation, the Navy constructed a drill hall and a headquarters/classroom building on the north side of the campus -- where today’s Hesburgh Memorial Library with the “Touchdown Jesus” mural is located. (It was dedicated in 1962, after the Navy drill hall had been razzed after 19 years of standing.)
• With the United States fully engaged in World War II by 1943, the Navy needed more men to serve and it again teamed with Notre Dame to form the V-12 program.
• On July 1, 1943, Notre Dame welcomed 1,851 active-duty trainees -- the largest of its kind -- to the campus. By comparison, Notre Dame’s civilian student enrollment was merely 700. Thus, five more resident halls were opened to the sailors.
• The V-12 men were scattered throughout Notre Dame’s five colleges, attended classes with the civilian students, were granted regular academic credit and, in contrast to the NROTC and the Midshipman’s School, were taught by the regular faculty.
• “We were out of business during World War II,” notes 1952-87 Notre Dame president Rev. Theodore Hesburgh in a 1992 interview with the South Bend Tribune. “Navy came in and kept us afloat until the war was over.”
• Hesburgh vowed that under his watch the football series between the two schools would be kept as long as Navy wanted it continued.
-- excerpts from Blue & Gold Illustrated story by Lou Somogyi
Navy, Notre Dame Extend Series
• Naval Academy Director of Athletics Chet Gladchuk and Notre Dame Director of Athletics and Vice President Jack Swarbrick announced last fall that Navy’s football series with Notre Dame, which is the longest continuous intersectional rivalry in college football, has been extended to 2026, which will be the centennial year for the series.
• “Our institutional relationship with Notre Dame goes back decades,” said Gladchuk. “Along with the vast mutual respect we share as two of the finest educational institutions in the nation, that same dimension of appreciation is evident on the football field. Continuing this traditional and classic rivalry for years to come has always been a priority for both schools. I am grateful to Jack and his staff for working with us to ensure the continuation of this annual highlight enjoyed by millions of fans during each college football season.”
• The Irish and Mids will meet in South Bend on odd years, while on even years the game will be Navy’s home game, customarily played at regional NFL venues.
• The two schools, which have played every year since 1926, will meet for the 86th time on Sept. 1 at Aviva Stadium in Dublin, Ireland.
Navy Nuggets
• Navy is 2-2 in season openers under head coach Ken Niumatalolo, defeating Towson (41-13 in 2008) and Delaware (40-7 in 2011) and losing to Ohio State (31-27 in 2009) and Maryland (17-14 in 2010). Navy last beat an FBS opponent in the opener in 2007 when Navy won at Temple, 30-19.
• This year’s game marks the first time Navy has opened its season against Notre Dame. The game is traditionally played in late October or early November.
• Five of Navy’s seven losses in 2011 were by a combined total of 11 points. The Mids finished 2-5 in games decided by eight points or less. The five losses by eight points or less were tied for the fifth most in the country. Under head coach Ken Niumatalolo, Navy is 14-13 (.519) in games decided by eight or fewer points.
• Navy finished 2011 ranked No. 1 in the country in fewest penalties per game (2.3) and penalty yards per game (20.0).
• Navy owns a 17-15 (.531) record in games played away from the friendly confines of Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium under Niumatalolo, including a 3-4 (.429) mark in 2011. Meanwhile, the Mids are 15-6 (.714) in home games under Niumatalolo which included a 2-3 (.400) record in 2011.
• In Navy’s five wins last year, it outscored the opposition, 105-31, in the first half, including 43-0 in the first quarter.
• In the Mids’ seven losses last year, they were outscored, 152-66, in the first half, including 59-10 in the first quarter.
• The Mids are 8-9 (.470) under Niumatalolo with more than one week to prepare, including a 4-0 (1.000) mark against Army.
• Navy made 48 trips inside the red zone in its 12 games, scoring 37 times (.771), including 30 touchdowns (.625). The Mids were tied for 88th in the country in red zone offense.
• Navy was held below 300 yards rushing in half of its games last year, winning just one of those games (Army). The Mids were 4-2 (.667) when rushing for more than 300 yards in 2011.
• Navy produced a 5-2 (.714) record in 2011 and is 27-4 (.870) under Niumatalolo when scoring first. The Mids were 0-5 in 2011 and are 5-17 (.227) under Niumatalolo when the opponent scores first.
• The Mids were 5-0 last season when leading after the first quarter and 0-7 when tied or trailing after the first quarter. Under Niumatalolo, the Mids are 21-3 (.875) when leading after the first quarter and 11-18 (.379) when trailing or tied after the first stanza.
• An opposing running back rushed for over 100 yards in a game against the Mids in eight of the 12 contests last year. In the previous three years, Navy surrendered only nine 100-yard rushing games to opposing running backs.
Con_Alma
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Con_Alma
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Thu, Aug 30, 2012 9:24 AM
Aug 30, 2012 9:24 AM
Aug 30, 2012 9:24am
