Dana Fry, Jason Straka to design course alongside Irish beach used in ‘Saving Private Ryan’

Used in the opening battle scenes in Saving Private Ryan, an Irish beach will soon be home to golf and a resort.

The American design team of Dana Fry and Jason Straka is headed to Ireland with plans to lay out a new course adjacent to Curracloe Beach in the southeast of the island.

If the beach looks familiar, you might have seen it on a big screen, as it was used in filming the opening landing scenes for Allied troops in the 1998 blockbuster “Saving Private Ryan.”

Named Curracloe Links, the new layout will be part of Ravenport Resort, which is scheduled to open this spring about a two-hour drive south of Dublin Airport, just north of Wexford. Groundbreaking for the golf course takes place in February with an expected full opening in 2026. The resort will include 50 rooms, a spa and a leisure club near what has been called the best beach in the island nation by the Irish Independent.

“The ancient linksland of Curracloe Links, with its rolling hills, long sea views and rugged natural bunkers, will offer a quintessential Irish golf experience and lure people from all over the world to its fairways,” Straka, past president of the American Society of Golf Course Architects, said in a media release announcing the news.

The planned routing for Curracloe Links in Ireland (Courtesy of Neville Hotel Group)

Straka, who plans to spend considerable time at the site, should be getting used to working near the sea: His recent renovation of Belleair Country Club near Tampa has proved especially popular since it opened in 2023.

Ireland-based Neville Hotel Group is developing the project. It will be Neville’s fifth property, joining Royal Marine Hotel in Dun Laoghaire, Druids Glen Hotel and Golf Resort in County Wicklow, the River Court Hotel in Kilkenny and the Tower Hotel in Waterford.

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What the experts are predicting: Notre Dame vs. Navy

Do you expected the one-sidedness of this rivalry to continue?

Notre Dame is facing longtime rival Navy in Ireland in Week 0 of the 2023 college football season. It only makes sense that we begin our series of football Saturdays with a matchup that goes back nearly a century with only one interruption. The people of the Emerald Isle will see this game on their turf for the third time, so they should know what to expect by now.

Let’s look at what some college football experts are predicting for this game:

Looking back at Notre Dame’s 2012 trip to Ireland

Irish eyes were smiling that day…

With Notre Dame back in Ireland to start the 2023 season we can’t help but look back just over a decade ago when one of the most memorable seasons in recent Fighting Irish history took place.  11 years ago Notre Dame opened what would turn into a 12-0 regular season with a dominating 50-10 victory over Navy in Ireland.

The Irish return to play in front of the Irish (and a ton of Notre Dame fans making the trip abroad) this weekend.  Will it be the first step in another memorable season for Notre Dame?

Enjoy a look back at some of the best photos from Notre Dame’s trip to Ireland back in 2012.

Watch: Notre Dame-Navy hype video

A great hype video just over a week before Notre Dame and Navy start the 2023 season. This will get you ready for the 2023 college season

College football season officially kicks off in just over a week. For Notre Dame fans it’s the Irish traveling to Ireland to take on Navy in the Week 0 battle.

Notre Dame and Navy have a historic rivalry. This will be the 96th edition of the series. It’ll also be the third to be played in Dublin.

Although the two meet annually, the series has hardly been competitive.  Notre Dame holds an 81-13-1 edge all time and won every game in the series from 1962-2006.

Despite the one-sidedness of the affair, Navy nearly completed what would have been an epic comeback in last year’s game. We’re just over a week away from kickoff and JWP Sports has put together a rather outstanding hype video ahead of kickoff. Check it out below.

After watching that it will likely come as a shock to some casual observers to learn that Notre Dame is nearly a three-touchdown favorite.

8 days to go. Almost there!

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USA TODAY calls Scott Frost-led Nebraska an ‘unmitigated disaster’

Some strong comments from the national media!

The criticism is piling up on Scott Frost and Nebraska Football, 24 hours after their 31-28 loss to Northwestern in Dublin, Ireland. USA TODAY has joined in on the criticism as writer Paul Myerberg has compared the current state of the Cornhusker program to a natural disaster.

An oil spill, a bridge collapse, an industrial explosion, that old black-and-white video of two trains colliding — this is what has come to represent what was once one of the proudest programs in the Bowl Subdivision.

Well, at least he didn’t mention the controversy over Scott Frost’s offensive line statement/joke prior to leaving for Dublin.

His comments last week about offensive linemen throwing up “15 to 20” times during practice had to have been met with shrugged shoulders by a disheartened fan base, which must feel the urge to upchuck at least that many times every fall Saturday. 

Oh good, he didn’t forget.

Take a look below as we’ve cultivated other national media opinions about Scott Frost and Nebraska Football.

Husker’s release ‘hype video’ one week from kickoff

Get ready for college football one week from today!

One week from today, the waiting will finally end, and college football will be back in our lives. The season is on the horizon, and the Huskers will start 2022 by facing off in a Week 0 Big Ten Conference game on another continent. Nebraska will play the Northwestern Wildcats in the Aer Lingus College Football Classic in Dublin, Ireland, at Aviva Stadium on Saturday, August 27th.

The Husker will hold one final practice, and head coach Scott Forst will address the media for one last time before the team gets on a plane and heads across the Atlantic on Monday. Nebraska was initially supposed to play in the 2021 version of this game against fellow Big Ten member Illinois, but that trip was canceled due to the COVID pandemic.

With fan anticipation for the upcoming season reaching a fever pitch, the football team’s official Twitter account decided that now would be a good time for a hype video for the one-week countdown. Accordingly, we’ve attached the video below, media coverage of the initial fan arrivals in Dublin, and the general excitement for the upcoming season. If you’re not ready for college football, I promise this video will get you excited.

Stay tuned to Cornhuskers Wire for all the latest Nebraska news.

Husker Offensive Coordinator talks about the Quarterbacks following Thursday’s practice

The new Nebraska playcalling is still getting his unit ready for kickoff in Dublin.

Following Thursday’s practice, Nebraska offensive coordinator Mark Whipple spoke with the media. He started his session talking about the quarterback room’s improvement throughout fall camp, the team’s ball security and work ethic, and the attitude of Casey Thompson and the rest of the QB room.

Whipple is spending his first season in Lincoln have spent the last three seasons at Pittsburgh. His 2021 season was the best of his tenure with the Panthers, which finished eighth in total offense at 487.9 YPG and third in scoring offense at 41.4 PPG. Quarterback Kenny Pickett was the ACC Player of the Year, First-team All-American, and placed third for the Heisman Trophy. He also set the school records for passing yards and touchdowns in a season by throwing for 4,319 yards and 42 touchdowns. Pickett would be taken in the 1st round of the 2022 NFL Draft by the Pittsburgh Steelers.

Wide Receiver Jordan Addison was a Consensus All-American and the Fred Biletnikoff Award as the best receiver in college football. In 2021 he caught 100 passes for 1,593 yards and 17 touchdowns. Addison has since transferred and will spend this season at Southern California.

Whipple will be tasked with working his magic with two new quarterbacks to the Husker roster. Texas transfer Casey Thompson and Florida State transfer Chubba Purdy are the center of the quarterback rooms focus this season. In 12 games at Texas the previous year, Thompson threw for 2,113 yards, 24 TDs, and 9 INTs on 63.2% completion. Purdy appeared in only four games over the last two seasons at FSU.

Below is a look at Whipple’s post-practice comments. Nebraska will kick off the 2022 season on August 27th against the Northwestern Wildcats in Dublin, Ireland.

Frost confirms one serious injury for Huskers heading into final scrimmage

The head coach also announced how many players will make the trip overseas for the season opener.

Nebraska head football coach Scott Frost spoke with the media following the Husker’s practice on Saturday afternoon. The fifth-year headman spoke on various subjects, including travel plans for the Husker’s trip overseas and an updated injury report. On Sunday, Nebraska will hold their final team scrimmage, which Frost says will help finalize the depth chart.

“We’ve got a scrimmage tomorrow. We’re going to kind of decide the format of that. And then we get a day off and we’re pretty much turning our attention to game one. A lot of decisions will be made. Probably have a better idea after tomorrow. We’ll probably have a depth chart.”

He also confirmed that the team has only suffered one serious injury in camp this fall.

“I can announce that we’ve had a lot of little injuries and guys missing a day or two here and there. (Wide receiver) DeColdest (Crawford) will be out for an extended period of time with a knee injury. It was in our last scrimmage and it was the only major injury. Felt terrible for him but he’ll come back strong.”

Frost clarified the team’s plans on how many players will travel to Dublin for the August 27th opener.

“It’s a conference game and we’re subject to the conference number when we’re suiting players up. We’re going to take everyone who was in camp. So 110 to Ireland but some won’t be able to dress.”

Nebraska is scheduled to leave for Dublin, Ireland, on August 22nd. The Huskers kick off the 2022 season when they take on the Northwestern Wildcats at Aviva Stadium on Saturday, August 27th. The start time is 11:30 am CST.

Below is a collection of social media coverage following Saturday’s workout.

 

Ranking Nebraska’s opponents in 2022

What will be Nebraska’s toughest game this season?

There’s been a recent common theme among those who cover the Nebraska Cornhuskers professionally, and that theme is ranking the difficulty of the Husker’s opponents in 2022. You can find 247Sports’ coverage here and the Omaha World-Herald’s coverage here.

Stay tuned to Cornhuskers Wire as we will have all the latest coverage of the opening kickoff in Week 0 all the way to the end of the season at Iowa in November. Nebraska officially kicks off the season on August 27th when they take on the Northwestern Wildcats in Dublin, Ireland. The last time the Huskers played over was in the Coca-Cola Bowl at the Tokyo Dome in Japan in 1992. The Cornhuskers defeated the Kansas State Wildcats by 38-24.

Contact/Follow us @CornhuskersWire on Twitter, and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Nebraska news, notes, and opinion.

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What to know about the Husker’s opener in Dublin, Ireland

The start of the college football season is right around the corner.

We’re just 50 days away from the start of Nebraska’s 2022 college football season. The Huskers will travel across the Atlantic to take on the Northwestern Wildcats in Dublin, Ireland, for the Aer Lingus Classic. According to game organizers in Dublin, about 30,000 tickets have been sold to this point. Nebraska fans have purchased almost 9,000 tickets, while Northwestern supporters have purchased around 3,000. The game committee believes that the stadium should be about 75% filled for the game.

Aviva Stadium is the host of this year’s overseas Big Ten clash. The stadium officially opened in 2010 and cost approximately 410 million euros. The facility’s capacity is 51,700, but for American football, it holds 49,000. It’s also the home of the Ireland National Football (soccer) Team and the Irish Rugby Union Team. This will be the third American Football game played in Aviva Stadium. In 2012 the Notre Dame Fighting Irish defeated the Navy Midshipman, and in 2016 Georgia Tech beat Boston College 17-14. (Yikes!) This won’t be the last game either, as, in 2023, the Fighting Irish and Midshipmen will once again play on the Emerald Isle.