Tag: notre dame navy

Notre Dame football news: Avery Davis injury update

Fingers crossed but nothing is sounding good about this for Davis…

Notre Dame senior wide receiver and captain Avery Davis left the game in the fourth quarter Saturday after suffering a knee injury.  NBC Sports reported that Davis was out for the remainder of the contest and that he had a bag of ice on his knee on the sideline.

It seemed that the worst was feared in terms of the knee and despite there being no official news after Notre Dame’s victory, Brian Kelly didn’t exactly sound optimistic when discussing it, either.

“It’s a knee injury. Our doctors aren’t certain until we get an MRI. So, we’ll get an MRI and then we’ll know for sure.”

-Brian Kelly on Avery Davis injury (11-6-2021)

Kelly didn’t confirm anything other than it being a knee but him being willing to put MRI out there likely doesn’t spell good news for Davis or Notre Dame.  If Davis is to miss the remainder of the year Notre Dame will have just five healthy scholarship wide receivers on the roster, three of which are freshman.

Keep it locked into Fighting Irish Wire for anything that develops with Davis and the latest news in regards to Notre Dame football.

Next:  More Notre Dame-Navy Coverage from Fighting Irish Wire

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Capital Gazette Laments Temporary Loss of Notre Dame-Navy Game

Under any other circumstance, there would be widespread outrage over Notre Dame and Navy not playing each other during the season.

Under any other circumstance, there would be widespread outrage over Notre Dame and Navy not playing each other during the season. But COVID-19 has proved to be the one circumstance that there isn’t. Most people understand that concessions have to be made if college football goes on as scheduled. After all, everything else has been affected.

However, that hasn’t stopped the Capital Gazette in Annapolis, Maryland, from saying something about it. On Sunday, the newspaper’s editorial board published a piece about the cancelation of this year’s game. It talks about how different the college football landscape is today compared to when the Notre Dame-Navy rivalry began. The piece’s main gripe is with the ACC, which it says forced the Irish to pick revenue over loyalty to the rivalry by mandating its teams to play its one allotted nonconference game in its home state.

With growing pessimism that college football takes place this fall, opinions like this might be moot pretty soon. Still, the things Notre Dame has had to sacrifice for the season like its independence and all of its annual rivalry games reflect the times we’re living in. We all want everything to go back to normal as quickly as possible. Until then, we’ll have to accept that this is how it has to be without anything to combat the virus besides face masks and social distancing.

Navy finds Notre Dame’s ’20 replacement, yet extends Notre Dame series

Notre Dame and Navy won’t be playing for the first time in almost a century. So who did the Midshipmen replace the Irish with this year?

For the first time since 1926, Notre Dame and Navy won’t be meeting up in football this fall.  I discussed this and how it will just be weird and I won’t like the game not taking place this year, even if it is about as non-traditional as a rivalry can be.

The Naval Academy was probably aware how difficult it would be to pull off the necessary changes in order to pull off the game after the ACC’s requirement of only one non-conference game that had to be played in the ACC team’s home state.  That eliminated Notre Dame from being able to travel to Annapolis for the first time in the history of the series and sadly meant there wouldn’t be a Notre Dame/Navy match-up in 2020.

Notre Dame instead plays Western Michigan as their only non-ACC game and it didn’t take long for Navy to find a replacement in independent BYU, who will now travel to Annapolis on September 7.

Related:  Predicting Notre Dame’s Game-by-Game Results for 2020

Navy also announced an extension to the Notre Dame series that will run through 2032.

Assuming 2020 is the only year that Notre Dame and Navy are unable to play, they will have played in 105 of 106 seasons after the contract runs out in 2032.

Another Conference Cancels Fall Sports for 2020

It was the Ivy League last week and today it’s another conference that is cancelling all fall sports in 2020.

Last week saw big news on the college sports landscape as the Big Ten and Pac-12 announced plans to only play conference games during the fall sports season this year while the Ivy League took things a step further, cancelling all fall sports.

Now the Ivy League has company as another collegiate conference is axing all fall sports.

The Patriot League that consists of American University, Bucknell, Boston University, Holy Cross, Colgate, Lafayette, Lehigh, Loyola (Maryland), Army and Navy, announced Monday that they have cancelled all fall sports for 2020.

The league added that both Army and Navy are exempt from the cancellations.

Army plays football as a Division 1 independent while Navy plays football in the American Athletic Conference.

For now, Notre Dame is still scheduled to play Navy on Labor Day weekend but I feel safe in saying that is looking murky at very best, much like college football in general for 2020.

89 Days Until Notre Dame Football

In 89 days we get Notre Dame football back. How are we counting down today? Check it out now!

In 89 days we’ll gladly all welcome Notre Dame football back when they take on the Navy Midshipmen in Annapolis.  In the meantime, we have rosters to break down, opponents to preview and position battles to discuss.

All of that will come in short order.  In the meantime, let’s spend today’s part of the countdown remembering a key play that kept BCS game dreams alive in 1998.

89:  Yards on Bobbie Howard’s interception return for a touchdown that helped Notre Dame past LSU in 1998.

Watch it below…

[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nhuaa3ZyN1M&w=560&h=315]

89 days.

Let’s go!

Related: Way Too Early Game-By-Game Predictions for 2020 Notre Dame Football

93 Days Until Notre Dame Football Returns

In 93 days we will get Notre Dame football back. In the meantime, see what great play in Notre Dame history we look back on today!

Here come the Irish!

Well, in 93 days, anyway as that’s when Notre Dame and Navy are now slated to kickoff the 2020 college football season in Annapolis.

Yesterday we counted down 94 days with a look back at the Notre Dame vs. Navy series over the years.  Today at 93, we remember a highlight from an all-time game that ended in heartbreak for the Fighting Irish.

93:  Length of CJ Sanders kickoff return for a touchdown against Stanford in the classic 2015 contest

Watch it below:

[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PQG_HdSgVRE&w=560&h=315]

Great game.

Except the last 30 seconds.

Enjoy your Thursday.

Related: Way Too Early Game-By-Game Predictions for 2020 Notre Dame Football

 

Countdown to Notre Dame Football: 94 Days

In 94 days we’ll again see Notre Dame football on the field as the 2020 season will open. Find out today’s ND Football fact about 94 now!

Welcome back my friends to the show that never ends.  Notre Dame is set to open their 2020 football season now on Labor Day weekend at Navy as the Irish will play in Annapolis for the first time in the series that’s seen 93 meetings to date.

Yesterday we got news of the game being pushed back a week and moved from Ireland to Annapolis so we moved the counter back up to 95 as we count down the days to the Saturday of Labor Day weekend.

Today we move back down to 94, a number we discussed a week ago as we remembered former star defensive lineman Willie Fry.

Today we look at another 94 in regards to the history of Notre Dame football and it has an obvious link to the 2020 season opener.

94:  This year will be the 94th meeting all-time in the series between Notre Dame and Navy.

As you’re most definitely aware, Notre Dame has dominated this series for the better part of a century, leading all-time against Navy with a 79-13-1 mark to date.

Some quick facts about the Notre Dame/Navy series:

  • Having been played every year since 1927, Notre Dame and Navy is the longest uninterrupted inter-sectional rivalry going in college football.
  • The series has been played in 11 different cities:  Baltimore, South Bend, Chicago, Cleveland, Philadelphia, East Rutherford, Dublin, Landover, Orlando, Jacksonville and San Diego.
  • Notre Dame won 43 straight in the rivalry from 1964-2006, a streak that started with the Irish beating the reigning Heisman Trophy winner Roger Staubach and the Midshipmen, 40-0 in Philadelphia.
  • Navy’s four wins in the series from 2007 to 2016 match the amount of wins they had against Notre Dame from 1957-2006.
  • Why keep playing such a one-sided rivalry?  As fans of both programs are likely aware, Navy using Notre Dame as a training center for V-12 candidates during WWII, paying the University enough in that time to keep the doors open.

Fans at Notre Dame/Navy This Year?

Notre Dame and Navy have changed their season opening venue to Annapolis. Navy AD shared thoughts on if there will be fans in attendance

Notre Dame and Navy have been playing each other 93 straight seasons with episode 94 now coming Labor Day weekend.  As announced earlier, that game will take place on Navy’s actual home turf for the first time in the history of the rivalry.

If you’re like me at all you have an interest college football road trips and want to experience as many of the unique venues as you can.  For me Navy is high on that list and Notre Dame now playing there makes it that much more compelling for me to try and get to.

But before I or we can go, do we know if there will be fans allowed in the stands?

Navy athletic director Chet Gladchuk was on the ABC News affiliate in Washington, DC on Tuesday and discussed exactly that.

On a visit with the Baltimore ABC station he shared a little more information on the Labor Day weekend affair.

So a limited crowd is what it appears to be.  Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium seats roughly 38,000 people and the pandemic means for this possibility.  If Navy goes the route that Iowa State did just over a week ago it’d mean that roughly half of that would be allowed in attendance, 19,000 in this case.

Let’s hope that Gladchuk is right (since he wasn’t for much of the spring) and that fans are in the stands.  Even if it’s just at half or a quarter capacity, it’d still mean for a memorable experience for those able to go because like he said, it won’t be happening again.

100 Days Until Notre Dame Football (We Hope)

The countdown to Notre Dame football returning is on. Join us as we celebrating being within 100 days of Irish football returning! (we hope)

The countdown is on!

100 days from now (we hope) Notre Dame will return to the football field for Season 133 when the Irish take on Navy in a Week Zero affair.  Will the game be played as scheduled?  I’m guessing not in Ireland but perhaps with the way the news has gone this week we’ll see it get underway on time.

Each day from now until Notre Dame kicks off the year we’ll count down the days with the number and why it’s significant in the history of Notre Dame football.

Now we could take the easy route and start with perhaps the most-known 100 in Notre Dame football, that being Lou Holtz’s career win total as the Irish head coach.  Instead, we’ll go a little more obscure but still plenty impressive with our first entry.

100:  Michael Floyd’s total receptions during the 2011 season, the most ever by a Notre Dame player in a single season.  

Golden Tate’s 93 receptions in his Biletnikoff Award winning season of 2009 are the second most while Floyd’s 79 in 2010 and Jeff Samardzija’s 78 and 77 receptions in 2006 and 2005 round out Notre Dame’s single-season top-five.

100 days to go!!!

We really, really hope.

Brian Kelly gives update on all things Notre Dame football

Notre Dame head football coach Brian Kelly joined Rich Eisen on Wednesday and updated the world on everything going on in regards to Notre Dame football.

Brian Kelly has been coaching football for over 30 years and hasn’t experienced anything quite like what he’s dealing with as a coach right now.  Kelly joined “The Rich Eisen Show” on Wednesday and updated the world on pretty much everything in regards to Notre Dame football in 2020.

Why is he optimistic that Notre Dame will have a football season in 2020?

“Because I think our university wants to have one,” Kelly said.  He wouldn’t speak for university administration but also offered “if there are students on our campus, we’re playing football!”

On playing Navy on August 29th in Dublin, Ireland:

“Navy is gonna be a game, whether it’s played in Ireland or Bethesda.  I think we’re going to play. I don’t have definitive, 100%, but obviously things are trending that way, we’re moving in that direction, we want to play in the fall…at the end of the day those decisions are going to be made by our president and board of trustees, not the football coach at Notre Dame, so let’s get that straight.

So FedEx Field just outside of Washington, DC I assume he means?  That’s fine, although playing in Annapolis would be a lot cooler.

On how Notre Dame plans to handle social distancing with the football team:

“As we’re planning on no salad bars and spacing in the locker room and the weight room and some of these really important issues so you can in fact avoid a hot spot or the potential of what the worst case scenario could be, you start and then you have to shut down“

On what the players most want to know:

“The players just want to know dates and times. They want to be in the position where they can put on the calendar.  The problem is we can’t give them that because everything is staged in terms of the states and universities. They want to wait as long as they can because they want to get better testing, they want to get better tracing, they want to get where are we going to quarantine and and those things take more time.”

On uniqueness of getting players back on campus:

“It gets to the point where I know it’s frustrating for them, but they know that we’re doing all the planning necessary, because here’s where it’s a little different than year’s past.”

“We have to over-communicate with the parents. If it’s my kid I’m not putting him on a plane to South Bend.  I better know exactly what’s in place for my son when he gets there that he’s not going to get sick.”

You can watch the entire interview, complete with a Brian Kelly head-shot from probably 2011, below.

[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eCFLmqjL0Ks&w=560&h=315]