Notre Dame in New York to face Army
Army (6-4) at Notre Dame (5-5)
When: 6:30 p.m. Saturday at Yankee Stadium
TV: Channel 5; Radio: WLS 890-AM
Series: Notre Dame leads 37-8-4
Coaches: Rich Ellerson (11-11, second year at Army); Brian Kelly (5-5, first year at Notre Dame, 175-62-2 overall)
Army players to watch: Army has taken a page from Navy and adopted the triple-option, which means a wave of runners will pound the Irish. Sophomore Jared Hassin leads the way with 858 yards and 9 TDs. He had a streak of four straight 100-yard games until last week. QB Trent Steelman hit 9 of 10 passes for a season-high 149 yards last week, so the Irish can't sell out against the run completely. Senior DE Josh McNary had 22 sacks in a 19-game stretch, but has gone sackless the last three weeks as he deals with a hamstring injury.
ND players to watch: Freshman QB Tommy Rees enjoyed a terrific first start as he hit 13 of 20 passes for 129 yards and 3 TDs against Utah. RB Cierre Wood (345 yards, 2 TDs; 17 receptions, 2 TDs) has been solid as Armando Allen's replacement. LB Manti Te'o, who's ninth nationally with 109 tackles, leads a defense that held Utah last week to its lowest point total in four years.
The skinny: Just like Northwestern and Illinois are meeting for Wrigley Field's first football game since 1970, the Irish and Cadets are meeting for Yankee Stadium's first football game since, uh, the joint opened last year. This counts as a home game for Notre Dame as part of the Irish Over America tour that began with last year's visit to the Alamodome and includes the 2013 game at the Cowboys' new stadium. This game tests whether Notre Dame's defense learned anything from its 35-17 loss to Navy four weeks ago. Army ranks eighth nationally in rushing (272.8 ypg), but last in passing (81.8 ypg). The Cadets' added twist? Their ability to minimize turnovers. Army ranks fifth nationally with a plus-12 turnover margin. Notre Dame, by contrast, is minus-1 for the year.
Bowl ramifications: The Cadets are bowl-eligible for the first time since 1996 and seem ticketed for, fittingly enough, the Armed Forces Bowl. The Irish need to win Saturday or next week at USC in order to earn its 30th bowl bid.
He said it: Notre Dame LB Manti Te'o comparing and contrasting Army's triple-option with Navy's triple option: “They're two different teams. They do certain things in the same and certain things different. They run hints of a regular conventional offense, so there's counters, there's some passing and stuff. So in that case they have their own kind of breed of option offense.”