GAME PREVIEW: NAVY
BY LOU SOMOGYI
SANDWICH SPECIAL
For the fourth consecutive Octo-
ber, Notre Dame's football team has
the ultimate sandwich special on its
schedule.
That is defined as the game that falls
in between two high-profile programs
where the publicity and emotional lev-
els are expected to be at a peak. Con-
sequently, beyond the law of gravity,
what goes up must eventually come
down.
• In 2012 during its march to a 12-0
regular season, Notre Dame hosted
No. 17 Stanford, winners of three
straight against the Irish, Oct. 13 be-
fore traveling to No. 8 Oklahoma,
which had a 79-4 record at home un-
der head coach Bob Stoops, Oct. 27.
Easy to overlook in between was an
Oct. 20 visit from BYU, which would
finish the regular season 7-5.
Notre Dame had to rally from a 14-7
second-half deficit and see the Cougars
miss on a couple of big-play opportuni-
ties to eke out a 17-14 victory.
• In 2013, Notre Dame hosted No. 14
Oklahoma the final weekend of Sep-
tember and then welcomed archrival
USC — which had a five-game win-
ning streak in Notre Dame Stadium
— in mid-October.
In between was the Shamrock Series
matchup with Arizona State, a top-25
program that was relatively overshad-
owed. The Sun Devils knotted the
score at 27 in the fourth quarter before
eventually falling 37-34.
• Last year, Notre Dame hosted
Stanford Oct. 4 and then had the
much-anticipated showdown at No. 2
and defending national champion
Florida State Oct. 18.
Before one knew it in the in-between
contest Oct. 11, the easily overshad-
owed North Carolina Tar Heels took
a 14-0 lead at Notre Dame Stadium
just more than six minutes into the
toP StorylineS
Navy head coach Ken Niumatalolo's upset‑minded
team could be catching the Fighting Irish at just
the right time, between big games against Clemson
and USC.
PHOTO COURTESY NAVY
