Irish ready for Big Apple

Associated Press

SOUTH BEND, Ind.

They’re breaking out the green jerseys, that’s how special Saturday’s game will be for Notre Dame. And appearing in the new Yankee Stadium won’t be all about how snazzy the Fighting Irish might look.

Facing one-time rival Army, the Irish are trying to salvage their season and get to six wins that makes them eligible for a bowl. All under the lights of the big city.

“They know they’re going to New York. I don’t think I’ve ever had more injured guys ask me if they were traveling this week,” coach Brian Kelly said Tuesday.

“They’re all excited about that. The fact of the matter is, they want to play well again. They want to obviously, on the stage, in New York, they understand playing well is the most important thing.”

Notre Dame is coming off its most impressive showing of the season, a 28-3 thumping of Utah in which the Irish shut down a potent offense with a display of power and muscle, while controlling both lines of scrimmage. They won easily, even with freshman quarterback Tommy Rees making his first start and a host of other key players injured.

Now comes the challenge of corralling a triple-option offense for the second time this season. The first opportunity went off about as poorly as possible — Navy rushed for 367 yards, many of them right up the middle, in a 35-17 victory on Oct. 23.

And this time the Irish won’t have nose guard Ian Williams, probably lost for the season with a knee injury.

Army runs a similar offense and its leading rusher is fullback Jared Hassin.

“They do a very good job with the option and they also add some traditional offense,” Kelly said.

After the Navy loss, Notre Dame defensive coordinator Bob Diaco referred to the defeat in which his side of the ball was pretty much run over “an absolute mess.”