Navy-Notre Dame opener on track -- for now
Five months from Sunday --- 157 days, to be precise --- Notre Dame is scheduled to open its 2020 football season against Navy in Dublin, Ireland.
For now, despite the fact that this week the International Olympic Committee elected to move the 2020 Tokyo Olympics to summer 2021 due to the global COVID-19 pandemic, the Fighting Irish’s opener against the Midshipmen inside Dublin’s Aviva Stadium remains scheduled as planned.
Earlier this week, amidst chatter of contingency plans, multiple people at Notre Dame indicated that the Irish’s game was still, for now, being treated as planned --- while noting that the contest is technically Navy’s home game, since the Midshipmen last season visited Notre Dame Stadium.
On Wednesday afternoon, a Navy spokesman confirmed to Irish Sports Daily that the game scheduled for a 2 p.m. ET kickoff August 29 and to be televised by ESPN has thus far remained on track.
“As of today (Wednesday) there are no other contingency plans being examined for the Navy-Notre Dame game in Ireland,” he said.
The spokesman also indicated to ISD that as of now no deadline has been established to determine if the game can be played abroad or must be moved back stateside.
“We are monitoring the situation both in the United States and in Ireland, but we have not set any formal deadline to make a decision,” he said.
The contest is one of six games scheduled away from home for the Fighting Irish, coming off an 11-2 season and a preseason top-10 pick in many early college football rankings going into Brian Kelly’s 11th season at the helm. Notre Dame is scheduled to play Navy in Dublin to open its season; contests against Wake Forest (Charlotte, N.C.), Wisconsin (Lambeau Field), Pittsburgh, Georgia Tech and USC also are away from home.
Notre Dame’s first scheduled home game is scheduled for Sept. 12 against SEC resident Arkansas, under the direction of first-year and first-time head coach Sam Pittman.