Notre Dame Using Detailed Plan for Ireland Trip
Notre Dame and Navy will play an international game in Dublin, Ireland as part of the 2023 Aer Lingus College Football Classic this weekend.
It’s an exciting matchup to open the college football season, but it’s also a process.
Navy will have a bye week after the trip, but Notre Dame will jump back into game week, so Marcus Freeman’s plan of action has to be detailed in getting to and from Ireland.
Freeman and his staff did extensive research on how other teams have made international travel work and formulated a very detailed schedule over the next week and a half to give his players the best chance to start the season 2-0.
The change in schedule started this week as Notre Dame adjusted its normal routine to accommodate leaving Wednesday night.
“The schedule for this week, usually Monday’s we are more of a walk-through practice, but being the first week, we’ll go today is like a Tuesday practice,” said Freeman. “(Tuesday) will really be a Thursday practice in our minds in terms of how long we’ll be out there and then Wednesday will be a normal Wednesday practice.”
Freeman keeping Wednesday the same could be key for the Irish as it’s normally the toughest practice of the week. In fact, Freeman might push his team a little bit more this week as he wants them to sleep in the air.
Thursday will be a lighter day as the Irish adjust to the time and Freeman plans to have Friday’s practice be a little more active than a regular week.
“The thought is to truly get after them Wednesday,” stated Freeman. “I want them pretty tired as they get on this flight Wednesday night to fly over to Dublin. We’ll land in Dublin on Thursday morning, go to the hotel, get unpacked and keep our guys up.
“We’ll do some walk-throughs and stuff at the hotel. We’ll go practice Thursday and Friday will be a little bit more intense than Thursday. Thursday, they’ll be pretty jet-lagged, so we have to be smart in terms of our structure once we get there.”
One change from the last time Notre Dame played in Ireland will be staying overnight following the game. The 2012 team flew directly back to South Bend, but Freeman will keep his team in Ireland in hopes of getting back on a regular schedule.
“We’re going to stay the night, get up early in the morning and fly back,” Freeman explained. “I’ve always been told coming West, you should be better because you’re gaining hours. I’m less concerned with the trip back, but everything has been planned out to the minute. What time we’re leaving, when we’re getting back and what we’re doing when we’re back. All those things have been planned to the minute.”
Now, Notre Dame doesn’t necessarily have Ohio State coming to town next week, but the Irish aren’t in a position to take anyone lightly after dropping its home opener to Marshall a year ago.
Freeman understands his team will be impacted by the travel, so adjustments have also been made as Notre Dame will also have its student-athletes in class.
“You have to think about the next week of practice and understand there is still going to be fatigue when you travel from a different country back here to Indiana,” Freeman said. “That has been taken into consideration in terms of the practice schedules for the following week.
“How do we make sure we’re able to get out what we need but take into consideration it will be a full week of school, we played in a different country the previous Saturday and we have to be ready to perform.”
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