NFL
By: Greg Rector
Notre Dame will finally play host to the Navy on August 26th in the annual Shamrock Series game. The previous two times these two schools faced each other in Ireland Notre Dame was considered the visiting team.
This time when these two storied schools face each other at Aviva Stadium in Dublin Ireland this Fighting Irish team will have to prove themselves as a much better squad than last season when they went 9-4. The Fighting Irish must beat up on the Midshipmen the way they did the first two times they the faced Navy in Ireland.
Now don’t get me wrong as a former United States Marine I always cheer for the Naval Academy when they face the Cadets from West Point in their other annual battle. However long before that, I was born a Notre Dame Fighting Irish football fan.
2022 Shamrock Series Game
The Fighting Irish played against BYU and were the victors in the game played last year in Las Vegas. Notre Dame looked decent and the now Las Vegas Raiders TE Michael Mayer scored two TDs for Notre Dame as they handled the Cougars from BYU.
The Battle Versus Navy
As I wrote about last week however I expect this Notre Dame Fighting Irish team to be passing more to their wide receivers considering Sam Hartman is now the quarterback for the Fighting Irish. Along with their new offensive coordinator Gerard Parker. The Midshipmen won’t be playing that same old tired offense we have all known for years and years.
Navy Midshipmen’s defense gave up 4 TDs via the passing game last year as the Fighting Irish needed all of them to beat the Navy Midshipmen 35-32. The game was much closer than many expected because the Fighting Irish defense had a very hard time stopping Navy’s vaunted triple-option ground game. The Midshipmen piled on 255 ground yards against Notre Dame last season and that simply cannot be repeated by the Fighting Irish.
Marcus Freeman
Entering his second season the Irish head coach Marcus Freeman can’t have any weakness showing as Notre Dame has two other weaker opponents before they play Ohio State Buckeyes at home in the fourth game of the season. They simply have to be playing excellent football when the Buckeyes come to Notre Dame Stadium. 
When Notre Dame has played the Naval Academy twice before in Ireland in 1996 and in 2012 they pounded the Midshipmen by scores of 54-27 in 1996 and again by 50-10 in the second visit to Dublin. Marcus Freeman needs to have his team ready to roll against the triple-option offense that the Navy Midshipmen will roll out yet again.
In the Shamrock Series of games, the Notre Dame Fighting Irish have dominated their opponents winning by an average of 23 points a game averaging 36, and giving up just 13 points in these games.
NBC Coverage
This will be the first time that the Notre Dame versus Navy game from Dublin, Ireland will be broadcast by NBC. As a part of the rules between Notre Dame and Navy when the game has been hosted in even-numbered years as the two prior games were, the games have been on ESPN or CBS. Sadly that means I have to put up with Chris Coloscopy’s kid Jac calling the game with Jason Garrett providing the color commentary.
My Prediction
I have Notre Dame winning the season-opening game by a score of 38 to 24 as I still don’t trust this Notre Dame team as far as their offense goes. I need to see the Fighting Irish play down the field instead of using their tight ends and the Navy Midshipmen are awfully tough to stop on the ground.
As always I remain #ProudToBeND
