Everyone with a watching/working interest in Notre Dame football wants to go back in time for this one. You know, for nostalgia’s sake.
You don’t have to rewind 100 years – when the legend of the Four Horsemen was born in a game against Army West Point at the Polo Grounds – to realize what this game in that stadium means to this program. Six years will do.
In November 2018, a Top 10-ranked Notre Dame team was steamrolling toward a potential College Football Playoff appearance. Another test in the big city needed to be passed.
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In November. In Yankee Stadium. In a Shamrock Series game. Against a ranked opponent from New York State that also happened to be undefeated.
Then, it was No. 12 Syracuse. Notre Dame dismissed the ‘Cuse that day, 36-3. Army West Point (9-0) is the next obstacle that Notre Dame (9-1) must clear on the road to (NIU) redemption.
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The Irish have no time for trips down Memory Lane. To them, that game is ancient history. They want to remember this game on this day for what this team can do this season.
No. 17 ARMY WEST POINT BLACK KNIGHTS (9-0)
QB Bryson Daily (13)
How will a dominant Notre Dame defense deal with the guy they call “Captain America?”
A 6-foot, 221-pound senior from the zero-stoplight town of Abernathy, Texas, some 20 miles north of Lubbock in West Texas, Daily is college football’s feel-good story. There may be nobody tougher at his position, or anywhere else. Daily makes his share of hard runs and takes his share of hard hits but he just keeps playing and producing.
Keeps grinding out yards, first downs, time of possession and, ultimately, touchdowns. Daily enters this one with video-game numbers. Like his 1,062 rush yards and 21 touchdowns. Like his 213.25 yards of offense per game. Daily is the director of an offense that averages 35.2 points, 334.9 rush yards (best in the country) and 6.2 yards per rush. They do it with an average time of possession of 34:52, second in the nation.
Daily and the Black Knights don’t just play ball control. They play keep away. Like the drive they tossed together in the 14-3 win over North Texas – 21 plays, 94 yards and 13:54 of game clock elapsed. Nobody does that in practice let alone a game.
Stop Daily and you stop Army. Trouble is, nobody’s stopped Daily or stopped Army much this season.
ILB Kalib Fortner (53)
It seems a misprint in his bio where the same sentence repeats itself. It gets your attention. Only the names of schools and the numbers of tackles seem to change, which gives you a sign that, no, it’s not a misprint. Maybe the 6-1 (maybe) 220-pound inside linebacker, a native of Knoxville, Tennessee, really is that good.
The lines read like this … “started at inside linebacker against (insert opponent) and had a team-high (insert a number) tackles in Army West Point’s win.” Like the eight tackles against Lehigh or the eight stops against Tulsa, or the 11 at North Texas. Jump to the end of last season when Fortner, a civil engineering major, tallied a team-best 10 stops to earn most valuable player honors against Navy. He also strip-sacked the quarterback and raced 44 yards for a touchdown.
Fortner’s that kind of a force for a defense ranked second in the nation in scoring (10.33 ppg.), third in rush yards allowed per game (82.6), fifth in total defense (273.9) and sixth in turnover margin (1.22). Fortner leads the Black Knights in solo tackles (0 and is second in overall stops. He also has a team-high 7.5 tackles for loss for good measure.
No misprint there. Just a machine.
No. 6 NOTRE DAME FIGHTING IRISH (9-1)
TE Mitchell Evans (88)
We may have been too quick to name Evans as one to watch when he was spotlighted four games ago against Georgia Tech. The 6-5, 260-pound senior from Wadsworth, Ohio wasn’t even a year recovered from a torn anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee, but not a Tuesday media session passed when OC Mike Denbrock wasn’t asked about him. He’s close, Denbrock would reiterate each week. How close? Hard to say. Close.
Looks like Evans has arrived based on his last two weeks. Following two catches (not including a circus grab wiped out by a penalty) against Florida State, he tied his season high for catches with four for 34 yards and a touchdown against Virginia. He had a chance at three scores and led all Irish receivers in targets (seven). Evans has six catches in his last two games and 12 receptions in his last four after 10 catches in his first six.
Evans (22-188-2) has looked and played of late like he was pre-injury – a force in the pass game, a sure-handed option for quarterback Riley Leonard. When he’s on as he’s been of late, he offers the offense another dimension. He needs to be on for Notre Dame to solve a tricky/sneaky good Army defense.
S Adon Shuler (8)
It’s not necessarily a changing of the guard because there’s still important football to be played, but there will soon come a time when veteran Xavier Watts will have patrolled his last patch of green-grass real estate as an Irish safety. His loss will be large, but with Shuler still, with three seasons of eligibility to go, that area is in good hands.
Watts gets most of the attention and deservedly so after stacking another solid season atop one for the ages in 2023 when he snared seven interceptions. Watts has been nearly as good this year, but so has Shuler, who like X just finds ways to make key plays from the back end.
The 6-foot, 200-pound native of Irvington, New Jersey will be amongst family and friends again Saturday, like he was last month across the Hudson in the Meadowlands when Shuler had seven tackles and a fumble recovery in the wipeout of Navy.
Shuler has touched all areas of defense this season, be it his 27 tackles, two tackles for loss, three pass breakups, one fumble return or three picks for 94 yards. It’s all been very Watts-like. Another big game beckons someone who’s often at his best when the lights are bright. Just like Watts.
Follow South Bend Tribune and NDInsider columnist Tom Noie on X (formerly Twitter): @tnoieNDI. Contact Noie at tnoie@sbtinfo.com.
This article originally appeared on South Bend Tribune: Unique NYC venue awaits Notre Dame football game against Army
