It is inevitable to work at West Point and overlook the great history of military football.
The Michie Stadium championship ring recognizes great Army teams of the past, including the 1944, 1945 and 1946 national championship teams, and also salutes three Heisman Trophy winners: Glenn Davis, Doc Blanchard and Pete Dawkins .
Jeff Monken, currently the second most successful coach in military program history, doesn’t consider himself a college football historian, but even he realizes the importance of Army’s famous rivalry with Notre Dame, before the 52nd meeting ever.
“I see all the history here,” he said, “and the pictures of the great Army teams of old, playing the great Notre Dame teams of old. It’s pretty iconic, and they played those games at Yankee Stadium and the Polo Grounds – that’s when I think Army was New York’s team, when Army was playing in New York. I mean, the house was packed. and then when Notre Dame came to town…I mean, Notre Dame has fans everywhere No matter where they play…they’re going to draw a crowd and fill the house.
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That’s exactly what metropolitan fans can expect Saturday at Yankee Stadium (NBC, 7 p.m. ET), in the most important Army-Notre Dame matchup in more than half a century. Notre Dame (9-1) is ranked No. 6 in the nation and undefeated Army (9-0) is No. 18, fighting for a spot in the inaugural 12-team College Football Playoff.
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“It’s pretty cool to be a part of a big game like this and the history of it,” Monken said. “But the problem is they’re really good and really talented and they’re going to be really hard to beat. So we’ve got our hands full and we’ll have to do a great job of preparing and then we’ll have to play really, really well.
Monken said he didn’t want to get caught up in the hype, but it would be a challenge to prepare his team to face its toughest opponent of the season.
“Our thoughts are to try to get better at the things we can control, which is blocking and breaking down blocks; it’s about tackling and beating tackles; it’s about taking care of the ball on offense and taking it away; he does a great job covering kicks, playing with a good pad level,” he said. “That’s what I think we need to do to give ourselves a chance.”
“If I tell our guys, ‘This is the biggest game (against Notre Dame) since 1946, I mean, how does that help our team win? Right?’ , asked Monken. “It just puts undue pressure on them.”
Army hasn’t beaten Notre Dame since a 14-2 victory in South Bend, Indiana, on Oct. 11, 1958, the season in which Dawkins won the Heisman. Since then, Notre Dame has rolled 15 consecutive times (11 as a ranked team). THE Fight the Irish beat the Black Knights27-3, at Yankee Stadium in November 2010, and won 44-6, at the Alamodome in San Antonio, Texas, on November 12, 2016, the last time the schools met.
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This article was originally published on Times Herald-Record: Notre Dame Army football will compete at Yankee Stadium
