Notre Dame and Army meet at Yankee Stadium under historic circumstances 

Their names are synonymous with college football’s romanticized, halcyon era. Two of the sport’s undisputed powers when images–still and moving–were shot in black-and-white. Back when feats of athletic excellence were chronicled in newspapers, radio broadcasts and film reels instead of being instantly clipped and turned into GIFs shared on the internet in roughly the same amount of time it takes to read this sentence.

Army. Notre Dame.

The two historically significant programs are coming together at Yankee Stadium Saturday night in the first truly meaningful game between the teams in decades, a long post-pattern from the hallowed ground where their ancestors collided long ago.

“It’s an honor,” Notre Dame coach Marcus Freeman said near the end of his media availability Monday. “When [since-retired athletic director] Jack Swarbrick told me this was going to be our Shamrock Series game for this year, the first thought was, ‘Navy and Army in the same year? Come on, Jack.’ Then he told me why.”

The why is that the game is also the centennial celebration of Notre Dame’s 13-7 win over Army at the Polo Grounds, which was immortalized thusly by Grantland Rice of the-then New York Herald Tribune on October 18, 1924:

“Outlined against a blue, gray October sky the Four Horsemen rode again. In dramatic lore they are known as famine, pestilence, destruction and death. These are only aliases. Their real names are: [Harry] Stuhldreher, [Don] Miller, [Jim] Crowley and [Elmer] Layden. They formed the crest of the South Bend cyclone before which another fighting Army team was swept over the precipice at the Polo Grounds this afternoon as 55,000 spectators peered down upon the bewildering panorama spread out upon the green plain below.”

The Irish would go on to finish that season with a 10-0 record and win the first of their record 11 National Championships. Army ended its campaign with a 5-1-2 mark.

Yes, you could say it was an important contest. So, too, will be the one their descendants play. Both teams enter the game ranked in the Associated Press poll for the first time since 1958. Army (9-0) is No. 18, while Notre Dame (9-1) is ranked No. 6.

“For our players, the first time they ever put shoulder pads on and decided they were going to play football I think they likely hoped they would have an opportunity to play in a game like this, in this kind of venue against one of the blue blood football programs in the country,” Army coach Jeff Monken said during his weekly Zoom availability Tuesday. “It is exciting.”

For many reasons, not the least of which is that the Black Knights have an opportunity to do something for the first time in 66 years: Beat Notre Dame.

Army’s last win over the Irish came on October 11, 1958 in South Bend, a 14-2 victory. Since that game, Notre Dame has won 15 straight and has an all-time record of 39-8-4 against the Black Knights.

“There’s a great history to this game,” Monken deadpanned. “The history belongs to Notre Dame. They’ve won most of them.”

Yet, Monken and Freeman both stressed the 2024 iteration of the Black Knights is not a fluke. Army is averaging 35.2 points and 419.9 yards of offense, while holding opponents to 10.3 points - tied for tops in the nation with Ohio State -  and 273.9 yards.

“This is a good–really good–football team,” Freeman said. “They play hard. They take care of the football. They keep the ball away from you. They take the ball from you.”

He might as well have been talking about his team. Notre Dame is outscoring opponents by an average of 26.6 points per game (38.0 versus 11.4) while having a 138.6 offensive yards gained advantage (415.7 versus 277.1).

All of which Monken is well aware.

“My mentor and former head coach Paul Johnson always said, ‘They got 22 Parade All-Americans,’” the Army coach said. “We got 22 guys who marched in a parade.”