SOUTH BEND, Ind. -- The wind is blowing and the sun is out and the mercury is rising at Notre Dame Stadium, where November is apparently the new September. Shouldn't be any elements-related limitations to what Notre Dame or Navy wants to do today.
Actually, there is one eminently understandable limitation: Admiral Mike Mullen, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, was scheduled to attend the Irish-Midshipmen game Saturday and participate in the coin toss. The shootings at Fort Hood, however, derailed those plans.
There will be patriotic touches Saturday nonetheless, as both teams will be on the field for the national anthem, where typically they emerge from the tunnel afterward.
As expected, Irish tailback Armando Allen will not play against Navy due to a lingering ankle injury. As his teammates took the field for stretching in full pads, Allen, the Irish's leading rusher, was in warmup pants earing a ball cap.
In attendance at today's game: Bears director of college scouting Greg Gabriel, along with representatives from the Giants and Colts.
No bowl officials were set to attend Saturday's game, but the Irish's fate is becoming increasingly clear: Win out and qualify for a Bowl Championship Series at-large bid and probably get it... or head to the Gator Bowl.
"We've already got our eye on Notre Dame," Gator Bowl president Rick Catlett told the South Bend Tribune.
High praise from Navy defensive coordinator Buddy Green in the Washington Post, regarding Irish quarterback Jimmy Clausen. Green said Clausen "reminds me of the way (Brett) Favre was playing when he was a senior."
Any precedent is bound to be lopsided in the Notre Dame-Navy series, but anyway there is this Saturday: All-time, when Notre Dame is ranked and Navy is not, the Irish are 41-1 -- those 41 wins being a current streak.
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