Notre Dame and Navy will not open the season in Dublin, Ireland.
The Fighting Irish and Midshipmen were scheduled to open the season on Aug. 29 at Aviva Stadium in Dublin. According to a release from Navy, the academy had "extensive consultation with the Irish government, medical authorities and the leadership" amid concerns about the COVID-19 outbreak in both countries.
The good news? According to The Capital Gazette, Notre Dame will come to Annapolis, Md., for the first time to play Navy, likely on Labor Day weekend. That would mark a new chapter in one of college football’s oldest series. Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium is a 34,000-seat stadium.
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Sporting News ranked the Navy-Notre Dame game as the ninth-best September nonconference matchup this season.
Notre Dame and Navy have played every year since 1927. The Midshipmen’s "home” games are typically played in larger stadiums. Notre Dame and Navy played in Landover, Md. (2014), Jacksonville, Fla. (2016) and San Diego (2018) in recent seasons. The Irish and Midshipmen previously played in Dublin in 1996 and 2012.
The Irish lead the series with Navy 77-13-1 and have won five of the last six meetings.
