Notre Dame and Navy will continue their rivalry Saturday morning in Dublin, Ireland. (Photo: Wikipedia / U.S. Navy photo by Lt. Cmdr. Scott Allen)
The Notre Dame Fighting Irish begin their 2012 season in Ireland against the Navy Midshipmen. The game will be broadcast at 9 a.m. ET Saturday on CBS, and you can also watch a live stream online for free here or here.
For years Notre Dame had dominated this series that first began in 1927. The Fighting Irish won 43 straight games in the series from 1964 to 2006 until a shocking triple-overtime loss in 2007. Since then the series has been more even, with Notre Dame winning in 2007 and 2011 and Navy winning in 2009 and 2010.
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Brian Kelly took over the team after the 2009 season has led the team to an 8-5 record in each of the past two years. This makes him only the third coach in Notre Dame history to lead the Fighting Irish to eight wins in each of his first two years at the school.
Former coach Charlie Weis is also in that category, and Kelly will hope for a stronger third year than the one Weis had. Weis finished 3-9 in his third year at Notre Dame, including the aforementioned triple-overtime loss to Navy.
Kelly will have to do this without two of his key contributors on offense, at least for the first few games. Weis suspended starting quarterback Tommy Rees for the season opener after he was arrested in May outside an off-campus party. Linebacker Carlo Calabrese was also suspended for the Navy game for the same incident.
Rees began the 2010 season as the backup but replaced ineffective starter Dayne Crist at halftime of the season opener against South Florida. Rees then suffered the same fate as Crist in the season finale against Stanford, when Rees was benched in favor of Andrew Hendrix.
Kelly then decided to use a platoon system  with Hendrix and Rees in the Champs Sports Bowl. Neither quarterback was particularly effective, however, and the Fighting Irish lost to Florida State 18-14.
Right now Everett Golson, a sophomore who has no game experience, has been named the starter for just the Navy game. But after Rees' struggles last year, it's possible a strong performance from Golson could make him the starter permanently.
Also absent will be running back Cierre Wood, who was suspended for the first two games of this season for a violation of team rules. Wood rushed for 1102 yards and nine touchdowns last season and is expected to be a major part of the offense going forward. Several players will likely get touches in Wood's place, including running back/wide receiver Theo Riddick.
Navy, meanwhile, is coming off of a 5-7 season that included six straight losses in the middle of the year. Trey Miller takes over as the quarterback after starting just one game last season. That game came against these very Fighting Irish, when Miller stepped in for an injured Kriss Proctor. Miller is now the Navy's full-time starter and will hope to improve on last season's performance against Notre Dame, when he completed just 5/13 passes in a 56-14 Irish win.
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