Notre Dame Prepares For First Road Trip
The last time a Notre Dame football team had its first road game this late in the season (Oct. 24) was 80 years ago, when Elmer Layden was in his final season as the head coach before opting to become the NFL commissioner. Back then, though, the season didn’t begin until Oct. 5, and the first road outing wasn’t until Oct. 26.
This year with the COVID-19 pandemic wreaking havoc on normal day-to-day structure, the game at Pitt (3-3 overall, 2-3 ACC) comes one month later than what was supposed to be the road opener at Wake Forest Sept. 26 (postponed until Dec. 12).
Yet, head coach Brian Kelly and Co. still plan to treat it almost like the first four games this season for the No. 3-ranked Fighting Irish, all at home.
“We’re going to do virtually all the things that we do on a Friday at home,” Kelly said. “All of our meetings, all of our practice … we will treat Friday on the road just like it’s Friday here at Notre Dame Stadium.”
This specifically includes eating the Friday dinner downtown with plenty of spacing between tables, and not having any food on the plane when they board right afterwards.
“That is an area that the CDC [Center for Disease Control] is asking us to be cognizant of as well,” Kelly said of the meal situation, which was cited as a major issue on why the Wake Forest game was postponed because of a spike in cases on the Fighting Irish football team traced to a team meal.
The second step is to limit the hotel stay in Pittsburgh as much as possible after arriving Friday night sometime around 8:30-8:45 p.m. From there, it’s a quick snack, sleep, and the breakfast will be only to-go, not together, prior to having group and team meetings with the coaches.
With the game scheduled to be telecast by ABC at 3:30 p.m. ET, the team will then board the buses and have their pregame meal at Heinz Field before walking down to the locker room to dress for the contest.
Following the game, the traveling group will have one more meal up in the concourse of the stadium, board the plane and return home.
“Very little contact with the hotel, very little contact in those kinds of situations, kind of creating an atmosphere where we feel like we can control it the best that we can,” Kelly summarized.
Dealing with the unknown always creates some unease, but Kelly emphasized that the student-athletes have been exceptional overall at following the expectations and protocols laid out for them ever since returning to campus in June.
“Similar to what was new for them here on campus when we made some changes two weeks ago, they will have to follow them the same way,” Kelly said. “They’ve adapted well. Emotionally, their ability to adapt has been great. I think they’ll do the same thing.
“Our support staff has been fabulous in really looking at everything in terms of how we can do this, minimizing the risk. Many teams have been on the road and have come out of it quite well. We expect to do the same.”
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