Last February’s announcement that Notre Dame would play Army this season didn’t inspire a ground swell of excitement from Fighting Irish fans. The Black Knights had just finished their second consecutive 6-6 season and even Irish head coach Marcus Freeman, who now calls this week’s meeting an “honor”, had a hard time generating his own enthusiasm for the matchup when then Notre Dame athletic director Jack Swarbrick gave him the news.
“I remember when Jack Swarbrick told me that this was going to be our Shamrock Series game for this year,” Freeman explained. “The first thought was, ‘Navy and Army in the same year? C’mon Jack.’ Then he told me the “why”, and Jack was such an innovative mind. He never wanted to have a Shamrock Series game just to have it. He said what better opportunity than to have a Shamrock Series game in New York City versus Army 100 years later after the Four Horsemen were named. I think it’s a great opportunity.”
Notre Dame’s Four Horsemen took their name from famed sportswriter Grantland Rice after the Fighting Irish knocked off Army 13-7 on Oct. 18, 1924 in the first meeting between the two college football powers in Yankee Stadium (the facility had just been built a year prior)…