:: Notre Dame Football: Irish Game Day ::
Will night-time start undo Southern Cal's traditional effort to play Notre Dame during milder temperatures?
Leprechaun Express: Notre Dame Football Intel Update Oct. 22, 2011
This year's contest between Notre Dame and Southern Cal is the first night game at Notre Dame Stadium since 1990, and, according to Southern Cal, the latest kickoff time ever in the Notre Dame-Southern Cal series.
As a result, despite pleasant weather at Notre Dame, the night-time start could make things a bit chillier for Southern Cal than they are used to. And in the process, it could at least partially thwart the traditional Southern Cal effort to preserve a hothouse climate for their team.
For a number of years, the game always used to be the last game of the year, regardless of location. In fact, a trip to Notre Dame in the late 1950's reportedly was the last time Southern Cal ever played in snow.
In time, however, the arrangement got changed, apparently to accomodate Southern Cal sensibilities and a Trojan taste for milder climates.
Hence began the current arrangement, where the game would be at years-end when played in sunny southern California, but be moved up to mid-season when played at Notre Dame.
Now, truth be known, Notre Dame actually has either warm or fairly mild weather during its football season, the occasional late-season snow flurries notwithstanding. In ther most recent game against Air Force, for example, it was like late-summer weather in mid-October.
And during the day on October 22, the date of the Southern Cal game, Notre Dame weather is sunny and around 60 degrees. But at night, temperatures will eventually drop into the low 40s — a veritable Arctic freeze by southern California standards.
Chances are that the nip in the night air will not impact the play of the team from Los Angeles. And to be fair, Southern Cal did historically, reportedly play in late November at Notre Dame like it was 70 degrees out. And one of Notre Dame's classic wins at the Coliseum was during a monsoon, in which the then-poorly maintained field was reportedly under several inches of standing water.
But perhaps it would still be a good idea to go ahead and make this "Under the Lights at Notre Dame" arrangement a habit for the visiting Trojans ...
Keywords: Notre Dame Football, Notre Dame Fighting Irish Football, College Football, USC, Southern Cal Trojans, Weather
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