The following is a release courtesy Notre Dame athletics:
NOTRE DAME, Ind. – Notre Dame and Maryland will face each other on the
football field for only the second time in history on Nov. 12, 2011, when
the Fighting Irish and Terrapins meet at 91,704-seat FedExField in Landover,
Md.
The game will be the third of a series of “off-site” home football games for
Notre Dame in which the Irish are taking games that could be played at Notre
Dame Stadium and moving them to venues around the country. The first of
those was played Oct. 31, 2009, when Notre Dame and Washington State met at
the Alamodome in San Antonio, Texas.
The second will be played Nov. 20,
2010, at Yankee Stadium in the Bronx, N.Y., between Notre Dame and Army.
Notre Dame and Arizona State are slated to meet in 2013 at the Dallas Cowboys' new stadium in Arlington, Texas.
NBC Sports is expected to televise the Notre Dame-Maryland game on a
national basis in prime time.
“As we have looked to move one game a season around the country, playing in
the Washington, D.C., area seemed a natural for us in terms of institutional
fit,” said Notre Dame athletics director Jack Swarbrick.
“The size of the FedExField facility alone will provide great access to
tickets for fans of both Notre Dame and Maryland ¬ and the opportunity to
spend a weekend in our nation¹s capitol should be a tremendous attraction.”
“It is a privilege for FedExField to host of one of the most storied
programs in college football history and match it against a university with
a strong and successful local following,” Washington Redskins chief
marketing officer Mitch Gershman said. “This game will be an exciting event
for our region as all eyes will be on FedExField.”
Notre Dame expects to make tickets available to its contributing alumni and
fans through its alumni lottery as it does with all other football games.
Notre Dame’s only previous meeting with Maryland came in a 20-0 Irish
victory over the 21st-rated Terps on Aug. 31, 2002, at Giants Stadium in the
Kickoff Classic. That game marked the first of the Tyrone Willingham era at
Notre Dame.
Notre Dame previously played once at what was then known as Jack Kent Cooke
Stadium in defeating Navy 30-0 on Nov. 14, 1998.