Yankee Stadium was not built for Saturday night. Neither were the Black Knights.
The Notre Dame Fighting Irish matched up bigger, stronger and more talented at nearly every position and looked it, handing Army its first loss of the season, 49-14, and all but shutting the door on the No. 18 Black Knights’ College Football Playoff aspirations.
With pregame and halftime performances from the Notre Dame marching band (seated on the Bleacher Creatures’ benches), a constant stream of university promotional material on the video board, and thousands of fans donning the Irish green, this one felt straight out of South Bend. And for Army, never quite within reach.
The Black Knights (9-1) had found success all season by pounding the ground between the hash marks, churning the clock and dictating the pace of play.
But the Black Knights had not played a football team the caliber of the No. 6 Fighting Irish (10-1) until Saturday.
In the 12th iteration of their home-away-from-home “Shamrock Series,” Notre Dame’s defense was overwhelmingly physical — stacking the box, clogging the middle of the field and holding the nation’s most potent rushing offense to 207 yards, about two-thirds of their season average of 329.
On their first two drives of the contest, Army ran six plays — all on the ground — and collected a total of 10 yards.
Each drive ended with a punt.
The first sailed 49 yards, the second, a harbinger of the woes to come, was blocked deep in Army territory.
Head coach Marcus Freeman’s Fighting Irish, for their part, had no trouble moving the ball downfield.
Notre Dame’s first drive went 68 yards on only five plays and ended with a 28-yard touchdown pass to Jordan Faison from quarterback Riley Leonard.
Their second, set up on Army’s 8-yard-line courtesy of Bryce Young’s punt block — the third kick he’s stumped this season — ended with Leonard’s second passing score of the evening, this time to running back Jeremiyah Love, putting the Fighting Irish up 14-0.
Army was finally able to gain a first down on their third drive — a methodical and grinding 12-play undertaking, all runs, that concluded with quarterback Bryson Daily dashing into the end zone from four yards out.
It was a brief glimmer of hope, set up from two Irish gifts, including an offsides call on a fourth-and-1.
Army’s defense allowed Notre Dame 73 yards downfield on their ensuing drive before stopping the Irish on four consecutive tries from within the five to force a turnover on downs.
But that would be the last high-point of the night for head coach Jeff Monken’s defense, which came in giving up only 10.8 points per game, the second-best mark in the nation.
The Black Knights gave up two more touchdowns in the first half and the game was all but over by the time the teams returned to their locker rooms.
Notre Dame put up another 21 points in the second half, and Leonard finished the game 10 of 13 passing for 148 yards.
Love had three touchdowns, two rushing and one receiving, with the second one a mad dash from 68 yards out.
Daily, who had bruised defenses all year with his blue-collar running, was held to 145 yards on 38 carries and 26 yards through the air.
Kanye Udoh, Army’s leading running back, finished with just 35 yards on 10 carries.
With the loss, Army falls to 8-40-4 all-time against Notre Dame, their last win coming nearly seven decades ago.
The season is far from over for the Black Knights, who face Navy on Dec. 14 and have already secured a spot in the American Athletic Conference Championship Game.
But a win Saturday would’ve been the crowning achievement in a historic season few could have foretold.
