April 24, 1998

THE GAME: It’s the 69th annual Blue-Gold Game, Notre Dame’s final intrasquad football scrimmage.

THE SITE: Notre Dame Stadium in Notre Dame, Ind. (80,225 capacity). This is the first year the game has been played in the expanded stadium, after construction prompted spring football scrimmages on Moose Krause Field on back-to-back Saturdays in both ’96 and ’97.

THE DATE: 1:30 p.m. EST (CDT), Saturday, April 25, 1998.

THE AUTOGRAPHS: Irish players and coaches will be available at tables in the west Stadium concourse for autographs for 45 minutes after the scrimmage.

THE TICKETS: In advance, $6 for adults and $3 for youths 16 and under. Saturday at the gate, $8 for adults, $6 for youths. Notre Dame and Saint Mary’s students are admitted free of charge with identification.

THE CROWD: Most of the Blue-Gold crowd typically has been of the walk-up variety on gameday. The attendance when the game has been played at Notre Dame Stadium routinely has been at least 20,000 — with highs of 29,451 in ’90 and 27,327 in ’94.

THE PROCEEDS: Sponsoring the game is the Notre Dame Club of St. Joseph Valley, with all proceeds benefiting its scholarship fund.

THE EXPOSURE: WHME-TV (Channel 46) in South Bend will televise the scrimmage on a delayed basis at 4:00 p.m. EST Saturday.

THE FORMAT: The Blue team is comprised of the starting offense and defense. Other elements of the game include:

 12-minute quarters. Quarterbacks are not live. No kickoffs or field goals. Ball will be placed at 35-yard line to begin possessions. PATs will feature Kevin McDonnell kicking, Hunter Smith holding and Dan O'Leary       snapping. Hunter Smith will handle all punts, Dan O'Leary all long snaps -- and Joey Getherall       will fair catch all punts.

THE INJURIES: Expected to miss the April 25 scrimmage are DE Lamont Bryant (out all spring after December knee surgery), TE Dan O’Leary (snaps only; no contact this spring after January shoulder surgery), DE Brad Williams (April 18 surgery to insert pin in broken fifth metatarsal), K Jim Sanson (partially torn quadricep muscle), ILB Ronnie Nicks (neck sprain), SE Raki Nelson (separated shoulder), OT John Wagner (ankle), ILB Hugh Holmes (April 24 arthroscopic surgery on left knee).

THE STANDOUTS: Media will vote on both an outstanding offensive player and an outstanding defensive player, and those selections will be announced at the end of the game.

THE MEDIA PLAN: Bob Davie will be available in the Stadium interview room following the game to answer questions from the media. Players will be available after they’ve finished signing autographs.

THE HALFTIME PLAN: Ceremonies at halftime include introduction of the ’98 captains and winners of the Big Brother Awards, presentation by Chevrolet of player-of-the-game awards to Notre Dame players from the ’97 games, by the Notre Dame Alumni Association of the William Reynolds Award — and by the Notre Dame Club of St. Joseph Valley and the Moose Krause Chapter of the National Football Foundation and Hall of Fame to their scholarship recipients.

THE MEDIA DAY: It’s tentatively set for Wednesday, August 12, 1998.

THE DRAFT: One Notre Dame player was selected in the ’98 National Football League draft last weekend:

    Round   Selection   Name              Team      3        85       CB Allen Rossum   Philadelphia

Free-agent contracts have been signed by OT Mike Doughty (Cincinnati), C Rick Kaczenski (Green Bay) and QB Ron Powlus (Tennessee).

THE CAPTAINS: Named this week as captains for the ’98 Notre Dame football squad were three seniors — ILB Bobbie Howard from Rand, W.Va., OLB Kory Minor from LaVerne, Calif., and OT Mike Rosenthal from Granger, Ind.

THE ’98 KICKOFFS: Here’s the latest on kickoff times for the 1998 season:

September 5      MICHIGAN            2:30 EST on NBCSeptember 12     at Michigan State   8:00 EDT on ABCSeptember 26     PURDUE              1:30 EST on NBCOctober 3        STANFORD            1:30 EST on NBCOctober 10       at Arizona State    TBA (could be 12:30 MST if ABC selects)October 24       ARMY                1:30 EST on NBCOctober 31       BAYLOR              2:30 EST on NBCNovember 7       at Boston College   Noon EST on CBSNovember 14      at Navy             3:30 EST on CBSNovember 21      LSU                 1:30 EST on NBCNovember 28      at USC              5:00 PST on ABC