April 22, 1999
THE GAME: It’s the 70th annual Blue-Gold Game, Notre Dame’s final intrasquad football scrimmage.
THE SITE: Notre Dame Stadium in Notre Dame, Ind. (80,012 capacity). This is the second 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 24, 1999.
THE AUTOGRAPHS: Irish players and coaches will be on the field for autographs for 30 minutes after the scrimmage. Players will be divided by position, with signs marking the various position areas. Fans are asked to remain in the stands until the session begins.
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. Last year’s game drew 21,051 fans.
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 11:00 p.m. EST Saturday. The game also will be distributed via satellite from 1:30-3:30 p.m. EST (CDT) on Saturday, May 1, on Galaxy 6 (transponder 15).
THE INJURIES: Expected to miss the April 24 scrimmage are offensive tackle Casey Robin (knee) and defensive end Jason Ching (dislocated thumb).
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 and players will be available in the Stadium interview room following the autograph session to answer questions from the media.
THE HALFTIME PLAN: Ceremonies at halftime include introduction of the ’99 captains and winner of the Big Brother Award, presentation by Chevrolet of player-of-the-game awards to Notre Dame players from the ’98 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 Saturday, August 17, 1999.
THE DRAFT: Seven Notre Dame player were selected in the ’99 National Football League draft last weekend:
Round Selection Name Team1 19 OT Luke Petitgout New York Giants5 143 OG Jerry Wisne Chicago5 149 OT Mike Rosenthal New York Giants5 166 SE Malcolm Johnson Pittsburgh7 210 P Hunter Smith Indianapolis7 233 TB Autry Denson Tampa Bay7 234 LB Kory Minor San Francisco
Free-agent contracts have been signed by ILB Bobbie Howard (Tampa Bay) and FB Jamie Spencer (Philadelphia).
THE ’99 KICKOFFS: Here’s the latest on kickoff times for the 1999 season:
August 28 KANSAS (Eddie Robinson Classic) 2:30 EST on NBCSeptember 4 at Michigan TBASeptember 11 at Purdue TBASeptember 18 MICHIGAN STATE 1:30 EST on NBCOctober 2 OKLAHOMA 1:30 EST on NBCOctober 9 ARIZONA STATE 1:30 EST on NBCOctober 16 USC 1:30 EST on NBCOctober 30 NAVY 1:30 EST on NBCNovember 6 at Tennessee TBANovember 13 at Pittsburgh 3:30 EST on CBSNovember 20 BOSTON COLLEGE 1:30 EST on NBCNovember 27 at Stanford TBA