NCAA Football History in Ireland

Saturday' game between Florida State and Georgia Tech will mark the ninth time that two schools from the US have competed in Ireland.

The first occasion was in 1988 when Boston College beat Army. A year later, Pittsburgh topped Rutgers. Both of these games were played on the Landsdowne Road venue and were known as the Emerald Isle Classic .

In 1996 , Notre Dame won over Navy at Croke Park. The same two schools met again in 2012 – with the same outcome--at Aviva Stadium.

In 2014, back at Croke Park, Penn State edged out the University of Central Florida.

In 2016, Georgia Tech, under Paul Johnson, beat Boston College at Aviva. In 2022 Northwestern whipped Nebraska. Last year, it was Notre Dame again topping Navy. Each of those most recent three games was played at Aviva.

The game seems to fit well as an early season event, perhaps even "Week O" as it is this year. The fans and players alike can aim for it all through the off season, and with the travel and the hoopla– not to mention the fantastic national/ international exposure, the contesr takes on the feel of a preseason bowl game.

Throw in an actual conference rivalry with real.potential for season- long implications riding on the outcome, and you have the makings of a true classic.

Part of the purpose of this game is to grow football fandom . The game that Irish call football is actually Gaelic football which bears only mild resemblance to our college football . Even so, the numbers of local fans can grow if the American college version of football proves interesting.

With such a sporadic history, it means little to give " all-time" notes on results. But for what's it's worth, Notre Dame leads all time with a 3-0 record. Navy has the resulting mirror image 0-3.

Georgia Tech is at 1-0.Florida State has yet to play. Those last two notes will be different in approximately eight hours from now.

Patrick Conarro

RamblinSports.com