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Stadium:
Notre Dame Stadium
Notre Dame Stadium, maybe the most renowned college football facility in the nation, now qualifies as one of the most up to date as well, thanks to a major addition and renovations that boosted its capacity to more than 80,000 beginning with the 1997 campaign. The '96 campaign proved to be the final one in which the customary 59,075 fans gathered for Irish home games. Nearly two years worth of additions and improvements to the yellow-bricked arena were part of a $50 million expansion project that added more than 21,000 seats beginning with the '97 season. The current capacity of Notre Dame Stadium is 80,795, a figure that was modified in 2001 from 80,232. In 1997, the figure was 80,225 which was based on computerized seating projections made prior to the completion of the construction of the new seating area. Notre Dame's football team completed its '95 home schedule Nov. 4 against Navy - and by the following Monday groundbreaking ceremonies had been held and work had begun on the 21-month construction project that was completed Aug. 1, 1997.

Seating Chart:
Notre Dame Stadium Seating Chart

Team Schedule:
Sep 1 Georgia Tech 3:30pm
Sep 8 @Penn St. 6:00pm
Sep 15 @Michigan 3:30pm
Sep 22 Michigan St. 3:30pm
Sep 29 @Purdue TBA
Oct 6 @UCLA 8:00pm
Oct 13 Boston College 3:30pm
Oct 20 Southern Cal. 3:30pm
Nov 3 Navy 2:30pm
Nov 10 Air Force 2:30pm
Nov 17 Duke 2:30pm
Nov 24 @Stanford 3:30pm

Season Preview:
Notre Dame can't be expected to get to the BCS again this season. A big wave of Tyrone Willingham's best recruits are gone, and many of Charlie Weis' talented prospects are still pups. The future is bright, and the Irish are bowl-worthy, but this figures to be the lull before expectations are elevated again. There will be nothing fundamentally different about Weis' offense schematically, but the emphasis should be more on the running game and the use of all-star TE John Carlson. The quarterback and the starting wide receivers are new, so the running game likely will serve as the lead element this season. Going to a 3-4 look this season, the Irish need to become more dynamic and athletic, which will be hard to do with DE Victor Abiamiri and DT Derek Landri gone. They accounted for much of the Notre Dame pass rush with 17 1/2 sacks last season. Tom Zbikowski is back at safety and Maurice Crum (four sacks last season) a veteran who needs to have a big year while young guys, such as corner Darrin Walls, continue to develop. Other young guys to watch: sophomore OLB Morrice Richardson, who could ad some pass-rushing punch, and NG Chris Stewart. The Irish are set at punter with Geoff Price, who averaged 45.4 yards per attempt last season. The kicking situation isn't as bright, with Carl Gioia returning after making 8 of 13 attempts. He did not make a kick of longer than 40 yards. Zbikowski is a home-run threat on punt returns, and David Grimes averaged 24.5 yards on his kick returns last year.

Official Site:
und.cstv.com