DAILY DOMER: HI, NOON!

Good morning from the M&T Bank Stadium in Baltimore. Noon time start here for the Navy game and you will not find a single person in the press box who is not fired up about that. Okay, maybe one or two of the writers under age 30 who stayed out late last night are unhappy. But I'm not expecting to see them before 11:30 a.m.

Five facts about the Irish and Navy:

1) Notre Dame has never had to punt against Navy since Charlie Weis has been coaching. You wonder if Eric Maust brought along some homework.

2) Armando Allen had nine catches last week at Boston College. That's a record for an Irish running back in one game, and it's also an indicator of how defenses have decided to allow the underneath stuff as long as Michael Floyd and Golden Tate Warrior don't beat them deep. Judging from Notre Dame's point total last Saturday, it's a shrewd strategy.

3) Golden Tate Warrior has eight catches of 30-plus yards this season, which ties Jeff Samardzija's 2006 total. The Irish had four such catches as a team all of last season.

4) Jarod Bryant, the Navy QB, is the 4th backup quarterback the Irish have faced in the past five games. Right now the Irish are 1-2 versus those backups. Oh, and Syracuse QB Cameron Dantley (yes, Adrian's son) got hurt last week. Don't yet know if he'll be healthy for next Saturday's titanic struggle.

5) Tim Prister of Irish Illustrated has a good piece on how Charlie Weis is dealing with this week's criticism in the media--namely, by ignoring it.

As I type this, Notre Dame is warming up, doing calisthenics. As they do so, Navy's injured starting quarterback, Kaipo-Noa Kaheaku-Enhada, is running out onto the field to shaked Charlie Weis's hand. The two are talking amiably.

 "Hey, Coach, sorry we had to end that losing streak and put additional heat on you last year."

"Don't sweat it, kid."