POSTED: Wednesday September 2nd 2009
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

NOTRE DAME OPENS ITS SEASON AGAINST NEVADA SATURDAY ON NBC

“Better, more talented, more confident” – NBC’s Haden on Notre Dame

       NEW YORK – Sept. 2, 2009 – Notre Dame opens its 2009 season
hosting Nevada, the first-ever meeting between the two schools,
Saturday, 3:30 p.m. ET on NBC Sports. Tom Hammond (play-by-play) and
Pat Haden (analyst) and Alex Flanagan (sideline reporter) call the
action.



“I anticipate this to be a much different Irish team than we have seen
the past two years—better, more talented, more confident,” said
Haden. “The Irish have not had the depth that they possess this year in
any year I have covered them for NBC.



“While this is a veteran team with 18 starters returning, some freshmen
will make their mark early. Linebacker Manti Te’o is the most talked
about freshman, as he should be, but receiver Shaquelle Evans will have
an immediate impact on offense. With Clausen at QB and two very
talented returning receivers in Michael Floyd and Golden Tate, ND
should find the end zone a lot through the air. But to be a BCS team
they will have to run the ball much better than they have the past two
seasons.”



Nevada returns 15 starters from a team that went 7-6 last season and played in a bowl game for the fourth consecutive year.



NOTRE DAME FACTS & FIGURES: This game will mark the start of the
121st football season at the University of Notre Dame dating back to
1887 (the Irish did not field teams in 1890 or 1891). Notre Dame enters
the 2009 season with an all-time record of 831-284-42 (.736 winning
percentage) and return 18 starters from last year’s squad. The Irish
are 70-8-3 (.883) in season openers inside Notre Dame Stadium.



NOTRE DAME ON NBCSPORTS.COM:
To complement NBC’s broadcast coverage, NBCSports.com will offer a live
post-game webcast, which will originate from Notre Dame Stadium and
extend the NBC television broadcasts by providing an unprecedented
depth of Notre Dame coverage including live coverage of Coach Charlie
Weis’ press conference.



NOTRE DAME ON NBC: In June of 2008, the University of Notre Dame and
NBC Sports announced a new five-year agreement under which NBC will
televise Irish home football games through 2015, which will mark the
25th year of the partnership. The extension provides NBC rights to
eight Notre Dame home games from 2011-15, seven games at Notre Dame
Stadium and an additional eighth off-site home game airing in primetime
each year. The landmark relationship began in 1991.





NOTRE DAME ON NBC SCHEDULE (ALL GAMES BROADCAST IN HD):

Date                    Opponent                Time (all times ET)

Sept. 5                  Nevada                 3:30 p.m. ET

Sept. 19                Michigan State  3:30 p.m. ET

Oct. 3                  Washington              3:30 p.m. ET

Oct. 17                 USC                     3:30 p.m. ET

Oct. 24                 Boston College  3:30 p.m. ET

Oct. 31                 Washington State*       7:30 p.m. ET

Nov. 7                  Navy                    2:30 p.m. ET

Nov. 21                 Connecticut             2:30 p.m. ET



*From the Alamodome in San Antonio, Texas




       Members of the media can get more information about NBC
Universal and its programming on the NBC Universal Media Village Web
site at www.nbcumv.com.

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Keywords · NBC · Notre Dame · Nevada

Name: Brian Walker
Organization: NBC
Email:
Phone: +1.212-664-5533
URL: http://www.nbcuni.com

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