Wake Up The Echoes, And Start Up The Plane, Part Two

Last week in this space, I opined on Notre Dame's future traveling road show, playing home games in Texas and Florida. I asked why the Irish are playing Washington State in San Antonio, instead of another Texas school. Well, it turns out that the Irish are playing a Texas school in Texas. It was announced this week that the Irish are playing Baylor at the new Cowboys stadium in Arlington on October 6, 2012.

This is a guaranteed sellout. This will be the biggest non-conference game in the history of Baylor football. There will be plenty of Irish fans there, but Baylor will be very well represented, with the game being played in the heart of the largest base of Baylor alumni. This is an interesting matchup between the world's most famous Catholic university and the world's largest Baptist university (even though both the student population and the faculty of Baylor are only around 50% Baptist, a good percentage of which are not as conservative as the general perception of Baptists). On the field, Notre Dame should be able to have their way with the Bears.

The author of this blog is a Baptist, but is not a fan of Baylor, mostly for reasons not having to do with athletics and reasons better discussed on a non-sports blog. A dirty little secret: I was accepted into Baylor a long, long time ago, but chose not to go there. I don't regret that decision. However, I will be cheering for the Bears on 10/6/2012.

This is also a matchup that the city of Dallas tried to lure into the soon-to-be sort-of renovated Cotton Bowl. That begs the question: If you're Notre Dame and Baylor, where would you rather play? A patched-up pig of a stadium in Fair Park, or Jerry Jones' new palace in Arlington? With no tradition tied to the Texas State Fair, Jerryworld is a no-brainer.

For one day in 2012, Sic 'em Bears!

Postscript: The Irish are also coming to Oklahoma. In 2012, the Irish will visit Norman to play my Sooners, and OU will play Notre Dame in South Bend in 2013. This will be the first visit by the Irish to Oklahoma since 1957, when they broke Oklahoma's record 47-game winning streak.