ND draws a crowd no matter where they play. It being in Chicago gives us a chance of having more people there than we would if it were out west.
And who knew we could take a little revenge out on Notre Dame for the Buffalo/Akron football matchup at the Rubber Bow?!:
Irish coach Mike Brey also didn't have a lot to say about Friday's opponent, but he is familiar with Akron, especially the Zips coach Keith Dambrot
"Keith is certainly LeBron's high school coach and just a well thought of guy," Brey said. "This is a great story. It's funny how small this world is. 2008, and my son was playing at Buffalo. I go over and I sit in the press box in the last game in the Rubber Bowl, Buffalo at Akron with Gerry Faust and Keith Dambrot to watch the game. Well, my guys know that – well, they knew what days Kyle played because we practiced in the morning and then I'd drive. They were pissed. They were like, oh, Kyle must play tonight, Thursday night MAC game, we're practicing at 7 a.m. They win in four overtimes. It was that magical year they ended up winning the MAC title.
"I remember sitting with Keith the whole time, great guy, talking about his program, talking about our program. He says to me, you know, we just got this big kid from Pittsburgh. It's the Marshall kid. And he said, I think we stole one. I saw him block a shot the other night, and I happened to watch the game, and I thought, that's the guy he's talking about.
"Keith is very well respected in our profession, paid his dues, and I think it's five or six straight 20-win seasons he's had at Akron. But he's just a coach, good old teacher coach, and he's done a great job with the Zips."
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