No. 5 Notre Dame basks in its unusual home ‘crowd’
SOUTH BEND, Ind. — In a normal season, Kurt Hinish probably wouldn’t have been able to hear the students shouting his name from the ninth row of the bleachers at Notre Dame Stadium. But during Notre Dame’s 52-0 rout of South Florida, the senior defensive tackle could.
In the second quarter, Hinish shrugged at their yells and told his teammates he didn’t recognize the students. When their efforts continued into the fourth, Hinish finally turned around in his folding chair in the defensive line huddle, giving a nod and laughing at the celebration that ensued.
That was one difference between having 80,000 fans in a sold-out stadium and the 10,000 who were allowed in under COVID-19 regulations — and of course there would be differences. But in a quirk of this unusual season, Notre Dame (2-0, 1-0 ACC) will enjoy a greater home-field advantage than most opponents: The Fighting Irish are slated to play in front of only one crowd bigger than their own.
Georgia Tech announced a crowd of 11,000 for its recent home opener, edging Notre Dame’s season-opening 10,097 on hand for Duke last month. Notre Dame’s other four road opponents — Pitt, Boston College, North Carolina and Wake Forest — have not allowed any spectators to attend so far.
That will change by the time the fifth-ranked Irish play at least some of those teams, but perhaps not by much. The state of North Carolina is now allowing fans to attend games with capacity limited to 7%. That would mean only about 3,500 fans at UNC and about 2,200 at Wake Forest.
The Irish were originally scheduled to play Wake Forest on Sept. 26, a game that would have been played in an empty stadium. After