John Riordan: ESPN's College GameDay first overseas trip for Notre Dame against Navy

College Football feeds off rivalries at the business end of the season and the fear is that when more teams disperse, traditional games like Notre Dame and Navy or Notre Dame and USC will become relics of the past.

FIGHTING IRISH: Notre Dame linebacker JD Bertrand, left, and wide receiver Chris Tyree during a media conference ahead of the Aer Lingus College Football Classic match between Notre Dame and Navy Midshipmen on Saturday next at the Aviva Stadium in Dublin. Pic: David Fitzgerald/Sportsfile

Once again, the US College Football spaceship lands in Dublin this week and more than ever, it finds itself mired in uncertainty and a fair amount of soul-searching.

Notre Dame’s ‘home game’ against Navy will be the most viewed sporting event of the weekend here in the US for multiple reasons: it’s the kick off to a new season for which fans seem only to get thirstier each August, there’s nothing much else on the box anyway as the dog days of August fall away and, most significantly, it’s Notre Dame.