To put the talent gap between 17th Army and 6th Notre Dame into perspective, go back two weeks to the Black Knights’ game against North Texas.

With 25 players, including quarterback Bryson Daily and safety Max DiDomenico, Texas is the most represented state on Army’s roster. But none of these players were even offered a scholarship by the Mean Green. It didn’t matter: Army controlled time of possession and won 14-3 to earn the program’s first 9-0 start since 1996.

Heading into Saturday’s game at Yankee Stadium, the even more dramatic talent disparity against the Fighting Irish led Army coach Jeff Monken to recall a quote from his mentor, Paul Johnson, who said About prominent opponents during his time at Navy: We have 22 Parade All-Americans, and we have 22 guys who have been in parade.

“Our guys have to understand that we have to execute our missions and our fundamentals at a very high level, and try to do it better than anyone else,” Monken said. “We must train and play with absolute precision. Because if we don’t, we’re going to be embarrassed.

Even though Army continues to emphasize one annual game above all others — the rivalry with Navy, scheduled for the Saturday after the American Athletic’s championship game against No. 20 Tulane — the The opportunity presented by Saturday’s match makes it one of the most important and significant regular matches. -Season games in the modern history of the program.

Beating Notre Dame would throw the College Football Playoff into chaos, impacting the Group of Five automatic bid race on the field and the number of at-large bids awarded to Big Ten and NFL teams. DRY. A victory would be Army’s first in this series since 1958, ending a 15-game losing streak that coincides with the program’s steady slide from Bowl Subdivision power to perennial underdog.

“Notre Dame is a great team,” senior offensive lineman Lucas Scott said. “Obviously, they have a great tradition. They’re not going to give us any freebies. We have to do everything we can, firing on all cylinders on every play, on every snap.”

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The army is not physically up to Notre-Dame

It might take a perfect game to beat the Fighting Irish.

Notre Dame has been rolling since a stunning loss to Northern Illinois in September, winning eight straight by an average of nearly 32 points per game. A lopsided winning streak has helped the Irish stay ahead of several two-loss SEC teams in the playoff standings despite just one ranked victory, against No. 14 Texas A&M in the season opener.

“We are not up to it physically. So we have to execute at a very high level and do what we do, hoping that it will be enough,” Monken said.

Army’s game plan will be simple: control the clock, force turnovers, commit no giveaways, have no breakdowns on special teams and stay long enough to “give yourself a chance,” according to Monken.

The Black Knights can look back at Notre Dame’s 51-14 win over Navy last month and see the potential for that formula to gain a foothold. The Midshipmen ran for 222 yards, the most the Irish had allowed in a game in nearly two years, and averaged 5.4 yards per play, the most for any Notre Dame opponent since the North. ‘Illinois.

But Navy was undone by six turnovers, which the Irish converted into four touchdowns.

“Our main problem is that the military can’t beat the military,” Scott said. “We think if we don’t commit penalties, don’t miss blocks, every person, all 11 guys do their job every rep, then no one in the country can beat us. I think that’s the state of mind that we keep all the time.

Yet this talent gap leaves no room for error and would require something close to flawless performance – if not outright perfection.

“It’s a college football game. And they are all difficult for us, every single one of them,” Monken said. “Certainly our guys recognize who Notre Dame is. They recognize that this is the most talented team we’ve played all year, the most successful team record-wise we’ve played all year. They’re the best football team we’ve faced all season. This is one of the best teams I will face as Army coach.

What an Army win would mean for the playoffs

Army’s current attention cannot obscure the immense importance of this game on the playoff picture and the Black Knights’ eventual playoff destination.

“It’s daily life here,” DiDomenico said. “We didn’t talk about anything after Notre Dame, to be completely honest. Of course, people and the media see what is happening. Internally, we focus on the next match, the next day.

Losing on Saturday would eliminate Notre Dame given an earlier loss to Northern Illinois and the depth of the two-loss Power Four teams still in contention. The biggest winner in an upset could be No. 11 Tennessee, which fell out of the hypothetical playoff bracket after last weekend’s loss to Georgia but would have a chance to get back into the mix.

Army could lose and still earn an automatic bid as the top-ranked conference champion in the Group of Five, but not without help from the Mountain West. Currently, No. 13 Boise State leads among the non-major conferences with games remaining against Wyoming, Oregon State and either No. 23 UNLV or Colorado State in the conference championship.

And even a competitive loss on Saturday and wins against Texas-San Antonio and Tulane would leave the Black Knights in a very good position if the Broncos lose once, especially if the loss goes to the Rams to decide the Mountain West.

But a victory would greatly impact the year’s playoff race and spark echoes of the sport’s bygone era, when Army competed regularly and even won national championships at Notre Dame’s expense.

“I guess the field will still be 120 yards long,” Monken said. “I guess they will still have goal posts the same size as at Michie Stadium. So once the game starts, we’re on the field, we have to play the game. It doesn’t matter where we were playing against these guys. This will be a difficult match to win.

This article was originally published on USA TODAY: Army meets Notre Dame with College Football Playoff implications