Notre Dame’s Michael Mayer "Not Worried" About Ohio Stadium Atmosphere

“I don’t think it’s any different than the other stadiums we’re going to be playing in this year."

When Notre Dame comes to Columbus for the season opener at Ohio State on Sept. 3, it will mark the first time in his career that junior tight end Michael Mayer will play in front of more than 100,000 fans.

The previous high, not including Fighting Irish’s home games, came in last year’s season-opening win at Florida State, when they escaped with a 41-38 overtime victory in front of 68,316 fans.

Yet, Mayer – who caught 71 passes for 840 yards and seven touchdowns in 2021 – isn’t intimidated by the significantly larger venue that awaits him and his teammates in 10 days.

“I don’t think it’s any different than the other stadiums we’re going to be playing in this year,” Mayer said during his media availability on Wednesday night. “To me, it’s like, ‘Home game, away game, just go play football.’ I mean, I’m not worried about it. Go out there and play the best ball we can play."

Notre Dame is also set to play at North Carolina, Syracuse and USC this season.

Sellout crowds at Kenan Memorial Stadium (50,500) and JMA Wireless Stadium (49,262) are less than half of Ohio Stadium's capacity of 102,780, while the Trojans have only had a sellout crowd at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum (77,500) twice in the last decade.

"I don’t think anybody coming into this game is (worried)," Mayer said. "We’re here to play football. We’re not here to worry about the crowd noise, you know? We’re here to play football, play our game."

That said, Mayer appears to be in for a surprise when the Buckeyes and Fighting Irish finally kick off at 7:30 p.m. on ABC.

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