Falcons' Carney will test his luck on Irish

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By JIM BENTON
Tuesday, November 14, 2006
Shaun Carney is an Irish Catholic and he's proud of it.

The Air Force junior quarterback has a tattoo of a leprechaun, along with an Irish flag on his right calf to celebrate his heritage.

When Carney earned the starting job as a freshman, he seldom walked into the Falcons dressing room without getting teased.

"I had lucky charms put in my locker," he said. "I think the sticker is still up there from my freshman year that says Shaun O'Malley O'Carney. I got teased a little bit, but it was all in good fun."

Carney was a Notre Dame fan growing up, and Saturday he will lead the Falcons (4-4) against the No. 9 Irish (8-1) at Falcon Stadium.

"I was a big Notre Dame fan until high school, then I became an Ohio State fan," Carney said. "I really don't know why. I went to their (Notre Dame) football camp and didn't really enjoy the atmosphere. I think I wanted something a little more intense, so I started rooting for the Buckeyes right about then.

"Being an Irish Catholic kid in the west side of Cleveland, it was kind of fitting. I went to the camp my ninth-grade year and I guess I didn't like the intensity of the program at the time. Bob Davie was the coach at the time, and I'm sure it's a lot different now."

Touring the Notre Dame campus used to be a part of vacations every summer.

"We would go on vacation every year to southern Michigan," Carney said. "Notre Dame was about 45 minutes away, so we went and visited the campus all the time and went to the gift shop. My grandpa was a huge Notre Dame fan, so we ended up going in the locker room and things like that, but I never attended a football game there."

On Saturday, he'll get to see Notre Dame football up close and personal.

"We know they are a good football team," Carney said. "If we can do the things we can control, that's all we have to worry about. The rest will take of itself.

"We've faced a challenge like this earlier in the year (a 31-30 loss at Tennessee Sept. 10), so it's not anything new to us. Notre Dame has a little more tradition, but right now it's just another game on our schedule and we have to go out and play very well to win the game."