With Notre Dame officially eliminated from playoff contention following the results of Saturday’s championship games, the likely 5th place Irish are assured of a New Year’s 6 bowl matchup. The only question is, which one? After completion of every game last night, a series of bowl projections came out with two popular matchups for the Irish – the Fiesta Bowl vs. Oklahoma State or the Peach Bowl vs. ACC Champion Pitt.
UPDATE: the official NY6 bowl pairings were announced on Sunday afternoon and Notre Dame will square off against Oklahoma State in Fiesta Bowl on New Year’s Day.
From a matchup standpoint, it depends on what you are looking for as a fan and which is more preferable. A Fiesta Bowl matchup with Oklahoma State sure looks more winnable for the Irish after watching the Cowboys come up just short against Baylor yesterday. However, from an entertainment standpoint, a showdown with Pitt and Kenny Pickett in the Peach Bowl would be a much more entertaining though likely much more anxiety-producing as well.
Pitt blew out Wake Forest last night 45-21 in the ACC Championship game powered by their defense and Pickett, who accounted for three touchdowns on the night.
It is debatable which opponent would give Notre Dame a better opportunity to end their NY6 bowl drought. Oklahoma State entered Saturday ranked 5th with a chance to make the playoffs, but did anyone watching yesterday look at them and think they looked anything close to a playoff contender? Like Notre Dame, they started the season with close calls against bad teams and had a solid second half. Still, they lost to Iowa State and the Fighting Matt Campbells and barely beat Texas. Their signature win was the collapse by Oklahoma in Bedlam when it’s debatable whether or not Lincoln Riley was focused on the task at hand.
Pitt’s offense could score points in bunches with Pickett at the helm, but they also lost to Western Michigan and Miami this year. Yesterday’s game against Wake Forest was the first time they played a ranked opponent this season. Pitt’s defense also let Brennan Armstrong throw for nearly 500 yards on them in a shootout at the end of the season.
From a fan’s perspective, there is the date/time consideration as well. The Peach Bowl is a Thursday night game on December 30th while the Fiesta Bowl is a 1:00 kickoff on Saturday, January 1. As someone with a newborn baby in the house, I am hopeful for the Saturday afternoon option.
Notre Dame has a long history with the Fiesta Bowl, while they have never appeared in a Peach Bowl, so if the Irish are headed to Atlanta, it would be a program first. Notre Dame’s history with both potential opponents is flipped. If the Irish go to their first Peach Bowl and face the Panthers, they’ll square off against a program they’ve met 72 times and own a 50-21-1 record against, including a 45-3 thumping last season. If it’s the Fiesta Bowl and Oklahoma State, the Irish and Cowboys will face each other for the first time.
Regardless of where Notre Dame lands, an NY6 bowl in a transition season like the one the Irish had is still a very good outcome. Notre Dame started a graduate-transfer quarterback and guard on offense, lost half of its wide receiver and linebacker rooms to injury, and then lost its star safety for half of the season.
Whichever bowl the Irish end up in, new head coach Marcus Freeman will have an opportunity to do in his first game what Brian Kelly was never able to accomplish in 12 seasons in charge of the program – win an NY6 bowl game. Kelly compiled a 5-5 record in bowl games, including 0-4 in NY6/Playoff/BCS bowls. Given Notre Dame’s second-half surge and what figures to be a very motivated Irish squad, there’s a good chance Freeman one-ups his old boss on his first day on the job.
Yes Notredame doesn’t have the great talent across the board like Alabama and Georgia. Cincinnati and Michigan dont either. However I feel Notredame has a real shot to get there in a year or 2 with Freeman not Kelly. Why because Freeman will recruit like a maniac and close the talent gap. I feel Notredames close now unfortunately minus the most important position on the field quarterback. Hopefully Buchner is elite. Time will tell.
Odds of signing a decent QB in the future just went up…by simply getting rid of the notorious “QB Disposer”.
Absolutely. Did you hear Kelly’s fake southern accent?
For those who didn’t see it….
Pitt QB stsarted the game against WF by scoring on a play that will surely cause a change the rulebook.
He faked that he was getting ready to slide and end a run play….by doing so, he froze 2 closeby defenders who didn’t want to pick up a penalty for hitting him. But instead of sliding, he accelerated and raced to the endzone untouched.
The ABC talking heads marveled at the play, and touted his “deceptive speed”….until after halftime, when obviously someone in the back instructed them to mention what a dipshit move it was for him to take unfair advantege of a rule meant to protect players’ health.
So if ND plays Pitt, sometihng to keep in mind.
Any option is a good option. I do prefer the New Year’s Day matchup vs Oklahoma State since ND has never played them.
Just remember…whomever ND plays, for them “it’s their bowl game!”
The reality is that ND doesn’t have the talent to win a national championship … yet. Watching Alabama and Georgia makes that abundantly clear. Progress toward the goal of a national championship is likely to occur in stages and the first logical stage would be to win a major bowl. Something that ND hasn’t been able to do 28 years. Winning a major bowl is not an easy task just ask Kelly, Weis, Willingham, Davie, or – better yet – Holtz. It’s a daunting task for any coach and that is Freeman’s challenge in his coaching debut.
“It is debatable which opponent would give Notre Dame a better opportunity to end their NY6 bowl drought.”
That right there summarizes the most sober, honest and clear-sighted thin written here in a long time.
Pretty compelling confirmation that ND simply doesn’t belong in the playoff.
If even a rabid fansite is debating how PItt, Ok St., or Mich St. rank for “beatability”, how in the world could anyone seriously imagine stepping on the field with Georgia or Alabama ?
Cincinnati ran the table, and has earned the right to be thrown to the lions…Been there, done that. Twice.
Go Irish. Beat the snot out of Team Name Here in the Bowl Name Here game.
Next year, be the lions!