No team in the country has been as bipolar as the #15 Notre Dame Fighting Irish. They beat a traditional power/10 win team in Clemson (in a game where they were unranked and yet only four-point underdogs for some reason), but they also lost to both a mediocre mid-major team in Marshall, and a really unimpressive and uninteresting Stanford side.
David Shaw’s resignation just encapsulates how far Stanford has fallen now. For ND, their roller coaster of a season (that blowout win at North Carolina was impressive too), would, in theory, make their bowl game destination hard to predict. However, the opposite is actually true.
College Football – Updated Bowl Projections pic.twitter.com/qCjjc3a4Ji
— Big Game Boomer (@BigGameBoomer) November 28, 2022
Ironically, it appears that everyone is on the same page, when it comes to projecting where the Irish are going end up- Jacksonville, FL. Getting blown out by potentially playoff bound USC, who moved up to four in the rankings, didn’t do anything to change that. These projections were the same both before and after the decisive defeat at the Coliseum.
By the way, more on that, and that game’s role in the classic Christmas film “Die Hard” over at this link.
Notre Dame Fighting Irish Bowl Game Projections
Athlon– Gator Bowl vs. South Carolina
This seems to be the conventionally held wisdom, right now, about where this Notre Dame Fighting Irish team is going to end spend the holidays. Also, there is no such thing as “conventional wisdom.”
24/7 Sports– Same as above
Don’t be surprised if a few, or at least a couple, of Notre Dame’s blue chip NFL Draft prospects, skip the bowl game. That is the way of the college football world right now.
CBS– Gator Bowl vs. Mississippi St.
I still can’t believe Jacksonville actually hosted a Super Bowl once; crazy! But then again, I’m old. I’m so old I remember when this was the Mazda Gator Bowl, and when the Blockbuster Bowl (the first bowl game to have absolutely no name other than the corporate sponsor) was born.
Now there are a zillion brand name only bowls. I know, it’s ugh.
College Football News– Gator Bowl vs. South Carolina
Well, there is certainly some consistency here! I guess we’ll see if anything changes after the games on championship weekend conclude. There are a few more bowl projections out there, but they all say the same thing, so what is the point in continuing to link more of them?
This close to selection day, these projections are probably accurate
Paul M. Banks is the owner/manager of The Sports Bank and author of “Transatlantic Passage: How the English Premier League Redefined Soccer in America,” as well as “No, I Can’t Get You Free Tickets: Lessons Learned From a Life in the Sports Media Industry.”
He has regularly appeared in WGN, Sports Illustrated and the Chicago Tribune, and he co-hosts the After Extra Time podcast. Follow the website on Instagram.