Notre Dame extends troublesome streak in BCS bowl games

With a loss in the Fiesta Bowl to Oklahoma State, Notre Dame has extended an unwanted streak in BCS or “New Year’s Six” bowl game appearances. The Fighting Irish have now lost ten-straight BCS bowl games, with their last win coming in the 1994 Cotton Bowl.

Notre Dame’s losing bowl streak

In the biggest bowl games of the college football world, Notre Dame has had a rough stretch of luck performing in big games. Since winning the Cotton Bowl nearly three decades ago, Notre Dame has now lost their next ten BCS bowl game bids.

Over that same stretch of time, the Fighting Irish have made 21 bowl game appearances total, going 6-15 overall.

Saturday’s Fiesta Bowl loss earned Notre Dame another unfortunate distinction as they set a record for losses in the Fiesta Bowl. The year after their Cotton Bowl win, Notre Dame lost to Colorado in the Fiesta Bowl, kicking off another losing streak.

Notre Dame is now 1-5 in their Fiesta Bowl history, having lost their last five appearances straight. Their six appearances in the game ties them for third all-time, but they now stand alone at the top with five losses.

Notre Dame quarterbacks having rough stretch in NFL

With Ian Book’s loss as starter for the New Orleans Saints last week on Monday night, Notre Dame quarterbacks have lost 24 straight starts in the NFL.

In a stat that spans several different quarterbacks to enter the NFL from Notre Dame, the Fighting Irish hasn’t had a quarterback dominate at the professional level in a while. Brady Quinn recorded the last starting win for his alma mater in Week 13 of the 2012 NFL season against the Carolina Panthers.

The game that Quinn won against the Panthers was one to remember for the former Notre Dame star however. The game was played one day after the murder-suicide of Chiefs linebacker Jovan Belcher. In an emotional day and win, Quinn’s performance earned him AFC offensive player of the week honors.

Following his win over the Panthers, Quinn would lose his next four starts in the NFL, beginning the current streak of losses by Notre Dame quarterbacks.

Jimmy Clausen continued the streak in 2014 and 2015, starting and losing four games for the Bears and Ravens. DeShone Kizer then extended the streak greatly by going 0-15 as starter for the Browns in 2017.

Of all Fighting Irish quarterbacks since Quinn, Ian Book is the only remaining current NFL player that can change the current streak for his fellow alumni. New Orleans selected Book in the fourth round of the 2021 NFL Draft, intending for him to develop behind Jameis Winston, Taysom Hill and Trevor Siemian.