No. 21 Notre Dame to play No. 19 South Carolina in Gator Bowl
Notre Dame’s bowl assignment is set. The Irish are headed to Florida to play an SEC team.
No. 21 Notre Dame (8-4) will play No. 19 South Carolina (8-4, 4-4 SEC) in the Gator Bowl Dec. 30 in Jacksonville, Fla. Kickoff will be at 3:30 p.m. ET and the game will be televised on ESPN.
Notre Dame is 3-1 against South Carolina all time, with all meetings coming between 1976 and 1984. The most recent game was the Gamecocks’ lone win, a 36-32 victory over the Irish in South Bend. Notre Dame beat the Gamecocks in Columbia, S.C., in 1976 and 1983, and at home in 1979.
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This will be Notre Dame’s fourth trip to the Gator Bowl and first since 2003. The Irish beat Penn State 20-9 on Dec. 27, 1976, lost to Georgia Tech 35-28 on New Year’s Day 1999 and lost to North Carolina State 28-6 on New Year’s Day 2003. All were top-25 matchups.
Notre Dame’s last bowl win was in the 2019 Cheez-It Bowl — then known as the Camping World Bowl — a 33-9 victory over Iowa State. The Irish lost to Alabama in the College Football Playoff and fell to Oklahoma State in the Fiesta Bowl last year. They are 19-21 all time in bowls.
Notre Dame is 8-2 in its last 10 games since starting 0-2. South Carolina ended the regular season with three wins in its last four games, which includes two consecutive wins over teams ranked in the top 10 of the College Football Playoff top 25. The Gamecocks beat No. 6 Tennessee 63-38 Nov. 19 and No. 7 Clemson 31-30 Nov. 26.
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The Irish will play their final game of the season without their 10-game starting quarterback, junior Drew Pyne, who announced Friday he will enter the transfer portal. He will not play in the bowl game. It’s not clear if freshman Steve Angeli or sophomore Tyler Buchner will start versus South Carolina. Buchner will play in the bowl, per a report from FootballScoop, but in an unknown capacity. Head coach Marcus Freeman will speak with reporters Sunday evening.
Pyne took over for Buchner, who won the starting job in preseason camp but suffered a severe shoulder sprain that required surgery against Marshall Sept. 10. The injury was initially considered season ending, but Freeman didn’t rule out the idea of Buchner returning in some capacity for the bowl when asked about it in late November.
Pyne threw for 2,021 yards with 22 touchdowns and 6 interceptions in relief of Buchner, completing 64.6 percent of his passes while averaging 8.0 yards per attempt.
