Where Notre Dame stands in post-Week 11 bowl projections after beating Navy
Notre Dame continued its march toward one of the ACC’s three best non-New Year’s Six bowls by beating Navy 35-32 Nov. 12. The No. 20 Irish are 7-3, with Boston College (3-7) up next. A 9-3 finish is still in play if they beat No. 8 USC to close the regular season.
At 8-4 or 9-3, Notre Dame is highly likely to end up in one of those three games: The Cheez-It Bowl (Dec. 29, Orlando), Gator Bowl (Dec. 30, Jacksonville) or the Holiday Bowl (Dec. 28, San Diego). Most of the post-Week 11 bowl projections have the same outlook. Here’s where the Irish stand in the latest batch of them.
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• The Athletic: Holiday vs. UCLA (Gator vs. Florida)
• ESPN (Kyle Bonagura): Gator vs. Kentucky (Last week: same)
• ESPN (Mark Schlabach): Holiday vs. Washington (Last week: Holiday vs. Utah)
• CBS Sports: Gator vs. Mississippi State (Last week: same)
• Action Network: Cheez-It vs. Texas (Last week: ReliaQuest Bowl vs. Kentucky)
• USA Today Sports: Holiday vs. Utah (Last week: same)
• Athlon Sports: Gator vs. Kentucky (Last week: same)
• Sporting News: Duke’s Mayo Bowl vs. Minnesota, Dec. 30, Charlotte (Last week: same)
BlueandGold.com says
• As always, a reminder on how Notre Dame’s bowl options work: It is eligible for any non-New Year’s Six ACC bowl if its record is within one game of the team that would otherwise be picked in that game. For example, Notre Dame could go to the Cheez-It Bowl at 8-4 if the best available ACC team when the Cheez-It Bowl picks is 9-3.
• The ACC also gets a spot in the ReliaQuest Bowl (Jan. 2, Tampa) if a Big Ten team is selected to play in the Orange Bowl.
• Notre Dame has never played in the Holiday Bowl, which was a long-standing Big Ten and Big 12 vs. Pac-12 game until last year. It has played Utah only once before, a 28-3 home win in 2010. It is 8-0 all-time against Washington, with six of those meetings coming between 1995 and 2009.
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• The Gator Bowl has picked Notre Dame three times. The most recent was in 2003 against North Carolina State, a 28-6 Irish loss. The Irish have played Florida one time, a 39-28 win in the 1992 Sugar Bowl, and they have a home-and-home series with the Gators set for 2031 and 2032. Notre Dame has never played Mississippi State or Kentucky.
• Notre Dame has not played in the Duke’s Mayo Bowl under its current or former names. The Irish have faced Minnesota five times – all between 1925 and 1938 – and are 4-0-1.
• The only way the Irish end up in the Duke’s Mayo Bowl is if the Gator, Holiday and Cheez-It all pass on picking them or they’re not eligible for any of the three. Both scenarios are highly unlikely, especially if they beat Boston College Saturday. Sporting News’ projections have Florida State (7-3) in the Gator, Clemson (8-1) in the Cheez-It and Wake Forest (6-4) in the Holiday.
