Midseason Bowl Projections: Will The Irish Appear In New Years Six Game?
With a 5-1 record, Notre Dame will face its second-biggest test of the year when it travels to Ann Arbor to play No. 19 Michigan.
An Irish will mean that they're effectively eliminated from the College Football Playoff hunt, but even if Notre Dame wins it doesn't mean they will get in.
According to several college football bowl prognosticators, Notre Dame's most likely postseason destination is not the playoffs, but they all seem to have the Irish playing in a New Years Six game.
Due to which bowl games are part of the college football playoffs, the only New Years Six games that Notre Dame can make are the Orange Bowl and the Cotton Bowl.
Orange Bowl
The majority of projections have Notre Dame playing the second-highest ranked ACC team (behind Clemson) in the Capital One Orange Bowl. The 83-year-old bowl game takes place on Monday, Dec. 30, at 8 p.m. ET and is hosted at the Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens, Florida.
While many are picking the Irish to play in the Orange Bowl, there isn't much of a consensus regarding which ACC team they will play.
Orange Bowl Projections:
Notre Dame vs. Pittsburgh
Notre Dame vs. Wake Forest
Notre Dame vs. Wake Forest
Michael Shapiro, Sports Illustrated
Notre Dame vs. Virginia
Steve Petrella, The Action Network
Notre Dame vs. Virginia
Notre Dame vs. Virginia
As you can see, collectively six college football writers have the Irish playing one of three different ACC teams: Pittsburgh, Wake Forest and Virginia. Two of the programs, Virginia and Pittsburgh, are in the ACC Coastal Division, while Wake Forest comes from the Atlantic.
Of the three, Wake Forest is the only one that's currently ranked (No. 25 in the AP Poll and No. 23 in the Coaches Poll). The Demon Deacons are 6-1 on the year, but they still have to play No. 4 Clemson on the road on Nov. 16.
Pittsburgh and Virginia are both 5-2, but the Cavaliers beat the Panthers 30-14 during the opening week of the season. Wake Forest does not play either team, but one of them could play Clemson in the ACC Championship game.
Cotton Bowl
The rest of the projections I saw have Notre Dame playing the highest-ranked Group of Five Team in the Good Year Cotton Bowl. The bowl game takes place on Saturday, Dec. 28, at Noon ET and is hosted at the AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas.
An invite to this bowl would put Notre Dame in a position to, in a way, avenge its 2018 College Football 30-3 loss to Clemson, which was also played in the Cotton Bowl. A win may not take away the string of a blowout playoff loss, but it might help ease the pain a little bit.
Cotton Bowl Projections:
Notre Dame vs. Cincinnati
Notre Dame vs. SMU
Notre Dame vs. SMU
As far as I saw, just three college football writers project Notre Dame to playing in the Cotton Bowl and collectively they have the Irish going up against two different teams: SMU and Cincinnati.
Currently, both teams are ranked in the top 20 in the AP and Coaches Polls. SMU (ranked No. 16/17) is 7-0. The Mustangs' toughest games left on their schedule are at Memphis and at Navy, but they have a decent shot at going undefeated.
Cincinnati (ranked No. 18/18), on the other hand, is 6-1 and its one loss came to No. 3/4 Ohio State. The Bearcats' toughest game left on the season is also at Memphis.
If both are able to win out, they will play each other in the AAC Conference Championship game, which could decide who gets to play Notre Dame in the Cotton Bowl.
Quick Thoughts
At this point, I would agree with a majority of the prognosticators and think it's most likely Irish fans see a rematch with Virginia in the Orange Bowl. It may not be the sexiest matchup, but it would give Notre Dame a good shot of winning a major bowl game for the first time since the 1993 season.
Even better, at least for now, not one prognosticator is picking the Pinstripe Bowl, but that could change if the Irish don't come away victorious in Ann Arbor this weekend.
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