The on-field start to the Marcus Freeman era will be New Year’s Day.
Notre Dame will play Oklahoma State in the Fiesta Bowl in Glendale, Ariz., which will mark Freeman’s head coaching debut.
Freeman was named the 30th head coach in Notre Dame history Friday, four days after Brian Kelly left for LSU after 12 seasons in the job. He takes over an 11-1 team that finished No. 5 in the College Football Playoff rankings, missing out on the semifinal bowls by one spot.
Notre Dame enters the postseason on a seven-game winning streak and has not lost since Oct. 2 against Cincinnati. Its playoff consolation prize is a top-10 meeting with a team it has never faced and a chance to end a nine-game major bowl losing streak that stretches back to the 1993 season. The team’s last win in what are now the New Year’s Six bowls was a 24-21 victory over Texas A&M in the Cotton Bowl on Jan. 1, 1994.
“A great opportunity to win 12 games and right some of the wrongs of the past,” Freeman said on ESPN’s selection show telecast. “We haven’t been so successful in these New Year’s Day bowls. It’ll be a motivated team and a motivated coaching staff. We’re excited for the opportunity.”
Like Notre Dame, No. 9 Oklahoma State (11-2) earned a New Year’s Six bowl game at-large bid. The Cowboys lost 21-16 to No. 8 Baylor in the Big 12 Championship Game Saturday after their fourth-and-goal rush attempt in the final minute left came up inches short of a touchdown.
A win would have sent the Cowboys to the Sugar Bowl. A loss put them in Arizona to play the Irish for the first meeting between the two programs.
No. 4 Cincinnati making the playoff opened the door for Notre Dame to head to the Fiesta Bowl.
The Fiesta, Peach and Cotton bowls take the Group of Five automatic qualifier in a three-year rotation. This year’s Group of Five champion had a guaranteed berth in the Fiesta this season, but that spot freed up when the Bearcats finished in the top four. Notre Dame would have gone to the Peach to avoid a rematch with Cincinnati in the Fiesta had Cincinnati been ranked fifth or lower.
The Irish will play in the Fiesta Bowl for the third time since the 2005 season — all against a school with an OSU acronym. The first two matchups were against Ohio State, a 34-20 loss on Jan. 1, 2006 and 44-28 defeat on Jan. 1, 2016.
The game kicks off at 1 p.m. ET.
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