The Latest Notre Dame Fighting Irish Bowl Projections
Once again, it's unanimous among national college football writers that the Notre Dame Fighting Irish (10-2) will be headed to Orlando, Fla. for the Dec. 28 Camping World Bowl.
Unless there's a big surprise following the conference championship games this weekend, the chances are extremely slim that Notre Dame makes a New Years Six bowl game.
Two weeks ago, Sporting News had the Irish in the Cotton Bowl versus Memphis, but the outlet has had Notre Dame facing Kansas State (8-4, 5-4 Big 12) in their last couple of bowl projections articles.
There are variables at play for which Big 12 opponent Notre Dame would face in the Camping World Bowl, as Oklahoma has a shot at the College Football Playoff and a domino effect could take place if they don't make it in.
ESPN writers Kyle Bonagura and Mark Schlabach have the Irish facing Oklahoma State. Joe Tansey of Bleacher Report has the same projection.
Texas, Oklahoma State, Iowa State and Kansas State are all tied for third in the Big 12, and there are Camping World projections for each school.
Brett McMurphy of Watch Stadium has Notre Dame facing Iowa State, while CBS Sports' Jerry Palm and Athlon Sports' Steven Lassan has Notre Dame pitted against Texas.
CBS Sports' Dennis Dodd believes the Irish will have a matchup with the Longhorns.
A representative of the Camping World Bowl said publicly that he'd love to see Texas in their game, which makes the possibility even more realistic.
Despite the Longhorns' disappointing 7-5 record, they like Notre Dame are a brand name in collegiate football circles, and matching up two such programs would lend some marketing appeal.
Notre Dame and Texas met three times in the Cotton Bowl in the nine seasons from 1969-77 with the national title on the line and the Longhorns ranked No. 1 all three times. Texas clinched the championship in the 1970 Cotton Bowl with a 21-17 victory, but then the next season the 9-1 Fighting Irish ended the Longhorns' 30-game winning streak with a 24-11 upset that moved them up from No. 6 to No. 2 in the final polls, behind 11-0-1 Nebraska.
On Jan. 2, 1978, No. 5 Notre Dame vaulted all the way to No. 1 with a convincing 38-10 victory over top-ranked Texas.
The Fighting Irish own a 9-3 series lead over Texas, and recently split a two-game series in 2015-16 that were openers for both teams. Notre Dame easily won at home in 2015 by a 38-3 count, but the next season the Longhorns produced a 50-47 double-overtime victory.
Notre Dame has never played Iowa State, Kansas State nor Oklahoma State in football.
Per the Camping Bowl World website: In the new College Football Playoff era, the bowl will match the top selection from the ACC (inclusive of Notre Dame) outside of the CFP series against the second selection from the Big 12 outside of the CFP series.
The Camping World Bowl was once the Champs Sports Bowl, and the Irish's matchup in that game versus Florida State in 2011, an 18-14 loss, drew the bowl's largest attendance (68,305) going back to 1990.
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