Notre Dame Football: Irish Remain in Top 10, Seek New Year’s Six Bowl

(Photo by Mike Ehrmann/Getty Images)
(Photo by Mike Ehrmann/Getty Images) /
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Following Notre Dame’s loss to Miami (FL) on Saturday, an extremely slim likelihood remains that the Irish could make the College Football Playoff. In reality, the Notre Dame football team is pursuing a ticket to a New Year’s Six Bowl. Here are the current bowl projections for the Fighting Irish and where the Fighting Irish stand in the polls.

Bowl Projections

The vast majority of the projections believe that Notre D

ame will land in a New Year’s Six Bowl. Basically, the Fighting Irish must win out to earn a spot. This means beating Navy and No. 20 Stanford. It is not an easy task but it appears achievable. Here are some of the latest projections of bowl and the possible opponents:

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  • Jerry Palm (CBS Sports): Cotton Bowl – Penn State vs. Notre Dame
  • Sports Illustrated: Cotton Bowl – Auburn vs. Notre Dame
  • Kyle Bonagura (ESPN): Orange Bowl – Clemson vs. Notre Dame
  • David M. Hale (ESPN): Cotton Bowl – Notre Dame vs. Oklahoma State

The most intriguing matchups are possible tilts in the Cotton Bowl against Penn State or Auburn. Notre Dame has not played in the Cotton Bowl since the early 1990s. In addition, the Fighting Irish have not played the Nittany Lions since 2007. Auburn and Notre Dame have never met on the gridiron.

Irish Remain in Top 10

Despite a blowout loss to Miami (FL), the Irish remained in the Top 10 in both the AP and Coaches Poll. In both polls, the Irish fell to No. 9 with Ohio State just ahead of them.

The Irish deserve to be ranked at No. 9. Their losses came to two Top 10 teams, Miami (FL) and Georgia. The Hurricanes jumped to No. 2 in both polls. After a loss to Auburn, the Bulldogs fell to No. 7 in each poll.

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Further, the Irish have more Top 25 victories than almost all of the FBS programs. In the AP Poll, the Irish have wins against No. 12 USC, No. 22 Michigan State and No. 25 NC State. All wins were blowouts.