Quick thoughts on Notre Dame bowl and opponent projections

Bowl projections are so hot right now. Here’s where some of the premier writers and outlets have Notre Dame going and playing.

It’s bowl projection season, and right now, it doesn’t look like the results of this weekend’s conference championships are going to change much in terms of where Notre Dame ends up or who they play in their bowl game this season.

If you’re trying to get a leg up on travel plans, it looks like you should be booking travel to Orlando around December 28th.

Here’s a closer look at where some major outlets and writers predict the Irish to end up in bowl season, as well as who they’ll play:

Brett McMurphy of Watch Stadium, Jerry Palm of CBS Sports and Kyle Bonagura of ESPN all have Notre Dame heading to the Camping World Bowl on December 28th to play the Texas Longhorns.

It’s not the bowl you wanted, but from a prestige standpoint, the matchup is nice. It’s a bowl game against another blue blood — and a very beatable Texas team. A win wouldn’t completely get the big-game monkey off Notre Dame’s back, but it would be a nice recent memory to plug into the minds of recruits and media members around the country.

Yahoo! Sports, Athlon Sports and College Football News all have the Irish in the same bowl game, only playing Oklahoma State.

In my opinion, that’s a tougher matchup than Texas without all of the glamour of the blue-blood hype leading up to the game. The Okie State offense could do damage against Notre Dame’s defense. The Irish would be able to move the ball, but I don’t know if we want to see this Notre Dame team get in a shootout with the Cowboys.

247 Sports has the Irish in the Camping World Bowl against Iowa State. That’s a nightmare matchup, as the Cyclones are capable of beating the Irish and it would be an embarrassing loss from a national prestige standpoint. On the other hand, a Notre Dame win in that game would not move the needle. Not great either way.

Sports Illustrated appears to be the only outlier in terms of projecting a bowl other than the Camping World Bowl as a destination for the Irish. They have Notre Dame headed to the Independence Bowl in Shreveport, Louisiana against an ACC or SEC team. I don’t care who the opponent is, that would be terrible. It’s a bowl game NOBODY cares about located in one of the worst host cities imaginable.

Right now, it’s fingers crossed for Orlando. Maybe with a little luck of the Irish, we end up with something better, but it’s not likely.