Notre Dame Football: Could the Irish land in the Fiesta Bowl?
By Brad Weiss
The Notre Dame Football team has a lot of question marks in 2021, but could they still wind up being a New Year Six team before all is said and done?
The Notre Dame Football team will kick off their 2021 slate on the road, traveling to Tallahassee to take on the Florida State Seminoles. The matchup has been considered one of the best on the Week 1 slate and will begin a schedule that could see the Irish win ten games for the fifth straight season.
Overall, this Notre Dame football team has the talent to be above average this season, bringing back multiple All-American talents, as well as adding some impact true freshman. The Irish saw nine of their players selected across the 2021 NFL Draft, but have the talent to reload, instead of having to restock the roster.
Led by running back Kyren Williams, who found the end zone 13 times last season, the Irish should be able to put points on the board, while the defense has a lot of veteran talent returning to a group that should improve under first-year defensive coordinator Marcus Freeman.
Notre Dame Football in the Fiesta Bowl?
Despite all the potential changes, 247Sports still likes the Irish to put together a terrific season, and end up playing in one of the New Years Six Bowl Games. Recently, they projected all of the bowl games for the upcoming season, and sure enough, the Notre Dame football team was playing on January 1, 2022.
Their opponent? The Coastal Carolina Chanticleers.
In the piece, Brad Crawford discusses that the Irish could in fact play the Cincinnati Bearcats in this matchup, which would be an incredible storyline. Not only does Notre Dame play Cincinnati during the regular season, but they stole their defensive coordinator from them, landing Freeman this offseason.
A New Years Six bowl game would be an excellent end to the season for Notre Dame, especially with how many players they lost to the draft. If they end up playing on January 1, that means the team was once again one of the best in the country, and with loaded classes coming in 2022 and 2023, this is definitely a program trending in the right direction.