If you think trying to figure out a college football season in the middle of a global pandemic is difficult, think for a second about how hard it will be to plan out college football’s postseason this winter.
The Big Ten, Pac-12, Mountain West and MAC have all canceled their seasons, leaving FBS with just over half of their normal 130 teams even playing this fall.
Jerry Palm of CBS Sports gave his best effort in projecting who will end up where this post-season and for as insane as some games might look, take an LSU vs. Appalachian State Outback Bowl for instance, where he has Notre Dame headed is hardly a rare destination for the Fighting Irish.
And their opponent is hardly a stranger in the post-season, either.
Jerry Palm’s Notre Dame Bowl Projection on August 26, 2020:
Cotton Bowl – December 30, 2020 – Arlington, Texas
Notre Dame vs. Texas
A trip to the Cotton Bowl would mean Notre Dame likely went either 11-1 with an ACC Championship Game loss or 10-2 on the regular season.
It would also mean a familiar post-season destination for both Notre Dame and Texas. The Irish have played in the Cotton Bowl eight times in program history, the most of any bowl game.
Texas has played in the Cotton Bowl 22 times with their conference tie-ins between the old SWC and now in the Big 12.
Notre Dame and Texas have met in three of those Cotton Bowl games all-time with the Irish winning the 1971 and 1978 meetings while the Longhorns took the battle in 1970.