Tag: New Years Six

CBS Sports’ Jerry Palm predicts Notre Dame-Clemson in Orange Bowl

Would you like to see this rematch?

We have no idea how Notre Dame’s season will play out. Sure, it probably will be a very good one like everyone is predicting, but those predictions are just those. You can say that for just about every team in college football. Still, Jerry Palm of CBS Sports took a crack at predicting every bowl matchup for the coming season, and he has the Irish and Clemson in the Orange Bowl less than two months after the programs’ Nov. 5 meeting at Notre Dame Stadium.

If this comes to pass, five of the Irish’s seven most recent bowls will have been a New Year’s Six bowl. It would give the Irish their third chance since 2018 to beat the Tigers on a big stage after failing badly in the 2018 Cotton Bowl and the 2020 ACC title game. It also would be the Irish’s first Orange Bowl berth since a 31-26 loss to Florida State on New Year’s Day in 1996.

You know you want to see [autotag]Marcus Freeman[/autotag] and his team tossing the oranges from that trophy out to whoever is in the vicinity after that game, so let’s see them make it happen.

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Where do the Sooners rank among schools with multiple New Year’s Six Bowl games played?

In 2014, the College Football Playoff replaced the BCS, and with it came the New Year’s Six. Who has appeared the most in these matchups?

When the powers that be looked to replace the Bowl Championship Series with the College Football Playoff, the unofficial formation of the New Year’s Six came into being. The bowl games consisted of the Rose, Sugar, Orange, Cotton, Peach, and Fiesta, with the semifinal games of the College Football Playoff rotating between the six top-tier games.

In the history of the College Football Playoff and the New Year’s Six, 22 FBS programs have participated in multiple games in the eight-year history of the format.

The Alabama Crimson Tide have led the way in New Year’s Six games because of their incredible run in the College Football Playoff. Since its inception, Alabama has played 13 games in the CFP, compiling a 9-4 record, with three national championships. While they’ve played in the most games, the Ohio State Buckeyes have the most consecutive years in the New Year’s Six at eight. Alabama missed out in 2019 when LSU had their dominant run, and the Crimson Tide also lost to Auburn, giving them the rare two-loss regular season.

Like Alabama, the Clemson Tigers have been all or nothing, appearing in the College Football Playoff six times but not in a non-playoff New Year’s Six bowl game since the playoff was instituted back in 2014.

The Notre Dame Fighting Irish hold the distinction of the most New Year’s Six appearances without a win, going 0-4.

Below are each of the 22 schools who have participated in a New Year’s Six bowl game since 2014, ranked by games played with ties going to schools with the better record and the more recent win in one of the upper-tier bowl games.

Interesting stat makes Notre Dame one of two schools to accomplish feat

Elite company

It’s not just about athletics with Notre Dame, obviously a top level education is part of student-athlete experience. For many of the academic-first schools, the work in the classroom trumps on the field.

It’s different for the Irish, as they have shown to be able to compete at a high-level along with getting a renown degree. As for the athletics, RedditCFB’s Twitter handle pointed out an interesting stat: just two school made a New Year’s Six Bowl game and will compete in the College World Series. The Irish, along with Ole Miss, are the two schools that hold the impressive distinction.

The football team has a ton of momentum, with [autotag]Marcus Freeman[/autotag] heading into his first full season as the head coach. As for the baseball team, [autotag]Link Jarrett[/autotag] has taken them back to the CWS for the first time in 20-years. It’s an accomplishment that is noteworthy, not just because the Irish knocked off the top-seed in the tournament, Tennessee.

The fact that the Irish are able to succeed on the football field and the baseball diamond at a high-level is a great sign that the athletic department headed by [autotag]Jack Swarbrick[/autotag] have been making the right moves.

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Lou Holtz prayed Rosary for Notre Dame to win national title

Did the power of prayer help the Irish win their last national title?

This probably won’t surprise anyone, but Lou Holtz is a man of faith. That being the case, it only made sense that he and a Catholic university like Notre Dame worked so well together for so long. In fact, it was because Holtz prayed the Rosary on a regular basis that the Irish achieved great success in 1987 and 1988, or so he says in this interview:

https://www.instagram.com/p/CaVVFUXjI8J/

After Holtz’s first time praying the Rosary for 30 days, the Irish made it to the Cotton Bowl, the program’s first New Year’s Six bowl in seven years. The Irish suffered a 35-10 loss to Texas A&M in that game. Of course, the Irish won their most recent national championship the next year, and that followed another 30-day period of Holtz praying the Rosary.

Give whatever reasons you want for the Irish’s success during that two-year period, but as far as Holtz is concerned, his devotion to prayer was the primary thing that put his team over the top.

Contact/Follow us @IrishWireND on Twitter, and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Notre Dame news, notes, and opinions.

Follow Geoffrey on Twitter: @gfclark89

Fiesta Bowl: First-Quarter Analysis

Looking pretty awesome right now, no?

It would be completely unfair to judge how the Marcus Freeman era is going to go based on one quarter. However, if the first quarter of the Fiesta Bowl is any indication, this is going to be one fun era of Notre Dame football. Naturally, we could have a completely different mood by the end of this game. In the meantime, we gladly will feel good about this 14-7 lead against Oklahoma State.

The first drive for Tommy Rees’ offense under Freeman lasted 99 seconds because that was all it took to reach the end zone. With Kyren Williams having opted out, Rees decided to go with all passes on the drive, and it paid off. On the first two plays, Jack Coan completed passes of 25 yards to Chris Tyree and 15 yards to Kevin Austin. Soon after, Coan found Lorenzo Styles for a 29-yard touchdown.

Despite giving up a first down on its first play, the Irish’s defense promptly settled in. With the Cowboys facing third-and-7, Isaiah Foskey sacked Spencer Sanders for an 11-yard loss to snuff the drive out. The teams then traded three-and-outs before Chris Tyree ended the Irish’s next offensive drive by taking another Coan pass 53 yards to the house on third down. That outcome had looked unlikely considering the Irish had just been penalized for back-to-back false starts.

After that, there was another swap of three-and-outs, and that served as a precursor to the Cowboys finally finding some life on offense. Mixing up runs and passes, they successfully executed a drive that started at their own 18-yard line and ended with Sanders throwing a 9-yard touchdown pass to Jaden Bray.

The touchdown was a message that the Cowboys weren’t going to just roll over in this New Year’s Six bowl. Another one was sent when Brock Martin sacked Coan to force another three-and-out for the Irish. The Cowboys had the ball when the clock hit zero on the quarter, and they would love to get this game tied soon.

What the experts are predicting: Fiesta Bowl

Notre Dame hasn’t won a major bowl in over a quarter of a century. It can snap that skid against Oklahoma State in the Fiesta Bowl on New Year’s Day. All eyes will be on Marcus Freeman in his first game as head coach of this legendary program. A …

Notre Dame hasn’t won a major bowl in over a quarter of a century. It can snap that skid against Oklahoma State in the Fiesta Bowl on New Year’s Day. All eyes will be on Marcus Freeman in his first game as head coach of this legendary program. A victory would go a long way in giving the Irish confidence for the 2022 season.

Let’s look at what some college football experts, including those on the Wire sites, are predicting for this game:

Notre Dame updates their depth chart ahead of PlayStation Fiesta Bowl

Who made strides during bowl prep?

As always between the last game of the regular season and a team’s bowl game, there is plenty of movement on the depth chart. It can be players opting out of the game and moving on to the NFL like safety Kyle Hamilton and running back Kyren Williams. It could be an injury as well, like the one offensive lineman Josh Lugg suffered.

To get some more insight as to what the Irish will look like they they take the field on New Year’s Day against Oklahoma State, you have to look at the depth chart. There not a ton of movement but enough for us to take a look at who could be big players for the Irish on Saturday afternoon.

Related:

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SEC Network’s Peter Burns: ‘Better for Notre Dame’ to lose game

Bad take.

Once Notre Dame suffered a 24-13 loss to Cincinnati, everyone knew its College Football Playoff chances had gone down to virtually zero. As is custom for people who don’t care for the Irish, their emotions ranged from nothing short of gleeful to relieved that a “real” team now can make the playoff. One person who took to Twitter to express his thoughts on the matter was Peter Burns, a studio anchor for the SEC Network. It took him until Sunday morning to do so, but he held nothing back:

Mike Golic Jr. wasted little time responding to Burns, as did his father:

I’m not going to pretend that the Irish have risen to the occasion when they’ve made the playoff or even looked pretty in those games. However, why can’t we have our cake and eat it, too? Isn’t being considered one of only four teams good enough to play for college football’s top prize an honor in its own right? It should be, especially for teams not in the SEC.

Every fan wants their team to win a national championship, but they know it isn’t destined to happen every year. Three of the four teams who make the playoff won’t have that ultimate goal realized. Still, look at all of the teams that don’t make the cut. I’d even say that it’s insulting to list the teams that immediately missed the cut.

Is Burns really saying that a program like Notre Dame would be better off playing in a bowl game nobody watches or at least has no real stakes involved? Sure, the Irish would be happy to be invited to a New Year’s Six Bowl, but shouldn’t they make the playoff if they had a strong regular season with one or zero losses? Pick another hill to die on, Peter.

Twice in one year? CBS Sports updates Notre Dame bowl projections

Anyone starting to feel like this bowl game would be a disappointment?

2020 saw Notre Dame take on Clemson twice as the two met in the regular season as well as the ACC championship game.  Back in 1997 the Irish won in Death Valley over LSU before falling to the Tigers in a rematch in the Independence Bowl that December.

If Jerry Palm of CBS Sports is correct, 2021 Notre Dame would be playing another team twice in the same year.  Palm’s latest bowl projections have Notre Dame heading to Atlanta at the end of the year to take part in the Peach Bowl against Virginia Tech.

Virginia Tech currently sits at 3-1 as they’re on their bye week before hosting Notre Dame at Lane Stadium next week.  They’ll be the third of five teams this fall to take on Notre Dame following a bye.  Wisconsin already did while Cincinnati fits that mold entering this weekend.

Related:

ESPN FPI projects all eight remaining Notre Dame games

Notre Dame releases depth chart for test with No. 8 Cincinnati

Notre Dame running back returns to lineup for Cincinnati showdown

Notre Dame-Cincinnati: Running back statistical comps

Rain on the way for Notre Dame-Cincinnati?

Kirk Herbstreit ranks college football’s top-six teams

Should Group of Five schools conduct their own championship?

Why are we keeping the Group of Five under the same umbrella as the Power Five?

Talk of Big 12 schools leaving the conference for greener pastures means the future of college football has become a hot topic yet again. There’s speculation that longtime rivals Texas and Oklahoma will leave for the SEC. We’ve also heard of Kansas and Iowa State heading to the Big Ten. It makes one wonder if the Big 12 even has a future as a Power Five conference.

Then, amidst all that discussion, you see tweets like this from Statistically Speaking Podcast host Kyle Umlang:

Notre Dame no longer being an independent aside, this graphic gives you pause. Note that some Group of Five schools have been bumped up to Power Five status. “Some” is the key word here. Most of them remain on the outside looking in.

The point is the Power Five conferences only are going to get bigger as time goes on. Unless they eventually admit all Group of Five schools, which is unlikely, what’s even the point of those schools trying to compete with the big boys? Invitations to major bowls already are hard to come by for them, and the new College Football Playoff proposal only serves to benefit the Power Five even more.

Given all of this, there is only one solution: Break the Group of Five conferences away from the Power Five, and let them compete for their own championship. The likes of Northern Illinois and UAB have no hope of winning a national championship under the current or future structure. A new playoff system just for them would at least give them a shot at adding serious hardware to their trophy case. No reasonable college football observer can say they have one now.

Power Five schools still would be allowed to schedule Group of Five schools if they wish, just like they currently do with Football Championship Subdivision Schools. After all, Nick Saban is well within his right to schedule lesser opponents just ahead of the Iron Bowl, as cheap as that is. However, it no longer does any good for the Power Five and Group of Five to compete under the same umbrella. The Group of Five schools barely ever has a shot at New Year’s Six bowls anymore, let alone a national title. That structure is keeping these programs from growing, and they’re stuck where they are as a result.

Let’s discontinue this charade of all Football Bowl Subdivision schools being on equal footing. It’s not true, and everyone knows it. By starting a new playoff for the Group of Five, there would be more opportunities for those schools to play for high stakes, and that would be better for the development of both the players and coaches. When the best you realistically can hope for is a conference championship, something is amiss. At least with March Madness, every Division I conference has a shot at standing above the rest.

Let’s add yet another champion to the college football season. Some might call it a cheap move, but is it any better than what we have now? Heck, the new Division I subdivision can take some of the bowls its team already gets sent to. Would it really bother the Power Five schools if they didn’t get to go to the New Orleans Bowl or Bahamas Bowl?

The national championship is the goal for every team. Give the Group of Five teams a chance. It’s time to set them free from the grips of the Power Five.