A look back at Tennessee’s win versus Iowa in Jacksonville

A look back at Tennessee’s win versus Iowa in Jacksonville, Florida.

No. 23 Tennessee (8-4, 4-4 SEC) will play No. 17 Iowa (10-3, 7-2 Big Ten) in the Cheez-It Citrus Bowl on Jan. 1, 2024.

Kickoff is scheduled for 1 p.m. EST at Camping World Stadium in Orlando, Florida.

The Vols and Hawkeyes have played three times with Tennessee holding a 2-1 advantage in the all time series.

Tennessee and Iowa last played on Jan. 2, 2015 in the TaxSlayer Gator Bowl in Jacksonville, Florida. The Vols defeated Iowa, 45-28.

With the victory, Tennessee improved to 7-6 and recorded its first winning season since 2009.

Tennessee scored three touchdowns in the first quarter. Running back Jalen Hurd scored two rushing touchdowns. Hurd totaled 122 rushing yards and two touchdowns on 16 attempts.

Quarterback Joshua Dobbs rushed for two touchdowns and completed a 19-yard touchdown pass to Von Pearson.

Dobbs completed 16-of-21 passing attempts for 129 yards, one touchdown and one interception, while rushing for 76 yards and two touchdowns.

He was named MVP.

Pearson led Tennessee with seven receptions for 75 yards and one touchdown.

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247Sports says Notre Dame football could crash the College Football Playoff party

Hype helps

The second year of [autotag]Marcus Freeman[/autotag]’s tenure with [autotag]Notre Dame[/autotag] football is shaping up to be a very prosperous one. After a first full season in which the Irish won 9 games, including the [autotag]TaxSlayer Gator Bowl[/autotag], the program is on the rise once again.

The offseason addition of quarterback [autotag]Sam Hartman[/autotag] shores up the quarterback spot, and Notre Dame will return plenty of talent from the 2022 team. With that in mind, Brandon Marcello of 247Sports took a look a which teams could crash the [autotag]College Football Playoff[/autotag] field this fall, and Notre Dame was selected.

Now, I’m not sure crashing is the appropriate term for the Irish, given they have make it to the playoff in two of the last five years. But what is important is people believe the program has a chance. Marcello explained “Notre Dame has the talent to compete for a spot in the College Football Playoff in 2023 and they have a quarterback with a championship pedigree to get them there.”

I see a bunch of factors what could contribute to making the field that Marcello explained above, ones that should excite Notre Dame fans for what is to come this year. All the pieces are there for the Irish to make another run at a playoff spot.

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CBS Sports grades Notre Dame’s Marcus Freeman after his first season

What grade do you give Freeman after year 1?

We know how [autotag]Notre Dame[/autotag] finished the first season with [autotag]Marcus Freeman[/autotag] as the head coach: a thrilling, 45-38, [autotag]TaxSlayer Gator Bowl[/autotag] win over [autotag]South Carolina[/autotag]. The victory gave Freeman a 9-4 record in his first full season.

That was enough to impress CBS Sports [autotag]Shehan Jeyarajah[/autotag], who graded each first-year coach’s performance.

Jeyarajah noted Freeman “got off to an inauspicious start” as we all know, but after “winning six of the last seven games” he turned things around. That was good enough for Freeman to earn a B grade, which I believe is completely fair.

Obviously there were games the Irish should really have won, [autotag]Marshall[/autotag] and [autotag]Stanford[/autotag]. But the team didn’t throw in the towel and kept battling. By finishing on a high note, the grade most likely was given a bit of a boost. What letter grade do you think Freeman earned during his first year?

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Notre Dame 45, South Carolina 38 TaxSlayer Gator Bowl What Happened, What It All Means

Notre Dame 45, South Carolina 38: TaxSlayer Gator Bowl what happened, player of the game, and what it all means

Notre Dame beat South Carolina 45-38 to win the TaxSlayer Gator Bowl. What happened, who was the player of the game, and what does it all mean?


Notre Dame 45, South Carolina 38 TaxSlayer Gator Bowl What Happened, Player of the Game, What It All Means

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TaxSlayer Gator Bowl What Happened

In a wildly fun and wacky game, Notre Dame was finally able to push through with an 80-yard drive culminating in a 16-yard Tyler Buchner touchdown pass to Mitchell Evans for a 45-38 lead. South Carolina was able to march a little bit, but stalled after a 4th and 36 heave was knocked away. Before that …

South Carolina held a 21-7 lead at the end of the first quarter helped by a fake field goal for a touchdown pass and a pick six of Buchner by DQ Smith. Buchner and the Irish offense were able to fight back – Buchner ran for two scores – but up 38-31 and about to put the game away, O’Donnell Fortune came up with the team’s second pick six 100 yards to tie it up. Buchner made up for it with the final scoring drive.

The South Carolina offense struggled with its consistency – it was missing way too many key players on both sides of the ball – but Spencer Rattler threw two touchdown passes to Xavier Legette, starting out the scoring with a 13-yard strike and with a 42-yarder to take the lead in the third.

100 Best Bowl Players | Ranking How Good the Bowls Were

TaxSlayer Gator Bowl Player of the Game

Tyler Buchner, QB Notre Dame
For good and bad, he was the main man, hitting 18-of-33 passes for 274 yards and three scores with three picks, and he ran 12 times for 61 yards and two scores.

CFN Experts Picks CFP NY6, Dec 28-Jan 2

TaxSlayer Gator Bowl Fun Stats

– Spencer Rattler completed 29-of-46 passes for 246 yards and two scores with a pick, and he ran seven times for 27 yards.

– Time of Possession: Notre Dame 36:39 – South Carolina 23:21

– Total Yards: Notre Dame 558 – South Carolina 352

TaxSlayer Gator Bowl What It All Means

Not that there’s any more pressure on Marcus Freeman than there’d be on any Notre Dame head coach, but after the way the team gacked away last year’s bowl loss to Oklahoma State, giving this one away would’ve hurt. But the Irish hung on, figured out how to get through a rocky performance, and closed going 6-1 with only a loss to USC.

This was the first bowl win since the 2019 Camping World, and now the program is 7-6 since 2008. Before that, the Irish lost nine straight bowl games.

Shane Beamer and the South Carolina staff did a great job considering how many key parts were lost. They pulled out all the stops, got a few big plays out of the defense, and if there’s such a thing as an acceptable bowl loss, this was it. The Gamecocks beat Tennessee, beat Clemson, and showed glimpses of how good they can potentially be.

Even with the loss, this was still the best season since 2017. It was the first bowl loss for Beamer – USC won the Duke’s Mayo last year – and the program is now6-3 in the last nine bowls since 2010.

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2022-2023 Bowl Schedule, Predictions

The day after: Lasting thoughts on Notre Dame’s epic comeback over South Carolina

What still sticks out in your mind Irish fans?

How nice was it to wake up knowing that the Irish were winners of the [autotag]TaxSlayer Gator Bowl[/autotag]? Really nice, right?

As we all continue to watch the remaining bowl games, we can now look back on what happened yesterday and what could happen in the future with [autotag]Marcus Freeman[/autotag] and the [autotag]Notre Dame[/autotag] program. It’s going to be a very interesting off-season in South Bend, one which could very well give us an idea of what to expect going forward.

There were plenty of those thoughts that popped into my head since yesterday and here they are on plenty of Irish topics.

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Hidden plays that helped Notre Dame comeback against South Carolina

The Irish didn’t just use big plays to get a Gator Bowl win

That was fun, wasn’t it? Now that the Irish have their bowl victory in hand, we can all breathe a sigh of relief and celebrate into New Year’s Eve tomorrow night.

Notre Dame didn’t make it easy on themselves early, but hung in there and eventually secured a 45-38 victory over South Carolina in the TaxSlayer Gator Bowl. It game Marcus Freeman his first bowl win and a 9-4 record this season.

The Irish used plenty of big plays to get back into this game, but here were some plays that helped dictate the outcome that weren’t huge and these are those plays.

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5 stars: The best and worst of Notre Dame’s win over South Carolina

That was fun but it wasn’t all good for the Irish

After the first quarter, it looked like this was going to be another disappointing Bowl season for [autotag]Notre Dame[/autotag]. Well, that’s why the game is played for 60 minutes. The Irish chipped away and never gave up.

Their tenacity rewarded them with a 45-38 [autotag]TaxSlayer Gator Bowl[/autotag] victory over [autotag]South Carolina[/autotag], the first of [autotag]Marcus Freeman[/autotag] era in South Bend. They improved to 9-4 with the win. It clearly wasn’t all good for the Irish and here are the best, five stars, and worst, one star, performances for Notre Dame during its comeback win over the Gamecocks.

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Notre Dame vs South Carolina TaxSlayer Gator Bowl Prediction Game Preview

Notre Dame vs South Carolina prediction, TaxSlayer Gator Bowl game preview, odds how to watch Friday, December 30

Notre Dame vs South Carolina prediction, game preview, odds, how to watch. TaxSlayer Gator Bowl, Friday, December 30


Notre Dame vs South Carolina TaxSlayer Gator Bowl Prediction Game Preview

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Notre Dame vs South Carolina How To Watch

Date: Friday, December 30
Game Time: 3:30 ET
Venue: TIAA Bank Stadium, Jacksonville, FL
How To Watch: ESPN
Record: Notre Dame (8-4), South Carolina (8-4)
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Notre Dame vs South Carolina TaxSlayer Gator Bowl 5 Things To Know

TaxSlayer Gator Bowl Prediction, What’s Going To Happen, History

– Notre Dame’s season started bad, got weird, and closes strong before the loss to USC. Call it the Marcus Freeman growing pain campaign. The team was able to figure it out rocked eventual ACC champion Clemson, and it got a nice bowl even though it lost to Marshall and Stanford along the way. After all the weird moments, getting to nine wins and closing out with a bowl would be terrific. There’s a problem, though …

The Irish are losing way too many important players. The pass rush took a major hit through the transfer portal and opt-outs, losing TE Michael Mayer to the NFL is big, and the quarterback situation is potentially a mess. On the flip side …

Spencer Rattler is still in place for South Carolina. But who will he throw to? Star WR Josh Vann is questionable, a ton of tight ends are gone, and lowing RB Marshawn Lloyd to the transfer portal is tough. Throw in the losses in the secondary, and both teams will be throwing way too many unknown starters out there.

No matter what, it was an outstanding season for the Gamecocks. The ruined Clemson’s hope for the College Football Playoff. They ruined Tennessee’s hope for the College Football Playoff. They won seven of their last nine, had a tremendous passing game, but again, someone has to catch the ball.

South Carolina head coach Shane Beamer won last year’s Duke’s Mayo Bowl over North Carolina. That made it six bowl wins in the last eight tries for the program going back to 2010. This doesn’t matter that much one way or another to take away from the season, but beating the Fighting Irish would still be a big deal.

– Notre Dame started going to bowl games in 1925. It took a while off and went back in 1970, and it’s been a mixed bag ever since – to be nice.

After beating Texas A&M in the Cotton Bowl at the end of the 1993 season, the Irish are just 6-15 in bowls including losing the last two, three of the last four, and four of the last six. After the way they collapsed in the Fiesta last year against Oklahoma State, winning this would be a huge deal for Freeman.

The historic game that started in 1946 has been hit-or-miss lately. Rutgers was a late fill-in last year, and it showed in an ugly 38-10 loss to Wake Forest. Texas A&M annihilated NC State in 2018.

Between those two games, the Tennessee 23-22 win over Indiana at the end of the 2019 season and Kentucky’s 23-21 win over NC State at the end of the 2020 campaign were two of the best bowls of the respective seasons.

CFN Experts CFP, NY6, Dec 28-Jan 2

Why Notre Dame Will Win The TaxSlayer Gator Bowl

The Notre Dame personnel losses are huge, but South Carolina’s should be a tad more crippling if this turns into a low-scoring defensive battle.

Yes, the quarterback situation is a bit sketchy, and yes, losing Mayer and a few receivers is a problem, but the running game should still work.

Keep this extremely simple. Line up and pound away with an offense that got better and stronger on the ground as the season wore on, and try to control the clock throughout. The Irish weren’t always great at pounding away – Navy and USC were able to hold up just fine – but good things happened when the O line got into a groove.

They were 6-0 when running for over 150 yards and 7-1 when running for over 130. The South Carolina run defense hasn’t been bad and it shouldn’t be that big of a problem, but it got run on by Florida and Arkansas in losses and is 2-3 when allowing over 200 yards.

However …

Top 100 Bowl Players | Ranking Bowl Games So Far

Why South Carolina Will Win The TaxSlayer Gator Bowl

The Gamecocks will be able to load up against the run.

As is the Notre Dame passing game was hardly cranking up big things, and it can all but forget about anything amazing in this through the air. South Carolina won’t have to do anything funky in the secondary, and its lack of any sort of a pass rush or playmaking ability in the backfield won’t be a problem here.

Offensively, Spencer Rattler has to simply be careful.

Again, a slew of parts might be missing, but there’s a huge advantage at quarterback The Gamecock attack bakes at least two turnovers into the cake every game out, but the Notre Dame defense is hit-or-miss on takeaways. It destroyed Boston College with five of them, but it only forced multiple turnovers three times this season.

Rattler has to be the best offensive player on the field, and he’s got to make everyone around him better.

TaxSlayer Gator Bowl Prediction, What’s Going To Happen, History

NEXT: What’s Going To Happen, Notre Dame vs South Carolina Prediction, TaxSlayer Gator Bowl History

How to watch Notre Dame face South Carolina in the TaxSlayer Gator Bowl

All your viewing information right here Irish fans

Notre Dame is usually the easiest college football team to find on TV because its home games are always on NBC (unless Peacock gets in the way … insert eyeroll emoji) and the vast majority of its road games are easily accessible.

This week the Irish finish off their season by playing South Carolina in the TaxSlayer Gator. Bowl but they’re not playing on their home station.

Here are the viewing notes:

  • Game Day: Dec. 30th, 2022
  • Kickoff: 3:30 p.m. ET
  • TV: ESPN
  • Streaming: ESPN App
  • Venue: TIAA Bank Field

Have fun during the bowl game and go Irish!

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Know your foe, South Carolina: Which Gamecocks can give Notre Dame issues

Who do you think has a big game on the other side Irish fans?

There is a certain bowl allure about about facing teams you don’t normally do. There is an added bonus of facing the team that saw one of your schools most iconic coaches, [autotag]Lou Holtz[/autotag], last roam the sidelines for as well.

This [autotag]TaxSlayer Gator Bowl[/autotag] has all of that and more, as both teams enter their final contest of the 2022 season at 8-4. The Irish lead the all-time series, 3-1, but the last time these two went at each other was in 1984, the only win of the series for [autotag]South Carolina[/autotag].

Much has changed since these two teams previously met, all these players weren’t even born when it happened. The Gamecocks are coming off two very impressive wins, [autotag]Tennessee[/autotag] and [autotag]Clemson[/autotag], and boast a very formidable team. Here are five of them, excluding star quarterback [autotag]Spencer Rattler[/autotag], that could give [autotag]Notre Dame[/autotag] problems Friday afternoon.

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