Notre Dame Football Bowl Watch

Look, we know this sucks. It’s a horrible season for the Notre Dame Fighting Irish, and I’m sure many of you just want it to end already. I had the same feeling in 2007 and gave offerings of thanksgiving to the football gods for ending it in November.

However, this season could very well end in December. The Irish are still in the hunt for both a bowl bid and the Brian Kelly magic number of 8. Eight, of course, represents the minimum number of wins Brian Kelly gets each year at Notre Dame.

I will now allow for objects to get thrown at the screen.

So, having said those things (sorry if you did, in fact, break your screen) we need to at least examine what bowl games are available and who the Irish might play. 2014 was a pretty craptastic year, and the Music City Bowl is no elite prize, but it did allow the Irish to play and beat one of the premier team in college football in LSU. NOTRE DAME BEAT THE SEC. And as silly as that sounds, it actually matters when you put it into the context of the following season.

In 2015, Notre Dame went 10-3 with a loss in the Fiesta Bowl (also not awesome) but the season was incredibly better and the two losses were both by two points. Had just one of those games been a win instead of a loss, the Irish would have gone to the playoff (I won’t even mention possible results from that scenario). And it all started, really, in the Music City Bowl.

Here are the realistic options that Notre Dame has. I am using SB Nation’s projected bowl games. Basically, we will be plugging Notre Dame into the ACC slot of each game that they may qualify for at the end of this season should they go 6-6 or 7-5.

• Music City Bowl VS South Carolina Gamecocks
• Belk Bowl VS Auburn Tigers
• Sun Bowl VS Arizona State Sun Devils
• Pinstripe Bowl VS Maryland Terrapins
• Military Bowl VS Houston Cougars
• Quick Lane Bowl VS Northwestern Wildcats
• Independence VS Kansas State Wildcats
• St. Petersburg Bowl VS Cincinnati Bearcats

You may destroy another screen now.