Notre Dame Bowl Projections: Irish To Meet Iowa State For The First Time?

The Notre Dame Fighting Irish are likely headed to an Orlando, Florida bowl following their 38-20 loss to the Stanford Cardinal, with the most likely pairing being the Iowa St. Cyclones in the Camping World Bowl.

While the Irish and Iowa Hawkeyes have played 24 times previously, Notre Dame has never played the team from Ames. The Cyclones are 7-5 this year, with big wins against the Oklahoma Sooners and TCU Horned Frogs. They will finish fourth in the Big 12, and aren’t particularly good at anything. (They are ranked 17th in fewest penalties per game.)

NCAA

The Charlotte News-Observer’s Joe Giglio broke it down nicely this morning:

When the Big Ten is the ACC’s opponent in the Orange Bowl, the ACC gets a spot in the Citrus Bowl in Orlando, Fla. And the Big Ten’s contract with the Orange Bowl guarantees that will happen three times in a six-year period.

That means the ACC gets a second spot in Orlando, in addition its deal with the Camping World Bowl on Dec. 28, which is also played in the same stadium.

How does the Big Ten get a spot in the Orange Bowl? That’s purely based on the CFP rankings. Last year, Michigan finished No. 6 in the CFP rankings (eight spots ahead of the next SEC team) and faced Florida State in the Orange Bowl.

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This year, the SEC would take the spot in the Orange if Alabama (11-1) is left out of the playoff. If Alabama makes the playoff, it’s more likely the loser of the Ohio State-Wisconsin Big Ten championship game will end up in the Orange.

Either way, Notre Dame will be Orlando’s top priority. The Irish will play in the Citrus Bowl, if the ACC has two slots, or in the Camping World Bowl, if the ACC only has one slot.

The Irish have previously played in the Camping World Bowl. They lost the 2011 edition to the Florida State Seminoles, 18-14, when it was called the Champs Sports Bowl. (Their Twitter account, @CWBowl, is run by Matt Repchak, a truly funny guy and a good follow.)

If the Irish don’t go to the Camping World Bowl, they may play in another Orlando bowl — the Citrus Bowl. Potential opponents there include the South Carolina Gamecocks (8-4, second in the SEC East) or the LSU Tigers (9-3, third in the SEC West), according to analysts.

The final possible destination remains the Cotton Bowl, which some analysts believe is still in play despite last night’s loss to the Cardinal.