Fighting Irish Bowl History: Who Is Notre Dame's Most Common Bowl Opponent?

The Notre Dame Fighting Irish have a very turbulent bowl history, but one of the most common themes (outside of losing big bowl games) is that they seem to draw the same opponents.

Notre Dame has played in 35 bowl games in its long history. Only 35, you say? Well, yes - the Irish played in one bowl game in 1925, and then refused to play in another bowl game for 45 years because of a school policy that had to do with the academic calendar.

The first bowl game Notre Dame ever played in was the 1925 Rose Bowl - the grandaddy of them all. Notre Dame beat the Stanford Cardinal 27-10 (although they weren't even the Stanford Indians at the time). Fast-forward 45 years and the Irish lost to the Texas Longhorns in the 1970 Cotton Bowl, 21-17.

Notre Dame has played in 15 different bowl games overall:

• Rose Bowl (1)
• Cotton Bowl (7)
• Orange Bowl (5)
• Fiesta Bowl (5)
• Sugar Bowl (4)
• Gator Bowl (3)
• Liberty Bowl
• Aloha Bowl
• Independence Bowl
• Insight Bowl
• Hawai'i Bowl
• Sun Bowl
• Champs Sports
• BCS National Championship
• Pinstripe Bowl
• Music City Bowl

Notre Dame has faced 22 different schools. 8 schools have been played multiple times.

• Texas Longhorns (2-1)
• Alabama Crimson Tide (2-1)
• Texas A&M Aggies (2-1)
• Colorado Buffaloes (1-2)
• LSU Tigers (1-2)
• Oregon State Beavers (0-2)
• Ohio State Buckeyes (0-2)
• Florida State Seminoles (0-2)

The other 14 schools are the: Stanford Cardinal, Nebraska Cornhuskers, Penn State Nittany Lions, Houston Cougars, Georgia Bulldogs, Boston College Eagles, SMU Mustangs, West Virginia Mountaineers, Florida Gators, Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets, N.C. State Wolfpack, Hawaii Warriors, Miami-Florida Hurricanes, and Rutgers Scarlet Knights.

What does the upcoming Citrus Bowl represent?

This will be the first time the Irish have played in the Citrus Bowl, making it the 16th different bowl game in program history. While that may be a first, Notre Dame's opponent is not, as this will be the 4th time the Irish have played the LSU Tigers in a bowl game - the most ever against a single school.

With a win, Notre Dame can:

• Even up its bowl record at 18-18
• Even up its record against LSU in a bowl game at 2-2
• Even op Brian Kelly's record in bowl games with the Irish at 3-3
• Claim a New Years Day bowl win for the first time since the 1994 Cotton Bowl

While the Citrus Bowl isn't part of the New Years Six Bowl grouping, it is still one of the premier bowl games in college football, and certainly the game can hold itself up to the Peach Bowl over the years.