Notre Dame Football: What’s your confidence level about the Fiesta Bowl against the Oklahoma State Cowboys?

As the joke goes... the Notre Dame Fighting Irish are heading back out to the desert to take on an OSU team in the Fiesta Bowl — what could go wrong? The Irish have already played the Oregon State Beavers and Ohio State Buckeyes in three games that saw Notre Dame outscored 119-57. The next OSU on the list are the Oklahoma State Cowboys.

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The opening line for the game had Notre Dame as a 2 point favorite, and now according to DraftKings Sportsbook, the Irish have slightly bumped up to 2.5 point favorites. So for those that love math... we’re talking about a field goal game.

So what’s your confidence level at the moment?

While both the Irish and the Cowboys have some opt-outs in this game, it doesn’t seem to be as much as others this bowl season. Notre Dame has been playing winning football without Kyle Hamilton for half a season, and the combination of Logan Diggs and Chris Tyree seem capable of making up for Kyren Williams.

Of course... the opt outs are just a small part of this for Notre Dame. This will be Marcus Freeman’s first game as the head coach of the Irish, and despite most of the same staff in place, we really don’t know exactly how this will all work. Stability usually seems to give a team the upperhand in bowl games — but an argument can be made that Notre Dame is more stable than OSU right now with Cowboys defensive coordinator Jim Knowles on his way to Columbus.

We’re just getting started this week, but after having weeks between the Fiesta Bowl announcement and now — I think many of us have a fair idea about how we think this game will shake out.

Take a moment to vote in the poll, and get your early in the week thoughts out in the comments section. What are your concerns? What gives you confidence?

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