Notre Dame Football: Irish bowl projections after conference championship weekend

Conference championship weekend is officially over and the short story is that not of enough good things happened to push the Notre Dame Fighting Irish into the college football playoff. The day started fun enough with the Baylor Bears taking down the Oklahoma State Cowboys by an inch in the Big 12 championship game.

And that was all the joy we had as hope died a slow death in the after noon and evening. Georgia lost to Alabama, Cincinnati beat Houston, and Michigan took care of a terrible Iowa team. While the seeding will be worked out soon enough by the committee, I imagine the rankings will look like this:

1. Alabama Crimson Tide
2. Michigan Wolverines
3. Georgia Bulldogs
4. Cincinnati Bearcats

Coming in HOT at #5 will likely be the Irish. So what bowl game will that put them in? As of late Saturday night, the projections have a heavy favorite — but it’s not unanimous.

CBS (Palm)

Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl
Mercedes-Benz Stadium (Atlanta)
December 30, 7 p.m. on ESPN and the ESPN App

Notre Dame VS Pittsburgh Panthers

CFN

PlayStation Fiesta Bowl
State Farm Stadium (Glendale, Arizona)
January 1, 1 p.m. on ESPN and the ESPN App

Notre Dame VS Oklahoma State Cowboys

ATHLON

PlayStation Fiesta Bowl
State Farm Stadium (Glendale, Arizona)
January 1, 1 p.m. on ESPN and the ESPN App

Notre Dame VS Oklahoma State Cowboys

ESPN (Bonagura)

PlayStation Fiesta Bowl
State Farm Stadium (Glendale, Arizona)
January 1, 1 p.m. on ESPN and the ESPN App

Notre Dame VS Oklahoma State Cowboys

ESPN (Schlabach)

Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl
Mercedes-Benz Stadium (Atlanta)
December 30, 7 p.m. on ESPN and the ESPN App

Notre Dame VS Pittsburgh Panthers

ACTION (McMurphy)

PlayStation Fiesta Bowl
State Farm Stadium (Glendale, Arizona)
January 1, 1 p.m. on ESPN and the ESPN App

Notre Dame VS Oklahoma State Cowboys

Personally, I have a preference for the Michigan State Spartans in the Fiesta Bowl — but that doesn’t seem to be a thing. I wouldn’t mind the Peach Bowl against Pitt, but I suppose there is a certain attractiveness to playing Oklahoma State out west.

Most of the New Years Six games the Irish played over the past 20 years came against teams that just missed out on a chance at a national championship — or was a team on the rise (or whatever). While most of us are probably disappointed that the playoff is off the table this year, there is a massive opportunity here for Notre Dame and tremendous motivation for the team and the new head man — Marcus Freeman.

It’s Notre Dame’s turn to be the most dangerous team in the non-playoff New Years Six games, and end this ridiculous streak.