New Year's Six And The Big 12 Are The Latest Bowl Projections For Notre Dame

There are two popular destinations for Notre Dame in the latest round of bowl projections.

Notre Dame improved to 8-2 on the season after it smacked down Navy, and that 52-20 victory was certainly a resume builder for the Irish. The weekend saw a shake up on a number of levels, and while it hasn't changed anyone's mind on what bowl Notre Dame will play in, it has changed who the Irish will play.

Sporting News national college football writer Bill Bender has Notre Dame projected to play in a New Year's Six bowl game. Bender has Notre Dame set to play Memphis, who he projects to get the Group of 5 spot in the major bowls. Like Bender, I believe this is a much more realistic spot for Notre Dame than most.

Notre Dame and Memphis have never played on the football field.

ESPN writers Kyle Bonagura and Mark Schlabach both project Notre Dame to the Camping World Bowl, which is the game they've had the Irish for the last couple of weeks. What has changed is the opponent, at least for Bonagura.

Schlabach still has Notre Dame slated to play Oklahoma State, who improved to 7-3 this past weekend after a 31-13 victory over Kansas.

Bonagura has Notre Dame slated to play Iowa State. Last week, Bonagura had the Irish projected to play Texas, but the Cyclones beat the Longhorns (23-21) this weekend with a last-second field goal. With that win, Iowa State (6-4) has jumped ahead of Texas in the Big 12 and into the Camping World Bowl against the Irish.

Notre Dame and Iowa State have never played on the football field.

I will have more on the New Year's Six possibility for Notre Dame after the release of this week's College Football Playoff rankings.

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