Notre Dame Getting New Year's Six Matchups In Latest Bowl Projections

Notre Dame jumped up to 12th in both the AP and Coaches Poll after its dominant 58-7 victory over Pittsburgh. Over its last two games the Fighting Irish have won by a combined margin of 106-27. Their strong performance is not only climbing the Irish up the polls, it has created some intriguing bowl projections.

After the win Notre Dame is now getting multiple outlets projecting them into a New Year's Six Bowl, and the matchup is quite interesting.

Mark Schlabach and OddShark both project Notre Dame to face Alabama in the postseason, with ESPN's Schlabach projecting the Irish to the Peach Bowl in Atlanta, and OddShark putting them in the Cotton Bowl.

"Alabama and Notre Dame have combined to win nearly 2,000 games, but they've met on the field only eight times during their storied histories (the Irish lead the series 5-3). Thanks to losses by Oklahoma, Oregon State, Utah and others this past weekend, the Fighting Irish might work their way back into consideration for a New Year's Six bowl game. With remaining regular-season games against struggling Clemson, Wake Forest and Stanford, Notre Dame should finish 10-2. A Fighting Irish team with 10 victories is going to be difficult for the CFP selection committee to pass up." - Schlabach

Notre Dame and Alabama have played each other eight times in history, and half of those games were in the postseason. The Irish lead the all-time series 5-3 and the teams are tied at 2-2 in postseason games. Alabama has won the two more recent, defeating the Irish in the BCS title game after the 2012 season and in the Rose Bowl as part of the College Football Playoff following the 2020 season.

On top of the huge matchup against Alabama, this would also pit Alabama offensive coordinator Tommy Rees against his alma mater and former employer. Rees played quarterback at Notre Dame from 2010-13, was the team's quarterbacks coach in 2017-19, and was the team's offensive coordinator from 2020-22.

The Pop Tarts Bowl is still the most often discussed bowl game for Notre Dame at this point, with four different outlets projecting the Irish to this bowl.

ESPN's Kyle Bonagura and Jerry Palm at CBS Sports both have Notre Dame slated to play Oklahoma State in this game, while Sporting News and Athlon have the Irish slated to take on Kansas State.

Notre Dame and Oklahoma State have only faced each other once, with the Cowboys besting the Irish in the 2021 Fiesta Bowl. Notre Dame has never faced Kansas State.

CollegeFootbalNews.com has Notre Dame slated to face Tennessee in the ReliaQuest Bowl. Notre Dame and Tennessee have faced each other eight times, with Notre Dame winning the most recent, which was a 41-21 victory back in 2005. The two teams have never faced each other in a bowl game.

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