Notre Dame Football: 3 bowl game possibilities for the Irish in 2017

3. Goodyear Cotton Bowl Classic (Arlington, Texas)

Let’s go ahead and get the least likely scenario out of the way. Notre Dame will need an extraordinary amount of luck to pull this one off, an amount of luck not even the Irish are at liberty to ask for. With only 12 teams making New Year’s Six bowls, the Irish will need to jump three spots in one week without playing a single game.

With a Group of Five champion (presumably UCF) taking up one of those 12 spots, the only teams even remotely possible for the Irish to jump would be No. 12 Stanford, No. 11 TCU, and No. 8 Ohio State. A poor showing from Stanford could push Notre Dame past the Cardinal, but the Irish would also need blowouts of TCU and Ohio State at the hands of Oklahoma and Wisconsin, respectively.

With the Irish unable to pass either No. 14 UCF or No. 13 Washington as it stands right now, hoping for blowouts is the only thing Notre Dame can do in terms of cracking the top 12. While embarrassing losses from Stanford and TCU are possible, it would take a historical meltdown from Ohio State for the Irish to even get a sniff at a New Year’s Six bowl game.

However, should the unthinkable take place over Championship weekend, the Irish would likely be facing off against the likes of a team such as Penn State. However, given how the Irish have played against Miami and Stanford over the last two weeks, missing a New Year’s matchup might be in their best interest.