Notre Dame Football: 3 potential 2019 bowl destinations for Irish

2. Fiesta Bowl

UPDATE: Yes, I realize that the Fiesta Bowl is a national semifinal and had a bit of a brain lapse. Will address this on my next podcast.

The Fiesta Bowl seems more likely a destination than the Orange Bowl. Unlike the Orange, the Fiesta Bowl, Peach Bowl and Cotton Bowl don’t have the rigid restrictions on who they select.

Traditionally Notre Dame goes to the Fiesta Bowl when they are eligible for the New Year’s Six. Of course, their watershed moment came in 1989 when they defeated the West Virginia Mountaineers for the National Championship.

Here’s a scenario for Notre Dame getting in the Fiesta Bowl

Matchups

With the Fiesta being fairly wide open, this is usually the bowl game that favors matchups that fans would enjoy.

The revenge games: Michigan, Georgia

This one’s been played this season, but some people wonder if the 45-14 pummeling the Wolverines gave the Irish was an aberration or legit. This would be the perfect time for the Irish to prove it was a fluke, and for the Wolverines to prove it wasn’t. This might be a stretch simply because Michigan is ranked No. 14 and there are many other teams ahead of the Wolverines for this bowl.

Georgia would be the likely candidate in the revenge bowl. Both the Irish and the Bulldogs have evolved since their early season matchup. Could the Irish prove they can beat a big time SEC opponent?

Program measures: Florida, Auburn

If there’s any criticism of Notre Dame, it’s their team speed. What better measure of how fast they truly are than a game against an SEC opponent. The Fiesta Bowl usually chooses from the top 12 and a 10-win Notre Dame team (if they aren’t in the top 12). Both Florida and Auburn are  in the top 12 at No. 8 and No. 11, respectively. This would be the test for Notre Dame and where they are as a program. Especially if they could handle that SEC speed. It would be interesting to see who the Fiesta Bowl committee chooses if the Irish get the invite.

The battle of tradition: Alabama

The Alabama Crimson Tide and the Notre Dame Fighting Irish are two of the most historic programs in college football history. Ironically, they haven’t played very often. They’ve only played seven times; the last time being in the 2013 National Championship Game.

Their first meeting was the 1973 Sugar Bowl. Labeled “The Game of the Century” the Irish came away with a 24-23 victory. We know what happened in the BCS Title game in 2013; the Irish were out-manned and outgunned by the Crimson Tide 42-14.

This would be a good one because each team have history as programs, but not much history with one another. We all know how good Alabama’s wide receivers are, they would be tested against Notre Dame’s pass rush and secondary.