Notre Dame Football: 3 bold predictions vs Oklahoma State in Fiesta Bowl

Notre Dame and Oklahoma State is a great matchup to kick off the new year on Saturday in the PlayStation Fiesta Bowl. Get the snacks and drinks ready for what should be a very entertaining game between two of the better teams in the country.

Both of these teams would rather be playing in the college football playoffs, but it just did not turn out that way for either Notre Dame or Oklahoma State this season as they came up a bit short with finishing in the top four and on the outside looking in when it was all said and done. This may not be a playoff game but it is a really good matchup against two top 10 teams in the nation.

Notre Dame comes into this matchup 11-1 with their lone loss to Cincinnati on October 2nd in South Bend. While Oklahoma State finished the season 11-2 with their most recent loss to Baylor in the Big 12 Championship game in Dallas.

What really makes this game intriguing is that the Irish and the Cowboys have never played against each other on the football field. With both programs having major success it is hard to believe they have never matched up in the past leading up to the Fiesta Bowl.

For Notre Dame, they had a rollercoaster type week in their football program about a month ago. The Irish went from beating Stanford on November 27th to finishing out the regular season for their 11th win to losing head coach Brian Kelly just a few days later.

This was a move that really caught the college football landscape by surprise. The Irish quickly wasted no time in offering the job to defensive coordinator Marcus Freeman a few days later, and also were able to keep offensive coordinator Tommy Rees in South Bend. Marcus Freeman was also able to keep almost all the assistant coaches at Notre Dame which really was huge in keeping their top-10 recruiting class intact as a unit.

The Irish will be without two of their stars when they take the field Saturday in Arizona. Safety Kyle Hamilton and running back Kyren Williams both have opted out of the bowl game for Notre Dame and officially declared for the upcoming NFL Draft.

Hamilton has not suited up since injuring himself against USC in October. Williams played the whole year but decided the bowl game was really not worth the risk of potentially injuring himself. This was most likely a very tough decision since they are both loved by their teammates and seem to be the team-first type of players.

The Irish may be without those two of their star players but still are loaded with talent on both sides of the ball. Notre Dame is led at quarterback by Jack Coan who really has had a great year. It was not pretty early on in parts of the season for the graduate transfer but Jack Coan is a huge reason why Notre Dame finished out the regular season with 11 wins under its belt.

Even though  Kyren Williams is no longer in the backfield the Irish still have tons of talent in running backs Chris Tyree, Logan Diggs, and Audric Estime. The Cowboys will have their hands full in the passing game led by one of the best tight ends in the nation with Michael Mayer, along with talented wide receiver Kevin Austin Jr. as well on the perimeter.

Oklahoma State comes into this game having a very successful season so far and looking to finish the year out with a victory to head momentum into next year. The Cowboys’ two losses are to Iowa State and then their last game where they literally lost a game by a few inches to Baylor in the Big 12 title game.

The strength of this Oklahoma State team is definitely on the defense side of the ball. The Cowboys defense is one of the best defensive units in the country.

According to the NCAA stats on their website, Oklahoma State comes into this game ranked at number three in total defense. Wisconsin is currently number one and if you are a fan of Notre Dame you already saw them earlier this year.

One player on the Cowboys’ defense that is having a fascinating year is defense end Collin Oliver. The freshman comes into this game with 11.5 sacks on the year. This is an impressive way to start off his collegiate career. It will be a very interesting matchup to see the OSU defense and how they match up against the Notre Dame offense.

Another great player for Oklahoma State is linebacker Malcolm Rodriguez. The senior linebacker is a tackling machine for the Cowboys. This year alone Rodriguez has had six games where he recorded at least 11 tackles in that contest.

It is no secret that the Cowboys are more powerful on the defensive side of the ball, but they still have multiple playmakers on the offensive side of the ball that can do a lot of damage and cause problems for the Irish. One of the players that Marcus Freeman and the Irish are going to have to contain is Spencer Sanders. The quarterback in Sanders has had his ups and downs throughout the year like Jack Coan, but unlike the Irish quarterback, Sanders really can beat you with his arms and his legs.

The Cowboys will also be getting their lead rusher back in Jaylen Warren. The talented running back had to miss the Big 12 Championship game and OSU was still able to go wire to wire with Baylor. Getting Warren back will be huge for the Cowboys’ running game because without him they were very one-dimensional and had no real threat on the ground against Baylor.

Can the Irish finally break their streak of losing in a New Year’s Six bowl game? Since 1995 Notre Dame is 0-8 in their New Year’s Six Bowl games. New head coach Marcus Freeman is not only looking for his first career win at Notre Dame but also to break this streak so people can stop mentioning it year after year. Or on the flip side will Spencer Sanders and the Cowboys help extend that losing streak to nine straight?

Here are three bold predictions for Notre Dame in the Fiesta Bowl.