Fresh off the first win of the Marcus Freeman era, we have to wonder if the Notre Dame Fighting Irish are even going bowling this year.
A lot can change between now and Thanksgiving Weekend, but Marcus Freeman’s Notre Dame Fighting Irish are a long ways away from being College Football Playoff-caliber.
The Golden Domers nearly blew it at home to the California Golden Bears on Saturday afternoon, culminating in Freeman’s first win as the Irish head coach. Entering the ballgame, Freeman was 0-3 since taking over for Brian Kelly, including a Fiesta Bowl loss to Oklahoma State last holiday season. At 1-2 on the year, we have to wonder if Notre Dame is even good enough to go 6-6…
Let’s do something we never thought we would have to do and assess if the Irish will be good enough to go bowling this upcoming holiday season.
Notre Dame football: After first win, are the Irish good enough to go bowling?
Here is what lies ahead for the Fighting Irish in their nine remaining games. If they want to achieve bowl eligibility in Freeman’s first season, Notre Dame must go 5-4 the rest of the way.
- Week 4: at North Carolina Tar Heels (Sept. 24)
- Week 5: Bye
- Week 6: vs. BYU Cougars (Oct. 8) (Allegiant Stadium, Las Vegas)
- Week 7: vs. Stanford Cardinal (Oct. 15)
- Week 8: vs. UNLV Rebels (Oct. 22)
- Week 9: at Syracuse Orange (Oct. 29)
- Week 10: vs. Clemson Tigers (Nov. 5)
- Week 11: vs. Navy Midshipmen (Nov. 12) (M&T Bank Stadium, Baltimore)
- Week 12: vs. Boston College Eagles (Nov. 19)
- Week 13: at USC Trojans (Nov. 26)
So Notre Dame has North Carolina up next in Chapel Hill. The Tar Heels are coming off a bye, as they played Florida A&M in Week 0. Notre Dame will be on its annual bye in Week 5. After that, they play BYU in Las Vegas, get Stanford at home, UNLV at home, have to play Syracuse upstate and indoors, Clemson at home, Navy in Baltimore, Boston College at home and finish with at USC.
For the sake of simplicity, let’s pick three games the Irish are definitely going to win and three they are probably going to lose. UNLV, Stanford and Navy are wins Notre Dame absolutely has to have. A loss to the Rebels, Cardinal or Midshipmen would be devastating for the Irish’s increasingly debatable bowl eligibility chances. Again, this Irish team lost to Marshall and almost lost to Cal…
As far as games Notre Dame is not likely to win, the Irish are not beating Clemson, they are not beating USC in Los Angeles and they’d be lucky to split the pair between at North Carolina and vs. BYU in Las Vegas. At best, this Notre Dame team is going 1-3, maybe 2-2 in that cluster of games. Of course, the luck of the Irish could be on their side here, unlike how it has so not been of late…
As for at Syracuse and home vs. Boston College, those could go either way. The Orange are playing great football right now under Dino Babers, while things are starting to slip away from Jeff Hafley in Chestnut Hill. Right in this moment, the Orange prove victorious over the Irish, while the Eagles are unable to get off the ground in what is looking like another lost season for one Boston College.
At best, this is an 8-4 team, thanks to the early losses to Ohio State and Marshall. It is just so hard to see this Notre Dame team beat Clemson and USC at this time. If it does hit the fan, this team is winning like four games with victories coming over Stanford, UNLV and Navy. Fortunately for the Irish, they should go around 5-4 to finish at a less-than-pleasant 6-6 to achieve bowl eligibility.
With wins over Stanford, UNLV, Navy, Boston College and either BYU, North Carolina or Syracuse, that will be enough for Freeman to lead his program to the saddest of bowl games of all time.
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