Bowl Predictions 2019

[anarin]

Funny how all we heard was SOS will determine rankings, and you see these bum teams playing no one and getting ranked love.

Its the same old story, load up on cupcakes and beat them all.

 

[ACamp1900]

Funny how all we heard was SOS will determine rankings, and you see these bum teams playing no one and getting ranked love.

Its the same old story, load up on cupcakes and beat them all.

Been sayin for years now... and top recruits will follow, then you can start scheduling big boys again.

 

[Sherm Sticky]

The Big Ten teams will play themselves out though. If Michigan loses to Ohio State, unless maybe it’s super-close, they’ll fall behind us. Same with Wisconsin. Minnesota likely has another loss vs either Wisconsin or Ohio State, same with Penn State vs Ohio State. It’s possible they’d stay ahead of us with two losses, but unclear at this point. And one of them can go to the Rose.

Baylor likely loses again - to either Texas or OU - and falls back. PAC-12 probably isn’t a factor for us as the winner of Oregon-Utah likely makes the playoff and the loser goes to the Rose Bowl.

It’s really the SEC that’s boxing us out, with Georgia, Florida and the winner of Bama/Auburn set to claim the Sugar Bowl AND both NY6 at-large spots. FSU somehow heating the Gators would help us a lot.

Again, all assuming we win our remaining games handily, which is obvs not to be taken for granted.

Yup. I mentioned this earlier in the thread. ND’s best hope to make is NY6 bowl is for FSU to beat Florida. FSU has the talent and with Taggert gone they have a chance to salvage their season and get a huge win.


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[Some Irish Bloke]

How the hell is Tennessee gonna make a bowl?

By no means trolling ZV, I just happened to see this second comment on the front page...they've somehow managed to get to 5-5 with Mizzou and Vandy left. Who would've thought. They've won 3 straight and 4/5.

Still...what dark times to be a Vols fan when 6-6 and bowl eligibility seems like a milestone. Talk about a free-fall.

 

[zelezo vlk]

By no means trolling ZV, I just happened to see this second comment on the front page...they've somehow managed to get to 5-5 with Mizzou and Vandy left. Who would've thought. They've won 3 straight and 4/5.

Shocking!

 

[Sea Turtle]

Yup. I mentioned this earlier in the thread. ND’s best hope to make is NY6 bowl is for FSU to beat Florida. FSU has the talent and with Taggert gone they have a chance to salvage their season and get a huge win.


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This is my fear with the Stanford game.

 

[Some Irish Bloke]

Yup. I mentioned this earlier in the thread. ND’s best hope to make is NY6 bowl is for FSU to beat Florida. FSU has the talent and with Taggert gone they have a chance to salvage their season and get a huge win.


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I hate any scenario that requires us to cheer for FSU. But I guess in this case, what choice do we have. Our season's ceiling at this point is getting the NY6/legacy BCS bowl streak monkey off of our back.

 

[BabyIrish]

Funny how all we heard was SOS will determine rankings, and you see these bum teams playing no one and getting ranked love.

Its the same old story, load up on cupcakes and beat them all.

Yeah it’s comical that an unranked ACC Team is gonna be in the Orange Bowl.

 

[IrishSteelhead]

We will finish the year with zero wins against ranked teams. Cant be too upset with the predicament. A win over Michigan, and a loss against, say, Virginia, would have worked out better IMO.



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[Luckylucci]

We will finish the year with zero wins against ranked teams. Cant be too upset with the predicament. A win over Michigan, and a loss against, say, Virginia, would have worked out better IMO.



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Ranked at the end of the season or at the time of playing them?

 

[Sherm Sticky]

This is my fear with the Stanford game.

You can't think that way. This team and Brian Kelly are finally ready and are hungry to end the losing streak in Palo Alto!. Last win in Palo Alto was 2007...jeeeeez

 

[SouthernIndianaNDFan]

This is my fear with the Stanford game.

They lose to Stanford, then the coaching staff should be excommunicated, not allowed on the plane back. Excommunocado (John Wick).

 

[IrishSteelhead]

Ranked at the end of the season or at the time of playing them?

End of season. UVA, VT, and Navy were ranked when we beat them.


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[Sherm Sticky]

End of season. UVA, VT, and Navy were ranked when we beat them.


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There is a good probability 1 or 2 of those teams will be ranked.

USC could be ranked by the end of the year also.

 

[Rhode Irish]

My understanding is that the Cotton Bowl takes two at-large teams since they don’t have a CFP game this year. Why would ND end up in the Camping Bowl or whatever rather than the Cotton Bowl? ESPN’s bowl projections have Cincinnati/Florida or Baylor/Memphis. Cincinnati and Memphis are already ranked behind ND, and it seems likely Baylor will be by bowl selection time. All things being equal, the Cotton Bowl would be insane to take any of those teams over ND, right? What am I missing?

 

[stlnd01]

My understanding is that the Cotton Bowl takes two at-large teams since they don’t have a CFP game this year. Why would ND end up in the Camping Bowl or whatever rather than the Cotton Bowl? ESPN’s bowl projections have Cincinnati/Florida or Baylor/Memphis. Cincinnati and Memphis are already ranked behind ND, and it seems likely Baylor will be by bowl selection time. All things being equal, the Cotton Bowl would be insane to take any of those teams over ND, right? What am I missing?

They are apparently obligated to take the highest-ranked G5 team (hence Cincy/Memphis).
The other slot must go to the highest-ranked team that doesn’t slot in to one of the other NY6 bowls. We’ll probably still be behind Florida. So they get in ahead of us to play that G5.

 

[stlnd01]

I do wonder, though, if Auburn were to beat Bama, any chance we wind up ahead of both?
Probably not, because S-E-C!, but it’s not outside the realm of possibility, depending on how far Auburn falls this week, and where Bama - who would have no Top 25 wins - lands without Tua.
That’d put Georgia in the Sugar and open up either the Cotton or Orange for a non-SEC at-large. Like Notre Dame.

 

[Rhode Irish]

They are apparently obligated to take the highest-ranked G5 team (hence Cincy/Memphis).
The other slot must go to the highest-ranked team that doesn’t slot in to one of the other NY6 bowls. We’ll probably still be behind Florida. So they get in ahead of us to play that G5.

OK thanks. That is somehow omitted from the selection criteria on the Cotton Bowl’s Wikipedia page.

The Cotton Bowl Classic returned to "major" bowl status in the 2014 season in conjunction with the first year of the new College Football Playoff. It will host a national semifinal once every three years (in the 2015, 2018, 2021, 2024 seasons), and in other years will host two at-large teams that did not get selected to the four-team playoff. As part of this move, television rights will switch to ESPN, which will also televise the other games in the playoff system.

 

[stlnd01]

OK thanks. That is somehow omitted from the selection criteria on the Cotton Bowl’s Wikipedia page.

Yeah. I think the G5 game rotates among a few of the bowls. It's not always the Cotton.

 

[Wild Bill]

End of season. UVA, VT, and Navy were ranked when we beat them.


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Tech wasn't even ranked when we played them.

I do agree with sherm, the winner of VA vs VT should finish 8-4 ACC runner up and they may be ranked.

 

[House16]

Yeah. I think the G5 game rotates among a few of the bowls. It's not always the Cotton.

Yeah it’s not one specific bowl that has to take a G5. A G5 is guaranteed a slot, and no one wants them, so the last bowl in the pecking order (in this case Cotton) is forced to pick them.

 

[GATTACA!]

Yeah it’s comical that an unranked ACC Team is gonna be in the Orange Bowl.

I wonder if there's any chance something could get worked out to where ND or anyone takes that place and gives a portion of their money to whatever #2 ACC team lands there. The optics are terrible, ratings will be bad, and they will get their doors blown off.

Would Virginia rather go to a nice winnable bowl if the money isn't a factor?

 

[IrishSteelhead]

Bowl Predictions 2019

Tech wasn't even ranked when we played them.



I do agree with sherm, the winner of VA vs VT should finish 8-4 ACC runner up and they may be ranked.

Tech was 25th in one poll IIRC when we played them. Not much, but you could say they were.


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[Some Irish Bloke]

Tech was 25th in one poll IIRC when we played them. Not much, but you could say they were.


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Tech is 25 rn in the AP. Playing pretty good football too.

I understand why people look back in hindsight and say we didn't beat anyone ranked when the final standings come out. However, I think it still matters that we beat an undefeated UVA team, even though they are 7-3 now and UR now.

They probably got way more up for their game when they were 4-0 and ranked in the top 20 coming into South Bend than they were this past weekend against an unranked GT team at home at 6-3. They were riding high when they came to ND Stadium and we beat a quality opponent in the moment.

Football is as much mental as it is physical, and I still think it holds some weight when you knock of a top 25 team in the present.

 

[Wild Bill]

Tech was 25th in one poll IIRC when we played them. Not much, but you could say they were.

We played them in week 10 and they were unranked, per espn. They beat #19 Wake Forest in week 11, smoked Georgia Tech in week 12, and were ranked #25 in week 13 AP poll.

Schedule on the left shows the ranking at the time the game was played:

https://www.espn.com/college-football/team/_/id/87/notre-dame-fighting-irish

Their ranking at the end of the year will matter more in determining ND's overall schedule quality and they're playing well, so I think they'll finish in the top 25 going into a bowl game.

 

[Wild Bill]

Not sure ND will gain much ground this week. Left out the top five b/c they're largely irrelevant to ND's bowl game.

Oregon - @ ASU, Oregon State, and PAC title
Utah - @ Arizona, Colorado, and PAC title
Minnesota - @ Northwestern, Wiscy, possible BIG title
Penn State - @ OSU, Rutgers, possible BIG title
Oklahoma - TCU, @ Okie State, and possible 12 title
Florida - Bye and FSU
Auburn - Samford and Bama
Baylor - Texas, at Kansas, and possible 12 title
Wisconsin - Purdue, @ Minnesota, and possible BIG title
Michigan - @IU and OSU

ND's best shot of moving up the polls next week is probably a PSU loss against OSU and a Baylor loss against Texas. IMO, ND only moves past PSU if they destroyed by OSU and ND beats BC convincingly. A convincing win against BC and a Baylor loss is probably enough to jump the Bears.

Long shot that IU beats Michigan but that would be enjoyable and it would help. I'm not sure it'll matter by the end of the year b/c OSU is going to work them in AA.

I'm going to guess everyone else ranked ahead of ND cruises and the last week is where ND will have a better opportunity to move ahead in the last week of the season.

Is there a path to the Orange Bowl? The way I understand it, as long as ND is equal to or within a game of a qualifying ACC team, they can be taken over the ACC team: ND runs the table and finishes with two losses. Clemson wins out and is in the playoffs. A two loss ND teams is meets the "equal to or within a game" guideline already b/c the next best ACC team has three losses. The other issue is that ND is limited to two Orange Bowl appearances between 2014-2025 (so far they have no appearances). If it's possible to go over an ACC team, and my understanding is that it's possible, will there be a better year to do it given the ACC is garbage?

Would the best case scenario for the Cotton Bowl be Georgia beating LSU in SEC title game? GEorand LSU both go to playoffs, Bama goes to the Sugar, Florida goes to the Orange. Would this open up a spot for ND at the Cotton Bowl? ND isn't jumping bama even if they lose to Auburn so the only other path would be Florida losing to FSU.

 

[bcole2]

Would the best case scenario for the Cotton Bowl be Georgia beating LSU in SEC title game? Georgia and LSU both go to playoffs, Bama goes to the Sugar, Florida goes to the Orange. Would this open up a spot for ND at the Cotton Bowl? ND isn't jumping bama even if they lose to Auburn so the only other path would be Florida losing to FSU.

That would help with SEC teams ahead of us, but then that puts an extra PAC-12 team in front of us if they don't make the playoff. One of Oregon and Utah goes to the Rose Bowl and the other would still be ahead of us and be taken for the at-large spot in the Cotton.

 

[IrishLax]

The main issue is Florida... who is unlikely to lose, and unlikely to move down below where they are currently slotted. There are a number of secondary concerns, but it's really Florida that is likely to grab the Cotton Bowl spot and leave ND on the outside looking in.

 

[Wild Bill]

That would help with SEC teams ahead of us, but then that puts an extra PAC-12 team in front of us if they don't make the playoff. One of Oregon and Utah goes to the Rose Bowl and the other would still be ahead of us and be taken for the at-large spot in the Cotton.

Good catch. There's a small chance ND could jump Utah in the final ranking if ND continues playing well and Utah gets blasted by Oregon. Utah would be a two loss team with no wins against a top 25 team and a loss against a common opponent ND beat, USC.

The main issue is Florida... who is unlikely to lose, and unlikely to move down below where they are currently slotted. There are a number of secondary concerns, but it's really Florida that is likely to grab the Cotton Bowl spot and leave ND on the outside looking in.

FSU is on a roll without Taggart. Did you see them against Alabama State???

 

[ACamp1900]

The main issue is Florida... who is unlikely to lose, and unlikely to move down below where they are currently slotted. There are a number of secondary concerns, but it's really Florida that is likely to grab the Cotton Bowl spot and leave ND on the outside looking in.

And they're such trash too... lol For whatever reason I've watched a few of their games this year and yeah... give them a real schedule and they prob have 4-5 losses right now.