Notre Dame (10-2) will meet Big Ten Conference representative Ohio State (11-1) at 1 p.m. EST (11 a.m. MST) on Friday, Jan. 1, 2016, in 63,400-seat University of Phoenix Stadium (home of the NFL’s Arizona Cardinals) in Glendale, Arizona, in the 45th annual BattleFrog Fiesta Bowl.
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Former Liberty County High School football player Raekwon McMillan is now the starting Buckeye middle linebacker.
The Rose Bowl might have preferred to welcome the Buckeyes, considering how they mauled MI in the Big House and have a fan base that did not shell out cash to travel to Indianapolis.
He was also a finalist for the Butkus Award.
The victor is all but guaranteed a spot in the playoff, thanks to Notre Dame’s loss to Stanford.
The dust has settled, and the bowls have been announced, as as expected, Ohio State won’t be getting a chance to defend their title in this year’s college football playoff.
Oklahoma was No. 3 last week after it finished its regular season as the Big 12 champion, but Michigan State’s Big Ten championship game victory over previously unbeaten Iowa pushed the Spartans past the Sooners in the end.
Michigan State comes in as a 2.5-point favorite and the Spartans need to play like it as they’re usually better served as an underdog.
The other semifinal pits the nation’s top-ranked team (Clemson) against its hottest (Oklahoma) in the Orange Bowl. His team didn’t make it this year, it lost by two points at No. 1 Clemson in September and by two points at No. 6 Stanford two weeks ago. The Buckeyes lead the all-time series over Notre Dame, 3-2, with the Buckeyes taking the last three games.
-RB C.J. Prosise has been out with an injury but could be back for the bowl game. Alabama beat Michigan State 49-7 in the 2011 Capital One Bowl. For a second straight year, will that momentum carry that team to a title?
“I know (trainer) Rob Hunt feels like we can get Durham Smythe to where he was in August”, Kelly said.
It’s the sixth bowl appearance in as many seasons under Irish coach Brian Kelly, the seventh appearance for the Irish in the last eight seasons and their 10th in the last 12 years. Now it’s go play our tails off one more time. On a third and five from Ohio State’s 28-yard line, instead of rushing, Luke Fickell dropped into coverage and intercepted Pawlus killing the Fighting Irish’s potential momentum swinging drive. With everything combined, it should be a worthwhile, fun, and important bowl game. Ohio State also beat Notre Dame in the last two regular-season meetings in 1995 and 1996. “They’re a great football team and let’s go finish this thing the right way”.
And the streak will continue at least until 2018, with a home game for the Irish against Michigan State next season, a game at Michigan State in 2017 and game at Northwestern in 2018. Jones led the Buckeyes to last year’s national championship after Barrett was hurt and began this season as the starter.
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QUOTE TO NOTE: “He has put Notre Dame back where it belongs and that is one of the top five football programs in the country”. Notre Dame will take on Ohio State on September 3, 2022, at Ohio Stadium with the Buckeyes travelling to South Bend on September 23, 2023.
