SOUTH BEND, Ind. – One month ago, Notre Dame kicked off at Clemson with an inside track to making a New Year’s Six Bowl and ending the program’s 30-year run of futility on those marquee stages. One deflating loss, one unexpected staff change and a flurry of transfer portal activity later, the second season of Marcus Freeman’s tenure will now conclude under a much dimmer spotlight.
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After some backroom wrangling among ACC bowl reps, No. 16 Notre Dame was slotted in the Sun Bowl (2 p.m. ET, Dec. 29) against No. 19 Oregon State. It’s the third postseason meeting between the Irish and Beavers, both Oregon State wins. It’s the second trip to the Sun Bowl for Notre Dame, the first coming back in Brian Kelly’s debut season when the Irish topped Miami, playing under an interim head coach before Al Golden took over the Hurricanes.
It’s official! @BeaverFootball vs @NDFootball on Friday, Dec. 29, 2023! pic.twitter.com/5eFBLcRBxS
— Tony The Tiger Sun Bowl (@TonyTheTigerSB) December 3, 2023
As it happened, that 33-17 win over Miami felt like a springboard for Kelly at Notre Dame, which closed that season with four consecutive wins under freshman quarterback Tommy Rees. It wasn’t, though, as Notre Dame repeated its 8-5 record a year later before finally breaking through with the run to the BCS National Championship Game in 2012. This Sun Bowl return may have similar potential for a false dawn.
Oregon State already lost its head coach Jonathan Smith to Michigan State, along with five assistant coaches. Starting quarterback DJ Uiagalelei — who set the opposing passing record against Notre Dame three years ago — has entered the transfer portal. Oregon State backup quarterback Aidan Chiles also entered the portal, meaning that third-stringer Ben Gulbranson may end up starting the bowl game. He’s attempted just one pass and appeared in one game this season after being QB2 a year ago. Tackle Taliese Fuaga and receiver Anthony Gould have already opted out of the bowl game. Fuaga is projected as a first-round pick in The Athletic’s Dane Brugler’s first mock draft. Gould (44 catches, 718 yards, two TDs) is one of Oregon State’s top receivers.
Leading rusher Damien Martinez (194 carries, 1,185 yards, nine TDs) is suspended for the game after an arrest on suspicion of DUII.
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The Beavers will even be without their new coach Trent Bray in a full capacity, as the former Oregon State defensive coordinator said he’ll turn over coaching duties for the bowl game so he can concentrate on assembling his staff. Bray was the defensive MVP of the 2004 Insight Bowl, when Oregon State beat Notre Dame 38-21.
What can Notre Dame gain from the Sun Bowl?
Freeman leaned hard on his roster in a team meeting after returning from Stanford, imploring players to put out in the postseason, giving Notre Dame a chance at 10 wins. But last week Notre Dame’s bowl destination appeared warmer (Orlando or Tampa) and its opponent seemed more prestigious (LSU, Tennessee or Kansas State). Even then, Notre Dame’s roster made early moves into the transfer portal.
Receivers Chris Tyree, Rico Flores Jr., Tobias Merriweather and Braylon James entered. So did safety Ramon Henderson, tight end Holden Staes, defensive tackle Aidan Keanaaina, cornerback Ryan Barnes, center Zeke Correll and defensive end Nana Osafo-Mensah. Potential NFL Draft departures Joe Alt, Audric Estime and Blake Fisher have yet to announce their decisions. The Irish could have other opt-outs like Cam Hart, Javontae Jean-Baptiste or Marist Liufau depending on how they see the risk-reward of playing one more game for Notre Dame.
Would a game in El Paso against a team being relegated from the Power 5 entice Irish players to stick around? That feels like an argument that lacks much punch for Freeman, no matter how much the head coach would like to get to double-digit wins.
There’s always something to be gained by winning, but this Sun Bowl in this postseason may offer less than what Notre Dame can typically get.
Notre Dame beat Miami 33-17 in the 2010 Sun Bowl. (Ronald Martinez / Getty Images)How did the Irish end up in El Paso, anyhow?
The Sun Bowl was so prepared for Notre Dame that it didn’t even have a Notre Dame helmet at the ready for its bowl announcement. And for good reason. The Irish weren’t expect to drop down to the ACC’s second tier of bowl games of the Sun Bowl, Duke’s Mayo Bowl and Pinstripe Bowl. Entering championship weekend, Notre Dame was a popular pick for the ReliaQuest Bowl or Pop-Tarts Bowl, both in Florida.
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While it’s not clear exactly why Notre Dame dropped down, the ACC has had a bowl rotation rule with the Irish in the past that precluded games from picking Notre Dame more than once every bowl cycle. The Irish went to the Gator Bowl last season and the Pop-Tarts Bowl in 2019 when it was still the Camping World Bowl. Notre Dame has never played in the Holiday Bowl, but when that game selected USC, it all but eliminated the Irish because it would be a rematch.
“I don’t know how it happened, how they got to our pool. But yes, it was kind of a shocker when we finally got the call,” said Sun Bowl executive director Bernie Olivas. “I gasped. Our football committee gasped. And I’m sure the other two bowls did as well, not knowing how they got into our pool.”
All three of the ACC’s second tier of bowl games wanted Notre Dame, which forced a drawing for the Irish. Olivas said the Pinstripe Bowl hesitated at first on Notre Dame because the Irish are expected to play at Yankee Stadium next season, although that game is not officially scheduled.
“Their attorney drew the Sun Bowl,” Olivas said. “Here we are.”
Notre Dame’s appearance at the 2010 Sun Bowl drew a record crowd of 54,021.
Will Notre Dame have a complete coaching staff for the game?
A program source confirmed that Notre Dame is expected to hire Wisconsin receivers coach Mike Brown to replace Chansi Stuckey, who was fired by Freeman last week, just a day after the Irish head coach said the entire staff was being retained. 247Sports first reported the news.
Brown worked with Freeman for two seasons at Cincinnati (2019-20) and remained with the Bearcats under Luke Fickell before following him to Wisconsin last season.
Brown would extend Freeman’s trend of leaning on past experience, which he had with offensive coordinator Gerad Parker, offensive line coach Joe Rudolph, defensive line coach Al Washington and quarterback coach Gino Guidugli. Former special teams coach Brian Mason was another former Cincinnati coach. Cornerbacks coach Mike Mickens was also on staff with Freeman at Cincinnati but was hired at Notre Dame by Brian Kelly.
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Brown is a Virginia native and played three years in the NFL after playing receiver and quarterback at Liberty. It’s not clear when his hiring will be official or if he’d be part of the program for the Sun Bowl.
However, with the transfer portal opening Monday and Notre Dame already hosted transfer targets, including Florida International wide receiver Kris Mitchell (64 catches, 1,118 yards, seven TDs last season), the Irish need to move quickly. The Irish had planned to take two receivers from the portal this winter, although that was before Flores’ departure.
(Top photo: Thearon W. Henderson / Getty Images)
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