Motor City in Play for Notre Dame?

The buzz the last few days has been that Notre Dame is likely headed to the Texas Bowl to take on Rice, but how is this for another intirguing matchup – the Motor City Bowl against Ball State?  Jason King on Yahoo! Sports mentioned that Notre Dame and NC State were the two most likely opponents for Ball State after BSU turned down a bid for the Humaitarian Bowl against Boise State.

Before I get to the potential for Notre Dame being in this game, how weak is it that Ball State declined the bid to play Boise State even if the game would have been a home game for Boise?  We’ve heard all season long how “Ball State is the best team in Indiana” but yet they are scared to play a bowl against Boise State?

Anyway, this is a matchup I wouldn’t mind seeing at all.  First off, for it to even be a possibility Ohio State needs to be selected for a BCS Bowl for a spot in the Motor City Bowl to open up.  With the state of the economy, I have to think that Ohio State ends up in the BCS because they will bring a ton of fans.

I know everyone is going to freak out and say we’d get crushed by Ball State, but I think we’d have a reasonable chance to win this game.  It would give us a chance to end the bowl losing streak over a ranked team and we’d have much more to gain in playing a potentially undefeated Ball State team than by playing Rice in the Texas Bowl.  No matter who we play in bowl, we’ll get crushed in the media if we lose so why not hope for a chance against Ball State?

Notre Dame would also save some cash by going to the Motor City Bowl since it would be a pretty reasonable bus rid to Detroit as opposed to a flight to Houston.  Both bowls payout $750,000; but the Motor City Bowl is on ESPN while the Texas Bowl is only on NFL Network.

Of course the Independence Bowl and it’s $1.1 mil payout is still available as well. Still, I’m pulling for a Motor City Bowl matchup with Ball State.

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9 Comments

  1. If Boise State wants to play BSU so bad, let them travel to Muncie Indiana and see how many fans will travel that distance.
    As for ND,my family has spent alot of time and money to see a very sad season in South Bend.
    Does anyone really believe ND can win a bowl game? Stay home and save the $$

  2. nbcsports.com

    College Football Front Page:

    Celizic – Meyer, Saban worth every penny.

    Another Interesting article.

  3. I agree Frankie, if we have to go bowling lets make it a real “practice” against a REAL RANKED Ball State team!

    If we are looking for just a boring wimpy status win, might as well play Rice or Penn High School if we are not up for the BSU challenge.

  4. Ball State allows a lot of points per game. The best team they beat was navy. ND would probably dominate 3 quarters and lose by 10.

  5. Well, as Charlie stated:

    “It’s practice for our younger players.”

    It was unclear whether winning was part of the equation.

    In the legendary winning days, a .500 record, you stayed home and it was endorsed by the university.

    Today, sub par football is the new benchmark. So, flip a coin.

  6. Now that CW has received ND’s golden affirmation to a lackluster .500 or less season (pending bowl outcome). It is now embarrassingly obvious, some ND fans are hopeful for a bowl opponent that allows for a fashionable win to end this torturing season. This just further demonstrates how the white flags have been thrown out on the field by many people.

    I remember somebody did in fact succinctly state; “6-5 is not good enough” and “They didn’t hire me to go .500,” now a cleverly insignificant event. Unfortunately, the present football state of affairs coupled with a well justified emotional tsunami by ND fans speaks for it’s self. However, the administration clearly has chosen not to enforce a minimum standard that led to the demise of Bob Davie, George O’Leary and Tyrone Willingham.

    Now that we have a strong commitment for Bob Davie Syndrome, I am not optimistic anytime soon we will have a top five contender. And if it happens sooner than later, a new concept, I am willing to admit I was wrong.

    Gooooooooooooo! IRISH!

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