Cornerbacks sophomore Benjamin Morrison (20) and senior Clarence Lewis (6) go up for a pass during the game between Notre Dame and Southern California at Notre Dame Stadium on Saturday, Oct. 14, 2023.
After a long Saturday of waiting, No. 16 Notre Dame now knows that it will end its 2023 football season against No. 19 Oregon State in the Tony the Tiger Sun Bowl. The contest will take place on Dec. 29 at the Sun Bowl in El Paso, Texas, home of the University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP) Miners of Conference USA.
Notre Dame has played in the bowl once before, beating Miami 33-17 in 2010. Oregon State is 2-0 in its Sun Bowl history, beating Missouri 39-38 in 2006 and Pittsburgh 3-0 in 2008. The Beavers are 2-0 against the Irish all-time, recording blowout wins in the 2001 Fiesta Bowl and 2004 Insight Bowl.
After beating Wake Forest on Nov. 18, graduate student Sam Hartman explicitly talked about having two games left in the season. With Notre Dame wrapping up its regular season the next week at Stanford, the Irish quarterback may have tipped his hand about his status for the game. However, Hartman's decision to play has not been confirmed one way or the other. Oregon State will be led by interim head coach Kefense Hynson after head coach Jonathan Smith left for Michigan State in late November.
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