Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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UNDER THE DOME choose all the New Year's Six teams. This system is designed to emphasize merit over television ratings and ticket sales on which the BCS placed more importance. In years when it does not host a semi‑ final, the Orange Bowl will — exclud‑ ing the top four teams — pit the ACC champion against the highest‑ranked squad among Notre Dame, the Big Ten and the SEC. If the Irish do not go to the Orange Bowl, they are eligible for any of the at‑large spots in the remaining New Year's Six bowls. For those spots, the committee will go in order of final ranking, with geo‑ graphical preference given to the high‑ est‑ranked teams. Beginning this season, Notre Dame is eligible for the ACC bowl tie‑ins for seasons in which it does not qualify for a New Year's Six bowl or the College Football Playoff. Notre Dame had es‑ sentially been a bowl free agent in recent seasons, and director of athletics Jack Swarbrick called the tie‑ins a "critical" part of the ACC agreement at the an‑ nouncement on Sept. 12, 2012. "We had to solve the challenge of what postseason football would be for us below the BCS level," he said. "For us, being part of that gives us an assur‑ ance we can't find in the bowl world as it is structured now without some part‑ ner, some conference partner, to help you do it. … And so any solution we came to had to solve that problem." Beginning with this season, a bowl can choose Notre Dame in place of an ACC team if the final Irish record is bet‑ ter than, equal to, or one game worse than that of the ACC alternative. This does not apply to the Orange Bowl, al‑ though both the Irish and an ACC team can qualify for that game. ✦ ACC BOWL TIE-INS (IN ORDER OF SELECTION) Opposing Date Bowl Conference Dec. 31 Orange SEC/Big Ten/ Notre Dame Dec. 29 Russell Athletic Big 12 Jan. 1 Citrus# SEC Jan. 2 TaxSlayer# SEC Dec. 30 Music City# SEC Dec. 30 Belk SEC Dec. 27 Sun Pac-12 Dec. 27 Pinstripe Big Ten Dec. 27 Military AAC Dec. 27 Independence Bowl SEC Dec. 26 Quick Lane Big Ten Dec. 26 St. Petersburg AAC # ACC or Big Ten Notre Dame's final appearance in a BCS bowl ended in a 42-14 embarassment against Alabama in the 2012 BCS National Championship Game. The Irish never won a BCS bowl in four tries. PHOTO BY BILL PANZICA