Bowl Projections: Notre Dame Will Handle Florida State in Champs Sports Bowl

The Notre Dame Fighting Irish look to be heading to the Champs Sports Bowl to take on the Florida State Seminoles. The Fighting Irish will be looking to redeem themselves after dropping the final game of the season to Andrew Luck and the Stanford Cardinal.

The Seminoles came into the season with high hopes, especially with a preseason ranking of No. 6. The year just didn't pan out, and they failed to win two of their biggest games against the Oklahoma Sooners and Clemson Tigers. They also lost to Wake Forest and Virginia, two losses that will for sure hurt their chances of being favored.

Florida State is only allowing 15.2 PPG this season, but the Irish are scoring 30.5 a game. They also have been playing much better down the stretch, although they were scoring high against teams like Navy and Air Force.

The Fighting Irish got off to a bad start with a loss to South Florida and the Michigan Wolverines. The losses put many Notre Dame fans in dismay, but they finished out the season 8-2. Those two other losses came at the hands of the USC Trojans and the Cardinal. Those losses were not much of a surprise as both Pac-12 teams have been dominating this season.

With wins over Michigan State, Maryland and Wake Forest, the Irish stand in a better position when matched up against the Seminoles. The Fighting Irish will have an advantage due to their play this season, but the Seminoles will still be in this game.

The Seminoles will have home field advantage since the Champs Sports Bowl is held in Orlando, but there likely will be a huge following from the Irish fan base. This will be the second bowl game for the Irish under coach Brian Kelly, after they won last year against the University of Miami at the Sun Bowl.

The Fighting Irish are continuing to move into the right direction under Kelly, and another bowl game will just prove that he was the right choice as their head coach.