In a sense, Notre Dame’s trip to the Jan. 20 national championship game in Atlanta ran through El Paso.
For what is believed to be the fourth time in history, a team that played in the Sun Bowl one year made it to a de facto national championship game the following season, and here is a good sign for the Fighting Irish: the two times a team went from lifting the Sun Bowl trophy to playing for the national title, it won.
Notre Dame Fighting Irish Football
Notre Dame earned an appearance in Jan. 20’s true national championship game with a dramatic, last-moment victory over Penn State Thursday night, which came 54 weeks after a 40-8 victory in the Tony the Tiger Sun Bowl against Oregon State.
Angeli Notre Dame
That victory was spearheaded by backup quarterback Steve Angeli, who got the most extensive playing time of his career in the 2024 Sun Bowl. His next extensive playing time came Thursday against Penn State when he came off the bench late in the first half for an briefly injured Riley Leonard and completed six of seven passes to lead a key field-goal drive.
This comes a week and a half after Washington, a participant in last year’s national championship game, lost in the Sun Bowl to Louisville …