Gator Bowl Prediction: #21 Notre Dame Fighting Irish vs #19 South Carolina Gamecocks

Notre Dame (8-4) will look to finish Marcus Freeman’s first season off with a bowl victory over South Carolina (8-4). Both teams come into this game off strong finishes to the 2022 regular season. South Carolina finished their regular season campaign with a pair of wins over Top 10 teams while the Irish won five of their last six games.

Notre Dame needs a victory over the Gamecocks to garner some much-needed momentum heading into Freeman’s first full offseason.

Location: TIAA Bank Field (Jacksonville, Fla.)
When: December 30th – 3:30 PM ET
Network: ESPN
Spread: Notre Dame -2.0, O/U 52

IB has broken down the game and now it’s time for us to make our predictions.

BRYAN DRISKELL, PUBLISHER

Prediction: Notre Dame 37, South Carolina 24

I have a great deal of respect for what Shane Beamer did with this team, who finished the season strong and overcame bad losses on multiple occasions. That’s similar to what Notre Dame went through, but at the end of the day I don’t think South Carolina is as good as it looked in the final two games, just like I don’t think it’s as bad as it looked in the blowout losses to Georgia and Florida. Notre Dame, to me, is the most talented team, now it needs to show that it can be the better prepared team, and the better coached team.

Notre Dame has the weapons on the perimeter on both sides of the ball to negate and perceived athleticism advantages. This is especially true considering the personnel losses South Carolina has on defense. South Carolina has talented pass catchers and a talented quarterback, but Notre Dame has faced better quarterbacks and better pass catchers throughout the season. It’s about Notre Dame being able to play its game with its best pass rusher and veteran cover man.

Where Notre Dame ultimately holds the biggest advantage, and why I think it wins this game convincingly, is the advantage it should have in the trenches. Notre Dame should be able to run the ball effectively against the Gamecocks, and the additional bodies they will need to put into the box to slow down the Irish ground attack will lead to several big plays in the passing game that break this game open.

I’m going with a 13-point Irish win partly because I’m accounting for them being rusty after the layoff of the last month, and more importantly the three month layoff quarterback Tyler Buchner limit If the Irish come out fast and sharp this game could be a serious blowout. If Notre Dame is sloppy, lacks focus and if Al Golden has a passive game plan then this outcome will look quite different and the Gamecocks could come away with a victory.

Prediction: Notre Dame 38, South Carolina 24

Of all the picks we had to make for the bowl season, I feel like this was the easiest for me. Yes, I am a Notre Dame fan at heart and yes I want the Irish to win every time they take the field. I will never deny that. There are some question marks about this game from an Irish standpoint of course. What will the offense look like without Michael Mayer? How will Tyler Buchner look after his first real hit in three months and can he be the dynamic QB people think he can become? Will the defense be able to generate a consistent pass rush without the all-time leading sacker Isaiah Foskey? Will the CBs be able to hold up in the absence of Cam Hart? These are all things I’ll be watching as we tune in on Friday at 3:30.

With all that being said, South Carolina has about triple the opt outs that Notre Dame has and they are all over both sides of the ball. Leader rusher, out. Top two corners, out. Best front seven player, out. And don’t kid yourself, the Gamecocks also have questions at QB. When you look up the word inconsistent in the dictionary there is a picture of Spencer Rattler. Will they get the kid who threw for over 80% against Tennessee or the kid who threw two INT against Clemson and gifted the Tigers easy points? He has a TON of talent that I’m sure some wayward NFL team is drooling over.

Bottom line is I think the Irish are built to run the football and will do so with relative ease against this defense that is giving up just shy of 200 yards on the ground. Buchner will take advantage of the zero coverage and one on one opportunities given to him as well. This will be a game where the ball is spread around and the Irish WR will start to make a name for themselves and get us all excited about the future. The defense will do enough to rattle Rattler into a couple turnovers which will be more than enough for the offense to capitalize on. In the end the Irish won by a few scores.

RYAN ROBERTS, DIRECTOR OF RECRUITING

Prediction: Notre Dame 34, South Carolina 20

It’s going to be exciting to see what the Notre Dame offense will look like after a couple weeks of exploring a new identity behind the quarterback. Tyler Buchner. There are some key players to replace, but the Irish have some intriguing talents filling in.

On South Carolina’s side, they will be tasked with replacing a lot of key contributors due to opt outs. They ended the year on a very strong note, but so much attrition from the roster will be tough to supplement.

SHAUN DAVIS, RECRUITING ANALYST

Prediction: Notre Dame 27, South Carolina 20

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Two 8-4 football teams with two impressive head coaches and two great special team units. It seems like an evenly matched football game. The Gamecocks have the best quarterback Spencer Rattler, but the Fighting Irish have the better overall defense. Both sides have important players who opted out of the bowl game to pursue their NFL dreams or enter the transfer portal. Personally, it sounds like a sports soap opera and I’m looking forward to finding out which co-stars are going to steal the show in Jacksonville on Friday afternoon. My sense is that the Fighting Irish defense will deliver on their season trend of holding opposing quarterbacks below their normal production, and their running game will be enough.

SEAN STIRES, STAFF WRITER

Prediction: Notre Dame 30, South Carolina 22

Notre Dame will face another former Oklahoma quarterback when Spencer Rattler takes the field for South Carolina, while the Irish offense welcomes Tyler Buchner back to the helm of the offense after missing 10 games with his shoulder injury. Buchner comes back to a situation where the offensive line and running game are much improved since the first two games of the season that saw him averaging 12 rushing attempts per game. South Carolina already didn’t run the ball well and they’re without their top two rushers as well as a couple of offensive linemen. They also haven’t stopped the run well, as Florida and Arkansas showed when they each ran for more than 200 yards. If the Irish run the ball, Buchner should only need 15-18 pass attempts and should not need to carry more than five or six times himself.

ANDREW MCDONOUGH, IB CONTRIBUTOR

Prediction: Notre Dame 30, South Carolina 21

Tyler Buchner returns to start at QB after missing most of the season in a game that could define his future career trajectory. He will be missing All-American TE Michael Mayer, but that gives his young receiving corps a big opportunity to step up heading into the offseason. Buchner’s job will be made easier by the fact that the Irish have a significant advantage in the trenches, especially with the recent decision of Jarrett Patterson to play

South Carolina ranked 13th in the SEC in rushing defense, surrendering over 192 yards per game. Notre Dame will get a push up front – aided by the dual-threat that Buchner’s legs represent – force the Gamecocks to commit bodies to the box, and hit some deep play action shots over the top. With the win Marcus Freeman‘s first team ends the season having won 6 of 7 games, taking momentum into the offseason.

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