The Notre Dame Fighting Irish suffered an incredible second-half collapse in Saturday’s Fiesta Bowl to extend an incredible and unwanted school record.
The Fighting Irish jumped out to a 28-7 lead late in the first half before allowing 30 unanswered points to the Oklahoma State Cowboys. A late score of its own was not enough for Notre Dame, and the Fighting Irish ultimately lost 37-35.
The defeat extended Notre Dame’s incredible run of futility in major bowl games. The Irish have lost eight consecutive New Year’s Six and BCS games.
The losing streak goes back even further than that. Notre Dame has lost 10 straight dating back to the Bowl Coalition era. The Fighting Irish haven’t won an equivalent bowl game since Jan. 1, 1994, when they beat Texas A&M under then-coach Lou Holtz.
Notre Dame was rolling in the first half to the point that some were questioning whether the Fighting Irish were better off without Brian Kelly. The second half silenced a lot of that talk and furthered the narrative that Notre Dame simply struggles too much in big games.
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