Bowl season is underway, and the Notre Dame Fighting Irish and the South Carolina Gamecocks will compete for postseason bragging rights in the Gator Bowl at TIAA Bank Field at 3:30 p.m. ET on Friday. The Fighting Irish are expected to win -- but not by much -- so they will need to come into the contest prepared for a fight.
Notre Dame came up short against the USC Trojans five weeks ago, falling 38-27. A silver lining for Notre Dame was the play of TE Michael Mayer, who caught eight passes for two TDs and 98 yards.
Meanwhile, it was a tight game that could have gone either way, but South Carolina made off with a 31-30 win over the Clemson Tigers five weeks ago. The victory came about thanks to a strong surge after the first quarter to overcome a 14 to nothing deficit. WR Antwane Wells Jr. was the offensive standout of the matchup for the Gamecocks, catching nine passes for two TDs and 131 yards. Spencer Rattler's 72-yard touchdown toss to Wells Jr. in the third quarter made for one of the most memorable moments of the day.
Two defensive stats to keep in the back of your head while watching: Notre Dame enters the contest with only 190.6 passing yards allowed per game on average, good for 21st best in the nation. South Carolina is not quite as good, but they are no chumps, either: they rank 27th in the nation when it comes to passing yards allowed per game, with only 199.5 on average.