The No. 15 Notre Dame Fighting Irish (10-2) and the Iowa State Cyclones (7-5, 5-4 Big 12) will meet in the Camping World Bowl. Florida Citrus Sports chairman Tom Sittema and CEO Steve Hogan announced the matchup Sunday on behalf of the organization’s Team Selection Committee.
The 30th edition of the game will take place at noon on Saturday, Dec. 28 at Camping World Stadium and will be televised nationally by ABC.
This year’s Camping World Bowl will be the first ever meeting between the Fighting Irish and Cyclones and the first Orlando bowl appearance for Iowa State. Notre Dame’s only other appearance in the Camping World Bowl came in 2011, when the Irish fell to Florida State in what was then known as the Champs Sports Bowl. Notre Dame also appeared in the 2017 Citrus Bowl, a 21-17 win over LSU.
The Fighting Irish boast one of the nation's top pass defenses and have limited opponents to 163.7 yards per game through the air this season. Notre Dame has also held opponents to an average of just 18.7 points per game on the year and leads the nation with 17 fumble recoveries.
Offensively, Notre Dame averages 37.1 points per game, good for 13th among FBS teams, and enters the Camping World Bowl averaging 429.4 total yards per game. The offense is paced by quarterback Ian Book, who ranks sixth nationally with 33 touchdown passes, and senior receiver Chase Claypool, who leads the team with 59 receptions for 891 yards and has hauled in 12 receiving touchdowns, tied for ninth among FBS players.
Iowa State, meanwhile, boasts a Top 10 passing attack with 318.3 passing yards per game, and is led by quarterback Brock Purdy, who leads the Big 12 and ranks fourth nationally in passing yards with 3,760 on the year. Purdy also ranks ninth nationally in passing touchdowns with 27 and has three different receivers (Charlie Kolar, La'Michael Pettway and Sean Shaw, Jr.) with at least five receiving touchdowns.
On the opposite side of the ball, the Cyclones have held opponents to an average of 25.3 points, and the Iowa State run defense ranks second in the Big 12, allowing just 133.8 yards per game on the ground. Marcel Spears and Lawrence White lead the team with 85 and 82 total tackles, respectively, while O'Rien Vance (6.5) and Will McDonald (6.0) lead the team in sacks.
Florida Citrus Sports
:quality(70)/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/cmg/DV3D5PBQIZFEPANBGDDAZHIA5I.jpg)
:quality(70)/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/cmg/V5TWF6CJAZFXBLDTZXOE47OMN4.jpg)
:quality(70)/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/cmg/KZ5GKMUGRZBI7DEQEANMOFBGWQ.jpeg)
:quality(70)/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/cmg/63RX6RMNFRHUFHYAV37CH22POU.jpg)
:quality(70)/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/cmg/XCS5GJFEOFHDNEZGYXRYOZ35LM.jpg)