Pinstripe Bowl Week

Rutgers travels to the awful sod in Yankee Stadium for the second time in three years with a pretty good Notre Dame team waiting for them. Brian Kelly usually had his way with RU when he was at Cincinnati, but he loses both his offensive and defensive coordinator for the game, giving the Scarlet Knights a nice handicap. Tommy Rees is also quite the enigma, going from good to bad in the blink of an eye. The Fighting Irish have historically beaten Rutgers pretty bad, but those were dark times for RU. Of course, this year's defense hasn't been all that great either, and the offense is less than dominating. Let's see how things stack up:

Profile

Notre Dame Fighting Irish (8-4)

2012 Record: 12-1, Lost to Alabama in BCS Championship, 42-14

Key 2013 Wins: Michigan State, #22 Arizona State, USC

Key 2013 Losses: @ #17 Michigan, #14 Oklahoma, @Pitt

Bowl Record: .469

Head Coach: Brian Kelly (36-15 Notre Dame, 207-72-2 Overall)

Series: 4-0 Notre Dame

Broadcast Info

Saturday, December 28 - 12:00 PM

Channel: ESPN

Forecast: Partly Cloudy, 35 degrees at kickoff, 0% chance of precipitation, 11 mph winds

The Pinstripe Bowl doesn't provide the best matchup for Rutgers. Brian Kelly runs the type of spread offense that can give the Scarlet Knights fits, and the Fighting Irish defensive line has future NFL talent, not to mention the four and five-star recruits at several of the other positions. Still, Notre Dame is historically bad in bowls regardless of matchup, while Rutgers has been an overachiever in bowl games. At the very least, Rutgers will get the highest profile opponent ever in a bowl game, which should provide a sell-out RU crowd and plenty of eyeballs for the Worldwide Leader.