Notre Dame Still Hasn’t Won a Major Bowl Game Since Before the BCS Era

The Fighting Irish’s last major bowl win came during the 1994 Cotton Bowl over Texas A&M.

Notre Dame’s loss in the Fiesta Bowl on Saturday was monumental for multiple reasons. 

Although it was Marcus Freeman’s debut as the Fighting Irish's new head coach, the program’s unlucky New Year’s Six and major bowl game streak continued when it fell to Oklahoma State, 37–35. 

Notre Dame is now 0-8 in BCS/New Year’s Six games, marking the most such losses without a win by any program. It has also fallen to 0–10 in its last 10 major bowl games after blowing a 28–7 lead on Saturday. 

The program’s last major bowl win? It was in 1994, when it beat Texas A&M in the Cotton Bowl. 

- Notre Dame blew a 28-7 lead 😬
- Notre Dame is 0-10 in its last 10 major bowl games 🤯
- Oklahoma State is 3-0 in the Fiesta Bowl 🤠 pic.twitter.com/JrUsgT4F9a

— Sports Illustrated (@SInow) January 1, 2022

At first, it looked like Freeman was going to break Notre Dame’s curse as the fighting Irish posted 28 points in the first half. However, the script flipped at halftime.

Oklahoma State scored 17 points in the third quarter, including two touchdowns from Tay Martin. Notre Dame went scoreless in the third and only tallied a single touchdown in the fourth, and the Cowboys came all the way back from down 21 points to keep the Fighting Irish's bad bowl streak alive.