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<p>Notre Dame accepted an invitation to play in the Insight Bowl on Dec. 28 in Arizona.</p>

Notre Dame accepted an invitation to play in the Insight Bowl on Dec. 28 in Arizona.

Football: Notre Dame earns bid to Insight Bowl

  • Published: Tuesday, November 30, 2004

BRISTOL, Conn. — One day after a lopsided loss to top-ranked Southern California, Notre Dame accepted a bid to the Insight Bowl, which will be played Dec. 28 in Tempe, Arizona.

Notre Dame will face a team from the Pac-10 Conference, which could be UCLA.

The Bruins are expected to accept an invitation to one of three bowls – the Sun Bowl, Insight Bowl or Las Vegas Bowl.

The Fighting Irish, who were routed by the Trojans 41-10, finished an up-and-down regular season 6-5 after losing their final two games.

They have lost six straight bowl games since a 24-21 victory over Texas A&M in the 1993 Cotton Bowl.

Four other teams accepted bowl invitations Sunday as Minnesota (6-5) is headed to the Music City Bowl, UAB (7-4) the Hawaii Bowl, Southern Mississippi (6-4) the New Orleans Bowl and Memphis (8-3) the GMAC Bowl.

Minnesota, which will face a team from the Southeastern Conference in the Dec. 31 game in Nashville, Tennessee, struggled down the stretch, losing five of its last six games after a 5-0 start. The Gophers will appear in a third straight bowl game for the first time in school history.

In 2002, the Golden Gophers defeated Arkansas, 29-14, in the Music City Bowl, then edged Oregon, 31-30, in last year’s Sun Bowl.

UAB, which will play in Honolulu on Dec. 24, has only fielded a team on the Division I-A level since 1991. The Blazers were bowl eligible on two previous occasions – 2000 and 2001.

Southern Miss will kick off the bowl season in New Orleans on Dec.14 against North Texas, the winner of the Sun Belt Conference.

The Golden Eagles, who conclude their regular season Saturday against California in a game postponed from September, will be making their seventh bowl appearance in eight years.

Memphis, which will take on an opponent from the Mid-American Conference on Dec. 22 in Mobile, Ala., will be making consecutive bowl appearances for the first time.

Compiled from staff and wire reports.