Notre Dame Club of Boston

Please join the Notre Dame Club of Boston for the game at Mass Ave Tavern.  We will be joined by the current students home for Christmas break.  

Notre Dame (8-4) meets Atlantic Coast Conference representative Florida State (8-4) in the 22nd Champs Sports Bowl at 5:30pm on Dec. 29, 2011. The game will be aired on ESPN.

It's the third bowl appearance for the Irish in the last four seasons and their sixth in the last eight years.

The Irish and Seminoles face off for the seventh time and second time in a bowl game. Florida State owns a 4-2 series lead and is the only ACC school that has faced the Irish at least twice and owns the advantage in the series. The Seminoles won the last meeting 37-0 at Notre Dame Stadium in 2003. Florida State also claimed the only postseason matchup between the two schools, taking the 1996 Orange Bowl 31-26.

Notre Dame will be making its 31st bowl appearance overall - its first in the Champs Sports Bowl - and its ninth in the state of Florida (five previous Orange Bowl appearances and three Gator Bowl appearances). The Irish stand 15-15 in postseason play and have won two straight bowl games.

This marks the second consecutive year the Irish have faced a bowl opponent from the ACC and the sixth bowl game overall against a current member of the ACC. Notre Dame defeated Miami (Fla.) in the 2010 Sun Bowl (31-17) to snap a three-game losing streak against ACC schools in bowl games. The Irish lost to North Carolina State in the 2003 Gator Bowl (28-6), Georgia Tech (35-28) in the 1999 Gator Bowl and Florida State (31-26) in the 1996 Orange Bowl. Notre Dame defeated Boston College (19-18) in the 1983 Liberty Bowl.