If ever there were two programs capable of demonstrating that a rivalry can indeed exist without ever actually playing one another, it’d be Notre Dame and Ohio State. The storylines between the two are so deep and interlaced that a collision in a postseason bowl game had an almost inevitable quality.
The animosity’s origin began ten years ago when current Ohio State head coach Urban Meyer jilted a listing Notre Dame program in favor of the Florida Gators. The slight left Irish fans little choice but to helplessly watch the continued decline of the Notre Dame program while Meyer established himself as one of the best coaches in the country by bringing two BCS National Championships back to Gainesville.