Notre Dame-LSU Music City Bowl:5 Things To Know

With 2 storied programs set to play on Tuesday, their history has rivaled most marquee matches.

Both can boast of titles and NFL players.

And both have coaches rumored to move on to other programs.

During the time Michigan has sought Brady Hokes replacement, LSU coach Les Miles again surfaced as a likely candidate. But currently, Miles is in the exact position as Irish coach Brian Kelly is with a talented structure and bright future next season:

"There's a tradition and a culture here we've kind of established and the young men that come here really enjoy stepping into this room and being a part of that culture," Miles said. "It's interesting too, you hate to say good-bye, we said good-bye to 22 seniors at the banquet and they're a quality group of men. To think the team, they talk about their time here, and what they don't realize is they impact the people here."

LSU more recently has remained in the spotlight and contended, but Notre Dame is back in the hunt with the most recent visit to the national champonship.

And this year, each is looking to cap an unimpressive season with a big win over the other.

The intriguing match-up overall will be the injury riddled Irish defense versus perhaps the most elite back in college football- Leonard Fournette.

The Irish will get back Sheldon Day, who remarked on the pairing:

"He's a great back," said Irish defensive tackle Sheldon Day, who is expected to play despite missing the last two games with an injured knee. "To see him and his great power, and the way he's been ascending the last couple of weeks. . . I'm going to get out there and see him in person. It's definitely going to be fun..."

All everything Irish linebacker Jaylon Smith also lammented on Fournette:

"He's a great running back and a freshman at that," Smith said. "He has so much to improve on even after having a stellar freshman season. You have to prepare the right way and have a plan going against him. He shows great explosion.

"(What impresses me most is) his size, being versatile. He's powerful and he has speed as well."

On the opposite side of the ball, things are clearly not as settled at the quarterback position for the Irish, and Brian Kelly addressed the option of playing both Everett Golson and Malik Zaire:

“(Both guys) have been extremely coachable.They are really working hard on the areas that need improvement. Both are very engaged in the process of moving their game forward. As we get into the game, there are skill sets that each one of them has that are a little bit different, that we’ll utilize in the game .We’ll go to those strengths and call upon those strengths in the game."

5 Things:

1-The teams have split the 10 games evenly with both owning a two-game win streak

1970: ND 3 LSU 0

1971: LSU 28 ND 8

1981: ND 27 LSU 9

1984: ND 30 LSU 22

1985: LSU 10 ND 7

1986: LSU 21 ND 19

1997: ND 24 LSU 6

1997: LSU 27 ND 9

1998: ND 39 LSU 36

2006: LSU 41 ND 14

LSU has outscored the Irish 200-180 in those games.

2-LSU can become the first team to beat Notre Dame three times in a bowl game

Florida State, Oregon State and Colorado are teams with two bowl victories over the Irish.

 3-LSU will tie with Alabama, Texas A&M, Texas and Colorado for most times playing Notre Dame in a bowl game

LSU is 23-21-1 in bowl games. Notre Dame is 16-17 in bowl games played.

4-The field be covered with NFL talent

Notre Dame has put 485 players into the NFL, with 63 1st rounders.

LSU has put 311 players into the NFL, with 37 1st rounders.

5- Notre Dame was the foundation for better movies

This is a fun fact.

Everyone knows of "Rudy".

But LSU has a flick of their own, even though it's a fictional character.

"Everybody's All American" stars Dennis Quaid and depicts a Heisman winner and NFL player with some hard luck late in life.

Billy Cannon has been speculated as the basis for the story.