EL PASO, Texas (KTSM) – For the first time since 2010, the 2023 Tony the Tiger Sun Bowl is officially sold out for Friday’s 90th edition of the contest, the bowl game announced on Tuesday night.
45,971 fans will pack into Sun Bowl Stadium on Friday at noon to see No. 16 Notre Dame and No. 19 Oregon State battle it out. The last time the game was sold out was also the last time Notre Dame played in the game in 2010, a 33-17 Irish win over Miami in a snow storm.
A sellout crowd was the expected outcome for the Sun Bowl by bowl officials, ever since the Fighting Irish were the surprise selection for the game on Dec. 3. Notre Dame has a large fanbase in El Paso and their fans traditionally travel well to games outside of South Bend regardless.
When Notre Dame was last in El Paso in 2010, it brought the Sun Bowl’s biggest-ever economic impact on the city of El Paso, something that could happen again in 2023.
With the game sold out, Notre Dame and Oregon State will continue preparing for the big day in El Paso. Both teams practiced in the Sun City on Tuesday, three days ahead of kickoff. The Beavers are calling Eastwood High School home this week, while Notre Dame is using the Socorro ISD Student Activities Complex.
For Notre Dame, they come in at 9-3 and want to get to the 10-win mark with a victory on Friday. They know they’re the headliners for this year’s game and they wear it with pride.
“Anywhere we go, obviously being University of Notre Dame, everybody knows us, whether they’re against us or not,” Notre Dame All-American defensive lineman Howard Cross said. “Most of the time if we go to stadiums that don’t really pack a lot, it’s all Notre Dame fans. Even opposing teams, big stages, we’re usually always the majority of the fans there. We have the best fans in the world and we’re going to show them why.”
Oregon State, meanwhile, is a perpetual underdog. The Beavers have not played in a Rose Bowl since the 1960s and have made one appearance in a New Year’s Six bowl game since 1965.
“I feel like we’re the underdog in this game and it would be big for our team, our coaches and we’re doing this for Beaver Nation, so it’d be big for Beaver Nation,” said OSU wide receiver Jesiah Irish.
In more recent years, they have also been left completely out of the Pac-12’s conference realignment and were forced to join Washington State in a merger with the Mountain West Conference for football and the West Coast Conference for all other sports ahead of 2024-25.
However, at 8-4, they’re still very talented and they want to prove a bevy of people wrong with a win over a prestigious program.
“Personally this is what you train for, to play in games like this against opponents like Notre Dame,” said OSU tight end Riley Sharp. “It means a lot, it means everything. It’s one more opportunity to step on the field and showcase who you are as a team and as a player.”
The Beavers are six-point underdogs in the 2023 Sun Bowl, but are 2-0 all-time against Notre Dame. Oregon State demolished the Irish in the 2001 Fiesta Bowl, 41-9, then four seasons later, beat the Irish 38-21 in the Insight Bowl.
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