No one could accuse LSU head coach Les Miles of waiting by the phone Sunday with the Tigers’ bowl fate in the balance.

He might have been the last person to know after it was announced that LSU and Notre Dame will renew a tight rivalry when they square off in Nashville for the Music City Bowl on Dec. 30.

Miles was out recruiting Sunday and, in fact, was in the air en route to another visit when the LSU bowl announcement came down.

But, once on the ground, he didn’t have to be a “Michigan Man” to recognize the opponent.

“We see this as a national game,” Miles said of a bowl that is well down the college game’s pecking order. “It’s an attractive television game.

“You don’t have to look at the film to know that if you’re playing Notre Dame, they’re very talented.”

It will be LSU’s first trip to the Music City Bowl. For much of Sunday, it appeared the Tigers might be headed to the Texas Bowl in Houston for a matchup against the Texas Longhorns.

But the SEC placed Arkansas as the SEC representative in that bowl and left the Tigers to deal with the Irish.

The Music City Bowl’s 2 p.m. CST kickoff on a Tuesday will be the Tigers’ first day game this season.

“LSU and Notre Dame, we have some history with each other in bowl games,” LSU running back Terrence Magee said. “Notre Dame is a big program, they’ve been on the big stage lately. I think it’s going to be a big matchup for us.”

It will be the 11th meeting between the two schools with the series currently tied at 5-5.

The last two meetings were also in bowl games, with LSU winning both. The Tigers beat Notre Dame 27-9 in the 1997 Independence Bowl and 41-14 in the Sugar Bowl following the 2006 season.

“The last time I played Notre Dame, it was the JaMarcus Russell (LSU) team, a very talented LSU team and we played very hard,” Miles said. “We played extremely well in our own backyard.”

The Tigers were one of a dozen SEC schools to get bowl invitations, including Alabama as the No. 1 seed in the four-team College Football Playoff. Mississippi State (Orange) and Ole Miss (Peach) nabbed spots in the bowls that the CFP’s selection committee arranges for the four other bowls involved in the playoff.

Notre Dame (7-5) started the season 6-0, including wins over Michigan and Stanford, before losing a 31-27 heartbreaker to Florida State.

The Irish bounced back to beat Navy in their next game, but with injuries mounting it was their last victory of the season. Notre Dame enters the bowl on a four-game losing streak.

But Miles sees it as a great opportunity for his young team.

“We need as many practices as we can get with a youthful team,” he said. “We look forward to a number of practices in preparation for this bowl. We’ll practice that second team extensively, not only to get them prepared for this game but for the future.”

That will include, Miles said, the troublesome quarterback position, where Miles said the evaluation of Anthony Jennings and Brandon Harris will continue.

“Absolutely,” Miles said. “It’s that time that you continue to compete, continue to press your quarterbacks to throw it, to run it.

“If he has designs on being the leader of this team, of being the quarterback, this will be a very competitive time, even before the game.”

On the injury front, Miles was not certain about the bowl status of running back Kenny Hilliard. But of center Elliott Porter, he said, “I would guess not.”(MGNonline)