Updated Jan. 9, 2025, 10:15 PM UTC
The College Football Playoff semifinals are finally here. Historic programs Penn State and Notre Dame will square off Thursday night in the Orange Bowl with a berth in the national championship on the line.
The Fighting Irish (13-1) are among the country’s best on both sides of the ball. They ranked fourth with 37.7 points per game while only surrendering 13.6, the second-best rate. Marcus Freeman’s team cruised past Indiana in the opening round and last week topped defending national champion Georgia 23-10.
The Nittany Lions (13-2), led by star quarterback Drew Allar, have dominated thus far in the postseason. After defeating SMU 38-10, they defeated Boise State 31-14.
Who will come out on top of the Orange Bowl? Stay with NBC News all night for the latest.
Penn State vs. Notre Dame
Date: Thursday, Jan. 9
Time: 7:30 p.m. ET
Location: Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens
How to watch: ESPN
Penn State (13-2) had never won 13 games in a season until now, a milestone that owes partly to the lengthening of college football’s season thanks to the advent of the Big Ten championship game (in 2011) and expansion of the College Football Playoff to 12 teams, this season.
Still, the victories represent more of a trend than a blip. Since 2016, Penn State has the eighth-best winning percentage among Power Four conferences.
Penn State coach James Franklin on Wednesday questioned the wisdom of extending the season longer than ever.
“I think it’s something that we’re going to have to look at in terms of what’s best for college football, what’s best for the student-athlete experience, what’s best in a university setting, because I don’t know if this is really what it was designed to be,” Franklin told reporters on the eve of the Orange Bowl.
After suffering an arm injury in Penn State’s Fiesta Bowl victory last week against Boise State, All-American defensive end Abdul Carter is “anticipated” to play against Notre Dame, Penn State coach James Franklin said Wednesday.
“He wants to play,” he said. “He’s put a ton of, like, cryptic messages out on social media, which you guys have probably seen those. I learn as much from those as I do from our trainers. But we are hopeful and expecting Abdul to play, and we’ll see how that plays out.”
With Notre Dame’s Marcus Freeman and Penn State’s James Franklin meeting tonight, a Black head coach will have the opportunity to win a national championship for the first time.
“It’s an honor,” Freeman said. “It’s a reminder that you are a representation of so many others who look like you. I don’t take that for granted.”
Among the 134 teams playing in the NCAA’s Football Bowl Subdivision only 11.9% — 16 programs overall — have Black head coaches. According to an analysis by the AP, that lags behind the NFL, where this season 18.8% of head coaches were Black.
The NFL’s “Rooney Rule” mandates that teams interview minority candidates for head-coaching openings, but the NCAA has no such broad rule covering all of its conferences, though there are a few exceptions modeled after the Rooney Rule. The West Coast Conference has the “Bill Russell Rule,” and in 2009, the Oregon legislature passed its own version of the “Rooney Rule.”
Franklin said he vividly recalled the effect of watching two Black coaches face off in the Super Bowl for the first time in 2007.
“I remember that year, the Super Bowl with, if I remember correctly, Tony Dungy and Lovie Smith, there was just a lot of talk within the profession, two African-American coaches coaching in the Super Bowl, and that was a big moment,” he said. “We felt like that was going to have an opportunity to maybe create some change or create some opportunities for guys that had earned the right to sit in those types of rooms.”
Multiple organizations hand out an award for coach of the year, and Notre Dame’s Marcus Freeman has won two of them after leading the Irish to a 12-game win streak and the semifinals. On Dec. 31, Freeman won the Dodd Trophy, which has named a coach of the year since 1976. On Wednesday, Freeman also earned the Munger Award for college coach of the year from the Maxwell Football Club. Freeman is also a finalist for the Eddie Robinson Coach of the Year Award.
