Sixth-seeded (fourth-ranked) Penn State faces seventh-seeded (fifth-ranked) Notre Dame in the semifinals of the College Football Playoffs (CFP).\u00a0 The game will take place at the Orange Bowl in Miami.\u00a0 Both teams come into the matchup riding momentum.\u00a0 Penn State has had two decisive wins in the playoffs, over SMU and Boise State.\u00a0 Notre Dame has defeated Indiana and Georgia.\u00a0 This matchup is an intriguing one pitting two bluebloods that have helped define the history of college football.\u00a0 There is no doubt that this game will look a lot like other playoff games.\u00a0 It will be hard-fought, and ultimately it will be won in the trenches.<\/p>\n
Penn State enters the Orange Bowl with a record of 13-2.\u00a0 The 13 wins is a record for the most wins in a single season for the Nittany Lions.\u00a0 Over the first two playoff games, the defense has been dominant.\u00a0 However, a key question looms for that Penn State defense.\u00a0 Following a left arm injury against Boise State, will defensive end Abdul Carter<\/a> play?\u00a0 Even if he does, it is worth watching how effective he can or will be.<\/p>\n Notre Dame boasts a record of 13-1 and has won 12 in a row.\u00a0 Notre Dame\u2019s 13 wins also represent a single-season school record.\u00a0 The Fighting Irish are very similar to Penn State in a few ways.\u00a0 First, Notre Dame\u2019s defense has proven to be stout against some quality offenses.\u00a0 Additionally, Notre Dame sports a running back tandem that provides a similar threat to Penn State\u2019s.\u00a0 The Penn State defense proved in the win over Boise State that the unit is up to a challenge from a strong running game, holding Heisman runner-up Ashton Jeanty<\/a> to his lowest output of the season.<\/p>\n An important storyline underscoring this game has been the performance of Penn State, and head coach James Franklin, in big games.\u00a0 The win over Boise State in the quarterfinals was a step in the direction of quieting the criticisms.\u00a0 However, a win over Notre Dame to advance to the National Championship game will go much further.<\/p>\n In the Round 1 victory over SMU<\/a>, and the quarterfinals defeat of Boise State<\/a>, Penn State was expected to win.\u00a0 That has never been an issue for Franklin and Penn State.\u00a0 The larger concern has been in games where the Nittany Lions needed to punch above their weight.\u00a0 Countless games against Big Ten-rival Ohio State and Michigan are cases in point.\u00a0 Additionally, at Penn State Franklin has a record of 1-14 against teams ranked in the top five.\u00a0 The Orange Bowl provides a huge opportunity to put that criticism in the rear-view mirror.<\/p>\n When & Where: <\/strong>Thursday, January 9th<\/sup>, 7:30 pm ET, at Miami, Florida (Hard Rock Stadium)<\/p>\n Last Game\u2019s Results: <\/strong>Penn State defeated Boise State 31-14 at the Fiesta Bowl in the quarterfinals of the CFP.\u00a0 Notre Dame beat Georgia 23-10 in a quarterfinal matchup at the Sugar Bowl.<\/p>\n Last Season\u2019s Results: <\/strong>Penn State finished ranked #13 after a 10-3 season that ended with a Peach Bowl loss to Ole Miss.\u00a0 Notre Dame finished ranked #14 after a 10-3 season that ended with a 40-8 victory over Oregon State in the Sun Bowl.<\/p>\n Series History: <\/strong>The CFP Semifinals will be the 20th<\/sup> time these storied programs face off.\u00a0 Each team has won nine times, and there was one tie.\u00a0 The last time they played, Penn State won 31-10 in 2007.\u00a0 Interestingly, that was the first official White Out at Beaver Stadium.\u00a0 The team first played in 1913, a 14-7 win for Penn State.\u00a0 They also played each year between 1981 and 1992, with Penn State winning eight of the 12 contests.<\/p>\n Heading into the semifinal matchup against Notre Dame, a big point of emphasis for the Penn State defense will be stopping the run.\u00a0 While Penn State has had recent success in stopping strong rushing attacks, the Fighting Irish present a different type of challenge.\u00a0 Linebacker Dom DeLuca<\/a> has stepped up in recent games and will need to have another big game in the Orange Bowl.<\/p>\n DeLuca, a redshirt junior, was named a team captain for the second straight season this year.\u00a0 A former walk-on, DeLuca embodies a lot of what makes college football great.\u00a0 He made a mark on special teams, being awarded the #0 jersey as the team\u2019s leader on special teams.\u00a0 DeLuca is now a key contributor to the linebacker corps in coordinator Tom Allen\u2019s defense.<\/p>\n DeLuca has been a spark in both Penn State playoff games.\u00a0 He returned an interception for a touchdown against SMU for the game\u2019s first score.\u00a0 One of key plays in the win over Boise State featured DeLuca.\u00a0 As Boise State split out running back Jeanty wide and threw a quick pass to him, DeLuca quickly closed and made a textbook tackle on the all-world running back.\u00a0 The play was symbolic of DeLuca\u2019s rise to stardom on the team, as well as the team\u2019s grit in fighting to reach the CFP semifinals.<\/p>\n With Carter\u2019s ability to impact the game from the defensive line in question, the rest of the defense needs to step up.\u00a0 While Penn State boasts a great secondary, stopping Notre Dame\u2019s running game will also require strong linebacker play.\u00a0 DeLuca\u2019s ability to continue to lead the defense and make impact plays make him a key player to watch in the Orange Bowl.<\/p>\n The Penn State defense has been strong against the run this season.\u00a0 Holding Jeanty to his lowest output of the season, and preventing him from setting the single-season rushing record, is a testament to that strength.\u00a0 However, the Notre Dame rushing attack provides a unique challenge for Penn State.\u00a0 Against Boise State, everyone knew Jeanty was the focal point.\u00a0 For Notre Dame, there are a pair of strong running backs.\u00a0 Additionally, Riley Leonard<\/a> is another threat from the quarterback position.<\/p>\n There are two main ways for a quarterback to impact the running game.\u00a0 First, throwing the ball well will cause a defense to back off to defend the pass.\u00a0 That opens up more running lanes.\u00a0 Additionally, the quarterback can become a rushing weapon himself.\u00a0 That is the case with Leonard at Notre Dame, where he is a dual-threat quarterback.<\/p>\n Leonard\u2019s passing numbers are strong, as he has completed 66.8% of his passes, for 2,293 yards with 17 touchdowns and six interceptions.\u00a0 In the Notre Dame running game, Jeremiyah Love<\/a> and Jadarian Price<\/a> ranked first and third on the team, respectively, in rushing attempts, yards, and touchdowns.\u00a0 Sandwiched between those backs is Leonard.\u00a0 He ranks second on the team in carries (135), rushing yards (751), and rushing touchdowns (15).<\/p>\n Following Notre Dame\u2019s only loss this season, 16-14 to Northern Illinois in the second week of the season, the offense has been on fire.\u00a0 In the ten straight wins that followed, the Fighting Irish scored under 30 points only once.\u00a0 Leonard has been a big part of that.\u00a0 His ability to impact the game both through the air and on the ground makes Leonard a key player to watch in the Orange Bowl.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Sixth-seeded (fourth-ranked) Penn State faces seventh-seeded (fifth-ranked) Notre Dame in the semifinals of the College Football Playoffs (CFP).\u00a0 The game will take place at the Orange Bowl in Miami.\u00a0 Both teams come into the matchup riding momentum.\u00a0 Penn State has had two decisive wins in the playoffs, over SMU and Boise State.\u00a0 Notre Dame has […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5172,"featured_media":71438,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"1","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[2,5,7361,11,35676,35610],"tags":[34494,837,259,1275,3440,309,1073],"class_list":["post-71388","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured","category-bigten","category-bowl-games","category-independents","category-notre-dame-fighting-irish","category-penn-state-nittany-lions","tag-2024-college-football-playoff","tag-james-franklin","tag-notre-dame-fighting-irish","tag-orange-bowl","tag-penn-state-defense","tag-penn-state-nittany-lions","tag-tom-allen"],"modified_by":"Michael Kovacs, ADMIN","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/71388","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5172"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=71388"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/71388\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":71437,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/71388\/revisions\/71437"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/71438"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=71388"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=71388"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=71388"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Big Game James<\/h3>\n
#6 Penn State (13-2) Faces #7 Notre Dame (13-1): CFP Semifinals<\/strong><\/h2>\n
Penn State Faces Notre Dame Key Players to Watch<\/strong><\/h3>\n
Penn State Linebacker Dom DeLuca<\/strong><\/h3>\n
Notre Dame Quarterback Riley Leonard<\/strong><\/h3>\n