{"id":71436,"date":"2025-01-07T15:00:56","date_gmt":"2025-01-07T20:00:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/?p=71436"},"modified":"2025-09-20T14:33:06","modified_gmt":"2025-09-20T18:33:06","slug":"notre-dame-penn-state-square-off-in-the-orange-bowl","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/2025\/01\/07\/notre-dame-penn-state-square-off-in-the-orange-bowl\/","title":{"rendered":"Notre Dame, Penn State Square Off in the Orange Bowl"},"content":{"rendered":"

Fresh off a 23-10 dismantling of No. 2 seed and SEC Champion Georgia in the Sugar Bowl<\/a> on Jan. 2, No. 7 seed Notre Dame (13-1) continues its trek to the National Championship game with a date against the No. 6 seed Penn State (13-2) in the Capital One Orange Bowl on Jan. 9. One of two semifinal games in this year\u2019s expanded 12-team College Football Playoff, the 91st<\/sup> Orange Bowl is played at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens. Kick-off is slated for 7:30 p.m. ET. The winner of the Orange Bowl will face either No. 8 seed Ohio State or No. 5 seed Texas in the National Championship game in Atlanta on Jan. 20.<\/p>\n

On Saturday, Irish head coach Marcus Freeman addressed the media, reflecting on the Sugar Bowl triumph and the challenge ahead against Penn State.<\/p>\n

\u201cThursday seems like forever ago,\u201d Freeman said at the press conference. \u201cIt was a great moment for our entire program. By the time we got to the plane, the coaching staff had to turn our attention to Penn State. As special as that (Sugar Bowl) victory was, we put almost all our effort and attention to preparing for Penn State in making sure we\u2019re ready for this opportunity in front of us. If you don\u2019t prepare the right way, the reality is that the opportunity on Thursday will be our last one. And nobody in our program wants that. The reality is that it doesn\u2019t matter what you want. It\u2019s going to be about what you\u2019re willing to do. So, we have to understand that and put the work in that is necessary to achieve the result we want.\u201d<\/p>\n

Notre Dame, Penn State Square Off in the Orange Bowl<\/h2>\n

How Notre Dame and Penn State Got to the Semifinals<\/h3>\n

The Nittany Lions arrive in the semis having beaten SMU 38-10 and Mountain West champion Boise State and Heisman Trophy runner-up Ashton Jeanty<\/a> 31-14. The Fighting Irish took down in-state rival Indiana<\/a> in the first round 27-17 in a game that was not nearly as close as the final score suggests. Notre Dame earned a berth in the Orange Bowl with a dominating 23-10 win in the Sugar Bowl.<\/p>\n

Both Penn State and Notre Dame possess stingy defenses. The respective units are among the best in the nation this year, sitting in the top five in points allowed per game. Penn State allows 15.8 points per game. The Irish allow 13.8 points per game. Names to watch on defense are Abdul Carter<\/a> for Penn State and Xavier Watts<\/a> for Notre Dame. Carter, a likely first-round NFL Draft pick this year, is a powerful edge rusher. He tallied 11 sacks this season for the Nittany Lions. He exited the Boise State game in the first half with an apparent arm injury. Carter\u2019s status is uncertain a week out from the game.<\/p>\n

\u201cCarter is as good as anyone in college football at the position,\u201d Freeman noted. \u201cThey got guys. It\u2019s a good team. It\u2019s going to be a challenge for us.\u201d<\/p>\n

Watts is a two-time All-American safety. He leads the Irish with six interceptions and a forced fumble this season. Jack Kiser leads all Notre Dame defenders with 75 tackles. The leading tackler for the Nittany Lions is Jaylen Reed with 92 tackles.<\/p>\n

On the offensive side of the ball, both teams are powered by strong rushing attacks. Penn State boasts a formidable backfield duo in Kaytron Allen<\/a> (1,026 yards) and Nicholas Singleton<\/a> (1,015 yards). Notre Dame\u2019s rushing attack is led by workhorse Jeremiyah Love<\/a>, dual-threat quarterback Riley Leonard<\/a>, and Jadarian Price<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Orange Bowl by the Numbers<\/h3>\n

Under head coach James Franklin, Penn State scores 33.7 points per game, while Notre Dame scores an average of 38.8 points per game.<\/p>\n

Love leads the Irish\u2019s potent rushing attack. He has racked up 1,076 yards this season on 148 carries with 16 touchdowns. Beaux Collins<\/a> is Notre Dame\u2019s leading receiver. A transfer from Clemson, Collins caught a touchdown pass against Georgia in the Sugar Bowl and he has accumulated 445 receiving yards on the year. Leonard has developed into a solid game manager for the Irish. For the season, Leonard is 232-of-349 for 2,383 yards (66.5 completion percentage). He has thrown 18 touchdowns to six interceptions. The elusive signal-caller has rushed for 831 yards on 149 carries and scored 15 touchdowns on the ground.<\/p>\n

Penn State quarterback Drew Allar<\/a> is playing at a high level heading into the Orange Bowl. For the year, Allar has completed 250-of-371 passing attempts (67.4 completion percentage) for 3,192 yards playing under new offensive coordinator Andy Kotelnicki). He has tossed 24 touchdowns to just seven interceptions. Allar is also effective on the ground. He has gained 285 yards on 90 carries and has scored six rushing touchdowns. Tight end Tyler Warren<\/a> is Penn State\u2019s leading pass catcher, recording 1,158 receiving yards.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have a lot of respect for coach Franklin and the job he has done at Penn State,\u201d Freeman said. \u201cIt\u2019s a very talented, disciplined, tough football team with a very creative offense. They utilize a bunch of different personnel and different formations that force you to be disciplined in terms of your eyes and your adjustments. Both of their running backs are extremely good players. And both are homerun threats. Their quarterback is playing as well as he has all season. Their offense is going to present a great challenge to us defensively.\u201d<\/p>\n

Final Thoughts<\/h3>\n

Notre Dame enters the Orange Bowl seeking a third playoff victory. The clash with Penn State is shaping up to be the Irish\u2019s most formidable test of the postseason. The Nittany Lions have a roster brimming with talent and depth on both sides of the ball. On short rest after their Sugar Bowl victory, the resilient Fighting Irish are seeking to win their 13th<\/sup> straight game following a surprising Week 2 loss to Northern Illinois.<\/p>\n

Penn State and Notre Dame have played 19 times. The series is tied 9-9-1 all-time. The most recent matchup between the two powerhouses came in 2007. The Nittany Lions prevailed 31-10 in that game. The winner of the Orange Bowl will take the all-time series lead in the rivalry.<\/p>\n

Notre Dame\u2019s road to the national championship runs through the team from Happy Valley. Freeman, the Bobby Dodd Coach of the Year, will need to dig deep in his toolbox to orchestrate another statement win for the Notre Dame program this week. Under Freeman, Notre Dame is the first team ever to beat an AP-ranked opponent in six different months in the same season. The Irish beat No. 20 Texas A&M in August; No. 15 Louisville in September; No. 24 Navy in October; No. 18 Army in November; No. 9 Indiana in December; and No. 2 Georgia in January.<\/p>\n

A physical Penn State presents yet another stern test for the Irish. An Orange Bowl victory over a team as deep as Penn State will rightly propel the Fighting Irish to the pinnacle of college football\u2014the National Championship game.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Fresh off a 23-10 dismantling of No. 2 seed and SEC Champion Georgia in the Sugar Bowl on Jan. 2, No. 7 seed Notre Dame (13-1) continues its trek to the National Championship game with a date against the No. 6 seed Penn State (13-2) in the Capital One Orange Bowl on Jan. 9. One […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4854,"featured_media":71474,"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":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[7361,10906,8,11,35676,35610,2056],"tags":[32817,8020,837,7312,6850,259,1275,309],"class_list":["post-71436","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-bowl-games","category-cfb","category-fbs","category-independents","category-notre-dame-fighting-irish","category-penn-state-nittany-lions","category-top-25","tag-andy-kotelnicki","tag-jack-kiser","tag-james-franklin","tag-jaylen-reed","tag-marcus-freeman","tag-notre-dame-fighting-irish","tag-orange-bowl","tag-penn-state-nittany-lions"],"modified_by":"Michael Kovacs, ADMIN","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/71436","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\/4854"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=71436"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/71436\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":71475,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/71436\/revisions\/71475"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/71474"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=71436"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=71436"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=71436"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}