After a Narrow Victory Over Penn State, Notre Dame Aims for Its First Title Since 1988
Following Its Win Against the Nittany Lions in the Orange Bowl, Notre Dame Now Wants the CFP Title!
Fighting Irish Rule Over Penn State in Orange Bowl
A moment in the making since 2013 is now a reality once again for the Notre Dame Fighting Irish football team as Marcus Freeman’s team will get the chance to play for the college football National Title on January 20th in Atlanta.
Following ND’s 27-24 thriller of a win against the Penn State Nittany Lions at the Orange Bowl, in what could easily be considered the best of all college football games in this season’s playoffs, the Irish are now set to try and do something they haven’t done since 1988, win the FBS title.
NOTRE DAME IS GOING TO THE NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP ☘️🏆 pic.twitter.com/5KKypQ0yTO
— FOX College Football (@CFBONFOX) January 10, 2025
Following the win, NCAAF news started to flood everywhere, commending coach Freeman and his Notre Dame squad for the win and bashing Penn St. coach James Franklin for his inability to step up and lead the Lions to score a win when needed most.
But before we talk about Franklin, because yes, I have a couple of things to say about his 1-15 record against top-five opponents and every single smoke screen the man continues to sell, how about we give it up for the Fighting Irish one more time?
HIT THE MUSIC ☘️
We’re headed to the NATTY #GoIrish pic.twitter.com/S7vefFnlC4
— Notre Dame Football (@NDFootball) January 10, 2025
For now, as Notre Dame sits back and waits to see whether it will be #5 Ohio State, the current six-point betting odds favorite to win, or #8 Texas who they’ll be facing in the National Title game, let’s talk about what happened last night.
How About Giving Marcus Freeman Some Much Deserved Props?
It’s been three years since Freeman took over Notre Dame’s football program, and man, has he done his fair share of work in said time. Taking the Fighting Irish from being an overly hyped, live-off its blue-blood status in NCAA football to reaching the National Title game is something that needs to be commended by every single football fan, love Notre Dame or not.
First and foremost, props to Freeman for taking the narrative of being the first African-American head coach to lead a team to the title game and pointing attention to where it matters most: his team’s efforts paying off.
Stating: “It is an honor, and I hope all coaches — minorities, Black, Asian, white, it doesn’t matter, great people — continue to get opportunities to lead young men like this. But this ain’t about me. This is about us.” Freeman hit the nail right where it deserves to be shot, celebrating the honor his accomplishment amounted to but not making it only about himself.
With Notre Dame’s win, Marcus Freeman will be the first Black head coach EVER to coach for a national championship at the FBS level. pic.twitter.com/tTyC1UuGBg
— Front Office Sports (@FOS) January 10, 2025
It felt distasteful for Freeman to be put on the spot racially speaking instead of focussing on what matters most, the results of his work paying off immensely.
Notre Dame just won its biggest game since 1988. How does @espn react? By focusing on one half of Marcus Freeman’s race. Freeman absolutely crushes his answer and says he hopes all coaches regardless of race get great opportunities like he did. pic.twitter.com/GL3DL6lzB6
— Clay Travis (@ClayTravis) January 10, 2025
So yes, props to Freeman for his history-making run this season, to Notre Dame for making it to the CFP title game, and to the coach for making sure everything comes back to where it needs to be, celebrating the efforts made by the players on the field.
Is It Time to Call Out James Franklin’s Smoke Screen Yet?
Stepping away from Notre Dame’s accomplishment and coming back to what I spoke about at the beginning of this piece, I’m not here to bash coach Franklin’s tenure with Penn State as a whole, given the team continues to be a favorite amongst college football picks and predictions experts, but damn man, Franklin’s schtick is starting to run real stale real fast.
“It turned out to be an absolute mess and he will pay for it. … He’s an outstanding coach, but he still hasn’t won that big game.”
—@finebaum on Penn State’s head coach James Franklin after their CFP loss to Notre Dame pic.twitter.com/F0mbb88q3M
— Get Up (@GetUpESPN) January 10, 2025
Holding a reeling 1-15 record against AP top-five opponents since taking over the team, Franklin continues to show that he’s a great coach until he’s not.
Seriously, is there something we’re not looking at here? It doesn’t take a genius to see that Penn State’s football team always seems underwhelmed when it matters most.
How else do you explain Penn’s wide receivers being held to zero catches and zero yards in last night’s game?
James Franklin in every big game pic.twitter.com/ATy2YwTAjw
— Underdog (@UnderdogFantasy) January 10, 2025
Maybe staying away from giving NCAAF rumors fans material to talk about like his slandering of Notre Dame not playing in a conference or trying to act like Freeman’s football big brother could have done the trick for Franklin.
But no, “Big Game James” had to do him.
Ohhh. James Franklin thinks this is a teacher-student thing. The guy that’s 1-14 vs Top 5 teams.
Freeman forever. Alt lines. pic.twitter.com/wcp6YOgL8d
— Joe Ostrowski (@JoeOstrowski) January 9, 2025
If last night’s game can leave any lesson for Penn State’s coach, it should be to learn a thing or two about how little bro Freeman runs his program and take a couple of pointers. Then, he might not choke when it matters most.
