Orange Bowl: Greg McElroy previews Notre Dame vs. Penn State

A spot in the national championship will be on the line in the Orange Bowl. Notre Dame and Penn State will face off in the College Football Playoff semifinal on Jan. 9, just a week away. Both programs have been waiting for this moment for a long time, just two wins away from a title.

ESPN’s Greg McElroy was in New Orleans to call Notre Dame’s win over Georgia but decided to look ahead of the broadcast’s end. He believes the Orange Bowl will be similar to what we saw in the Orange Bowl as Notre Dame and Penn State have a similar makeup.

“It’s going to be a lot like the game we saw tonight,” McElroy said. “It’s going to be about who makes a key mistake because both teams do a great job at playing complimentary football. Both teams are great along the line of scrimmage defensively. Both teams have elite running back tandems. So, these teams are very, very similar… It should be a fascinating matchup in Miami.”

Riley Leonard wound up being Notre Dame’s leading rusher on Thursday night, going for 80 yards on 14 carries. Georgia did a nice job containing the Irish’s running back tandem as Jeremiyah Love and Jadarian Price combined for just 16 touches and 56 yards.

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Penn State will be hoping to produce something similar, at least when looking at the running backs. They just faced arguably college football’s best back in Boise State‘s Ashton Jeanty and will be up for the task. And on the other side, Kaytron Allen and Nicholas Singleton will be ready to rock.

Where McElroy believes Penn State might have an advantage is the receiving play makers. The ESPN analyst likes what Notre Dame has on the outside but not as much as what Tyler Warren brings to the table. A true game changer at the tight end position.

“The one area where it’s different is while there’s a little more twitch on the outside at wide receiver for Notre Dame, we all know that the the tight end, Tyler Warren for Penn State, is one of one.”

The all-time series between these two big-time programs is currently tied 9-9-1. You have to go back to 2007 to find the last matchup, being the latter game of a home-and-home series.

Jan. 9 in Miami will be a great tiebreaker and easily be the most important matchup they have ever played.