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What did Marcus Freeman have to say about Penn State ahead of the Orange Bowl?

Mug-Shot 4x4by:Ryan Snyder•01/04/25•

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Notre Dame head coach Marcus Freeman celebrates a touchdown scored during the first round of the College Football Playoff between Notre Dame and Indiana at Notre Dame Stadium on Friday, Dec. 20, 2024, in South Bend.

Penn State head coach James Franklin and his team will head down to Miami on Tuesday ahead of its upcoming College Football Playoff semifinal showdown against Notre Dame in the Orange Bowl.

On Saturday, Notre Dame head coach Marcus Freeman was the first to speak with the media about the upcoming semifinal. As you would expect, he spoke highly of Franklin and what the Nittany Lions have done so far this season.

“I got a lot of respect for Coach Franklin and the job he’s done at Penn State and at Vandy before that,” Freeman said. “It’s a very disciplined, tough football team. [They have a] very creative offense that utilizes a bunch of different personnel, a bunch of different formations that’s gonna force you to be extremely disciplined in terms of your eyes and your adjustments in terms of defensive football.”

Freeman mentioned a few of Penn State’s offensive players in particular that have their attention after watching film.

“I think their tight end, [Tyler Warren], is one of the best players in college football period, regardless of position. Very impressed by the film I’ve seen of him,” Freeman said. “Both of their running backs [Nick Singleton and Kaytron Allen] are extremely good players. Both of them are home run threats. They’re power runners, they got speed, good balance, they’re tough. I think they’re extremely talented players. The quarterback [Drew Allar] is playing as well as he has all season. He’s playing confident, throwing the ball well, making really good decisions, staying in the pocket and delivering a good ball. So, their offense is going to present a great challenge for us.”

Of course, Penn State’s defense has been one of the best in the nation this season. In particular, he spoke highly of the Nittany Lions’ front four.

“Defensively, they create a lot of havoc. It doesn’t have to be with pressure, but their front four creates havoc,” Freeman said. “They do a good job stopping the run and getting after the quarterback in the pass game. And like I just said about the tight end, number 11, their D-end, [Abdul] Carter, he’s as good as anybody in college football at his position. He’s a talented pass rusher. So they got some guys. I think they’re fourth in FBS in terms of interceptions. They got guys and that’s a good team. We’re going to have a challenge to prepare the right way and get ready for this opportunity that lies ahead.”

With the Sugar Bowl being postponed for a day, plus the fact that Penn State played on Dec. 31, the Nittany Lions will have two extra days of rest compared to Notre Dame coming into this game. With that said, it should also be noted that Penn State had to fly across the country on New Year’s Day, so the amount of time they would’ve had to prepare isn’t as big of an advantage as most are making it out to be.

Freeman said he’s not concerned about the gap, but did stress that they have to maximize their time studying Penn State.

“We’ve done this type of schedule for 10 out of 12 games during the season,” Freeman said. “So, you don’t have those extra days, [but] what we got to do is utilize the time we have to expedite the preparation. What you miss in terms of not having those couple days is, physically, yeah, we’re pretty healthy after this past game, but the mental preparation of knowing exactly what to do. So, we got to make sure we utilize every hour of the day to capitalize off of the preparation. But for us, it’s routine. This is just game week. We have seven days between games.”

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