Watch: Penn State head coach James Franklin joins Marcus Freeman to preview the Orange Bowl
DANIA BEACH, Fla. – Penn State head coach James Franklin is just over 24 hours out from the biggest game of his tenure, as the Nittany Lions face Notre Dame Thursday evening in the Orange Bowl with a spot in the College Football Playoff national championship game on the line.
On Wednesday morning, Franklin joined Fighting Irish head coach Marcus Freeman for a joint press conference previewing the game.
“We are honored and blessed to be here, obviously, to represent Penn State University and also the Big 10,” Franklin said to lead off his press conference. “We’re honored to compete against Marcus and his Notre Dame football team. I got a ton of respect for Marcus and followed his career for a long time.
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“We have friends and coaches in common. Gerad Parker was on both of our staffs and is now the head coach at Troy and is doing a great job. Him and Marcus are very, very good friends. But [we’re] just excited to be here. It’s been a crazy college football season, not only for Penn State but really across the board, and we couldn’t be more excited to be here and playing in the Orange Bowl. Such a historic game. Penn State, Notre Dame got great history together as well. Two storied programs.”
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The biggest takeaway from the event was the status of both Penn State defensive end Abdul Carter and Notre Dame running back Jermiyah Love.
“Jermiyah has had a good week of practice,” said Freeman. “We have to be smart in terms of how much we’re asking him to do in practice. We’ve got to get him ready for the game, but he’s confident…Nobody feels 100 percent but J-Love will be ready to go.”
As for Carter, Frankling added, “We anticipate Abdul playing. He’s doing everything he possibly can to play. His approach has been awesome. He’s lived in the training room. But, it’ll be a game-time decision. We’ll see. Abdul’s approached this the right way. He wants to play. We are hopeful, and expecting Abdul to play. And, we’ll see how this plays out.”
