College Football Playoff—Orange Bowl Preview: No. 7 Notre Dame vs. No. 6 Penn State

The Notre Dame Fighting Irish celebrate with the trophy after a 23–10 victory against the Georgia Bulldogs during the 91st Allstate Sugar Bowl at Caesars Superdome in New Orleans, La., on Jan. 2, 2025. Jonathan Bachman/Getty Images

The College Football Playoff has reached the semifinal round, and the football gods have put forward a final four of blue-blood programs. If fans wanted historical narratives to chase in the final three games of the tournament, they’ve got it!

The first of the semifinal games is on Thursday night when Notre Dame and Penn State battle in the Capital One Orange Bowl. Both programs are among the seven winningest in college football history—Notre Dame is tied with Texas for fourth with 960 all-time wins, while Penn State ranks seventh with 942.

However, Notre Dame’s last national championship win was in 1988, and Penn State’s was in 1986.

One of these great programs hopes to end their title drought, but they’ll need two more wins to achieve that goal.

College Football Playoff Semifinal No. 1

Capital One Orange Bowl

No. 7 Notre Dame (13–1) vs. No. 6 Penn State (13–2) Jan. 9, 8:30 p.m. ET Hard Rock Stadium, Miami Gardens, Florida

How They Got Here

• Penn State 38—SMU 10 (at Penn State)
• Penn State 31—Boise State 14 (Vrbo Fiesta Bowl)
• Notre Dame 27—Indiana 17 (at Notre Dame)
• Notre Dame 23—Georgia 10 (Allstate Sugar Bowl)

The Quarterbacks

Riley Leonard, Notre Dame

• 2,383 passing yards, 18 touchdowns, 6 INT, 66.5 comp. pct.
• 831 rush yards, 15 touchdowns

Drew Allar, Penn State

• 3,192 passing yards, 24 touchdowns, 7 INT, 67.4 comp. pct.
• 285 rush yards, 6 touchdowns

Impact Players

Notre Dame: Jeremiyah Love, RB

• 1,076 rushing yards, 16 rushing touchdowns
• 25 catches, 226 receiving yards, 2 receiving touchdowns

Penn State: Tyler Warren, TE

• 98 catches, 1,158 receiving yards, 8 receiving touchdowns
• 197 rushing yards, 4 rushing touchdowns
• 35 passing yards, 1 passing touchdown

Who Has the Advantage?

There have been questions about PSU head coach James Franklin being able to win big games, but he’s effectively quieted his doubters with the two wins in these playoffs. On the other side, 38-year-old Marcus Freeman has run his team with emotion and simply out-coached Kirby Smart in Notre Dame’s win over Georgia.

Both teams come in with terrific defenses that have answered the bell in their previous playoff games. They’ve found ways to win and advance. Now, only one can move on.

If there’s one X-factor in this game that could shift the balance, it might be Leonard’s ability to get yards with his legs even when the opposition knows he’s dangerous. He threw for only 90 yards against Georgia but ran for 80 and picked up critical first downs late in the game.