Notre Dame vs. Penn State Orange Bowl Promises To Be Historic in More Ways Than One | Deadspin.com

Mirror images characterize the first of two College Football Playoff semifinals, with Orange Bowl opponents Notre Dame and Penn State sharing both present-day styles and history.

First, the history: College football may not have two other programs with more prominent yet enduring national championship droughts as long as those of both the Fighting Irish and Nittany Lions are trying to snap.

Each claimed their last official national title when Ronald Reagan still occupied the White House, with Notre Dame winning it all in the 1988 season and Penn State beating Miami in a Fiesta Bowl classic two seasons prior. For additional context that explains just how long ago that was, less time elapsed between the Irish’s last championship and Wayne Edmonds’ debut as the first Black Notre Dame player to appear in a varsity game than has passed between the ‘88 campaign and today (35 years vs. 36).

At 38 years, Penn State’s championship drought is not quite as long as the 40 years between legendary Wally Triplett’s Nittany Lions debut in 1946. But that both programs’ last titles are virtually equidistant between college football being an almost entirely segregated sport and today speaks to how much time has truly passed since either hoisted the hardware.

Notre Dame’s and Penn State’s breaking of the color barrier on the field is relevant in this context, too, with Marcus Freeman and James Franklin just two wins away from becoming the game’s first Black head coach to win the national title.

Asked about this landmark moment for college football in Wednesday’s press conference, Franklin referenced his time on staff at Kansas State, working alongside Ron Prince and Raheem Morris. That calendar year, 2007, began on the gridiron with Tony Dungy’s Indianapolis Colts beating Lovie Smith’s Chicago Bears in Super Bowl XLI, marking the first time a Black head coach won the NFL’s top prize.

The NFL was late to reach such a milestone among major American team sports. Cito Gaston managed the Toronto Blue Jays to consecutive World Series championships in 1992 and 1993, almost a decade after John Thompson coached Georgetown to the 1984 NCAA basketball title.

Bill Russell, meanwhile, cemented his legacy as perhaps the most transcendent figure in NBA history when he won two championships as the Boston Celtics player-coach in 1968 and 1969.

Pro football did indeed take a while, but Dungy and Smith guiding their teams to the Super Bowl was no less significant.

“If you look at that time, Tony Dungy ended up becoming the coach that won the Super Bowl, and I think at that time, there were six coaches in college football as head coaches,” said Franklin, the first Black head coach in Penn State football history. “Now, there are 16 coaches of color in these positions. I do think it had an impact. I hope a game like ours could have an impact, and really just looking for an opportunity for guys to be able to get in front of some search firms and ADs and get opportunities that they earned.”

That Super Bowl XLI was held in the same venue as this Orange Bowl adds a poetic element to the semifinal’s history. So, too, is it being the Orange Bowl specifically.

The game’s 1952 edition is notorious for its snubbing of an undefeated University of San Francisco team. USF—which won a pair of basketball championships a few years later with the aforementioned Russell playing center—played a racially integrated lineup featuring All-American and NFL legend Ollie Matson.

Orange Bowl organizers have, in recent years, disputed claims that the Dons’ omission was racially motivated. The controversy still surrounds the game, particularly in light of USF shutting down its football program the following offseason.

From that sordid history to a matchup of integrated teams with Black head coaches in 2025, this Orange Bowl is the platform for a more positive chapter in the annals of college football.

But until it becomes a part of the sport’s lore, there’s a game still to be played between two of the best teams in college football this season. Freeman alluded to this in his comments on Wednesday.

“This isn’t about one person. It takes a team. It takes a program. It takes a lot of people committing to something bigger than themselves to put your team in a position to be here,” he said. “I’m grateful to be a part of that. But at the end of the day, the attention on one person takes away what really gives your program a chance to get here, and that’s team, and that’s committing to something bigger than yourself. That’s important to me.”

Along with their similar histories and shared opportunity, the 2024 season’s versions of Notre Dame and Penn State look quite similar. Both play physical, stingy defense and are ranked in the top seven nationally for points allowed this season—the Nittany Lions with 15.8, the Fighting Irish at 13.6.

Each has complemented that with perhaps underrated offenses that score 37.7 (Notre Dame) and 33.7 (Penn State) points per game. Quarterbacks Riley Leonard and Drew Allar may not have been Heisman Trophy contenders, but they were both electrifying two-way playmakers when their teams needed them to be.

The 2025 Orange Bowl promises to be a moment that college football fans will remember for generations—both for delivering a thrilling matchup worthy of the national championship stakes and for the history guaranteed to be made.