College football guru Mike Golic Jr. joined the GBag Nation to preview tonight's Orange Bowl between Notre Dame and Penn State, whether Notre Dame's depth is enough to push them into the national championship game, if Penn State's defense will be the same if Abdul Carter is limited, and more!
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00:00What about the coaching chess match here between Freeman and Franklin?
00:19I think Franklin's got a lot of pressure on him.
00:22I think he does, because, I mean, listen, for Notre Dame, they get a lot of credit coming
00:26off that Sugar Bowl.
00:27Listen to Pundit and everyone around the sport, Notre Dame breaking that almost three-decade
00:31drought of success in major bowl games, 0-8 in the BCS in New Year's, six games until
00:36that one.
00:37That win, even though it was against a backup quarterback, gave them a lot of capital in
00:42a lot of people's minds.
00:43And for James Franklin, I think he's still searching for that.
00:45I don't think the wins against SMU and Boise State resonated in the same way that they
00:49would like, and certainly in the way that this Notre Dame game would as a win.
00:52And so, listen, I know I'm a Notre Dame fan, and so everything gets filtered through the
00:57lens, but I think Marcus Freeman has acquitted himself incredibly well in terms of the in-game
01:02coaching prowess this season.
01:04More fourth-down attempts this year than in his first two seasons combined.
01:07You've got some high-leverage moves in special teams and in some of the hidden yardage situations
01:13that have popped up where Marcus Freeman hasn't been afraid to push the gas pedal down in
01:17critical situations.
01:18And so he understands, hey, with this offense, we've got to steal possessions.
01:21The defense is going to do some of that, but I've got to manufacture the rest of the head
01:25coach, and he's been up to that challenge.