Notre Dame took down Penn State 27-24 in the Orange Bowl, and will advance to the national championship game, in hopes of winning their first championship since 1988. That is to say, this makes head coach Marcus Freeman the first black coach ever to lead his team into a Division I college football national title game.
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With Notre Dame's win, Marcus Freeman will be the first Black head coach EVER to coach for a national championship at the FBS level. pic.twitter.com/tTyC1UuGBg
— Front Office Sports (@FOS) January 10, 2025
Even more, considering Freeman's mother was born in South Korea, he also becomes the first Asian head coach to accomplish this feat as well.
Following the game, the third-year head coach was asked about what this meant for him.
"I hope all coaches, minorities, black, Asian, white — get an opportunity to lead young men like this," Freeman said.
In view of the game, it turned out to be a back-and-forth thriller that came down to the wire.
With the score tied 24-24 with under a minute left in regulation, Penn State had the ball and looked threatening to score. However, in the blink of an eye it all changed as junior quarterback Drew Allar may have blown the game, throwing a costly pick to defensive back Christian Gray with 33 seconds left.
NOTRE DAME INTERCEPTS IT WITH 33 SECONDS LEFT 🤯🤯🤯 pic.twitter.com/k9TqktqLka
— The Jump Sports (@TheJumpSports) January 10, 2025
Then Notre Dame took over with good field position, to set up kicker Mitch Jeter for the game-winning kick opportunity.
Notre Dame takes the lead with less than 10 seconds to go‼️ pic.twitter.com/0uIC19YAEZ
— ESPN (@espn) January 10, 2025
This is what it’s all about.
Mitch Jeter’s dad in the stands the moment his son hit the game-winning FG 🥹 pic.twitter.com/BNjV1WXbnX
— ESPN (@espn) January 10, 2025
After the game head coach Freeman reiterated how clutch Jeter has been in the big moments this year.
"That is a confident kid man, there is no moment too big for Mitch Jeter," he said.
GOOD NIGHT FROM THE 2025 ORANGE BOWL CHAMPS 🍊☘️#GoIrish☘️ pic.twitter.com/zdlf7qGl1N
— Notre Dame Football (@NDFootball) January 10, 2025
All in all, many did not expect the Fighting Irish to make it this far, as during the second week of the season, Notre Dame lost to Northern Illinois 16-14.
Imagine telling someone after this game that Notre Dame would be in the National Championship pic.twitter.com/DPUmwo6tpe
— Hayes Fawcett (@Hayesfawcett3) January 10, 2025
With this in mind, if Notre Dame holds on to win the national title, Northern Illinois' win might go down as one of the craziest upsets of all time.
Looking at how Freeman's last two seasons ended, they won the Gator Bowl in 2022 (45-38 vs. South Carolina) and also claimed victory in last year's Sun Bowl (40-8 vs. Oregon State).
Now the Irish will await the winner of the Cotton Bowl semi-final matchup, Ohio State vs. Texas, as the national championship game is set to take place on January 20 at 7:30 pm ET.
Related: No. 5 Ranked Notre Dame Paid $1.4 Million To Lose Against Northern Illinois
