Penn State Football HC James Franklin and Notre Dame HC Marcus Freeman talk with the media ahead of the 2025 Orange Bowl or better known as the College Football Playoff Semifinals.
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NOTES / QUOTES....
-- In a conversation about two black coaches meeting in the Orange Bowl, Marcus Freeman makes sure to give credit to Jack Swarbrick and Father Jenkins for having the courage to hire a first-time head coach and giving him the opportunity to get here.
James Franklin jokes about Freeman: "Look at the hairline on this guy. I'm envious of his hairline in a lot of ways."
-- Freeman on Jadarian Price: He is a young man that has put a lot of work into the point that he's got to now ... He takes advantage of his opportunities.
On Jeremiyah Love: He had a good week of practice. We have to be smart in terms of how much we've had him do in practice to get him ready. ..Nobody feels 100%. J-Love will be ready to go.
-- On the challenge of playing the longest season either team has been part of ...
Franklin: You're gonna have to be open-minded, creative and flexible. We've tried to do that. ... How important depth and development in your program is. You've gotta be willing to play guys ... I don't know if this is really what it's designed to be. ... When every decision we make is based on finances, we're not making decision that are in the best interests of student-athletes and the game of football. ... I think everybody should be in a conference. Everyone should play a conference championship game or no one should play a conference championship game. Every conference should play the same number of conference games ... Things need to be consistent across the calendar. Should we open the season a week early to take some of the pressure off the end of the season?Franklin named Nick Saban, Chris Petersen and Dave Clawson as guys who should be considered as commissioner of college football.
-- Franklin on Abdul Carter: We anticipate Abdul playing. He's doing everything he possibly can to play ... It will be a game-time decision.
-- Why is running the football and stopping the run a big part of your team's identity?
Freeman: For us, it's what we do well and what we have to do to have success with this current team. ... Just from a defensive coaching background, when you can't stop an offense from running the ball, it can be demoralizing.
-- James Franklin: "I love the Kings of the North."
He was asked if there's something that's allowing northern teams to emerge.Franklin: You described as a cold-weather team. I don't know if I would necessarily describe us that way in recruiting. We don't really sell it that way.More Franklin: There are some changes going on right now. What that is specific to, I'm not really sure. I don't know if there's enough data points to have a strong statement on it. ... The programs that are being creative, aggressive and bold, which is what we're trying to do, it's helping ... It's good for college football that there's more teams represented and more parts of the country represented.
-- Freeman: Coach Franklin has a lot more experience in college athletics where you can formulate a strong opinion. For us, whatever you tell us, we're gonna make the most of. ... I don't have a whole bunch of opinions on it. ... I love where we're at right now.
Franklin: I think in a much more elegant way, Marcus just called me old.Franklin says he tries to look at it from the perspective of the CFP committee ... How do you put those people in the room to make those decisions and they can't compare apples to apples or oranges to oranges?
-- Freeman on the turnaround between the Sugar Bowl and Orange Bowl: For both programs, we figured out who we were playing at the same time ... so the mental preparation was the same for both of us ... The coaches were probably a little bit behind to start because of the travel ... Physically our guys are good. ... We have to utilize every minute from now until tomorrow night at 7:30.
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