The stage is set.
The Penn State Nittany Lions, the No. 6 seed in the College Football Playoffs will take on the No. 7 seed Notre Dame Fighting Irish next Thursday in the College Football Playoff semifinals at the Orange Bowl in Miami.
The Nittany Lions are coming off a 31-14 win over the Boise State Broncos in the College Football Playoff quarterfinals at the Fiesta Bowl in Phoenix, Arizona. The Nittany Lions also defeated SMU 38-10 in the first round of the College Football Playoff.
The Fighting Irish on Thursday night defeated the No. 2 seed Georgia Bulldogs 23-10 in the Sugar Bowl. The game was mostly decided within a minute of game time in the second and third quarters where the Irish got a field, forced a fumble, scored a touchdown on an extremely short field, and then returned the opening kick of the second half to turn a 3-3 game into a 20-3 lead.
While Georgia would get a touchdown in the third quarter, the Bulldogs offense would never be able to generate enough offense against Notre Dame's stout defense.
Next Thursday's Orange Bowl will be the first matchup between the Nittany Lions and Fighting Irish since the 2007 season, a 31-10 win for Penn State in the first-ever full Beaver Stadium White Out.
It will only be the second-ever bowl matchup between the two programs, the only other matchup coming in 1976 in the Gator Bowl. A 20-9 win for Notre Dame.
The Fighting Irish with their win over Georgia will enter the Orange Bowl with 12 straight victories after falling to Northern Illinois 16-14 in the second week of the regular season.
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