In just under 36 hours, the Notre Dame Fighting Irish will face the Penn State Nittany Lions in a College Football Playoff semifinal game. Before the Orange Bowl, head coaches Marcus Freeman and James Franklin spoke with the media, and the latter made an odd observation. The Penn State coach urged that Notre Dame join a conference because the Fighting Irish had only played 15 games this season, whereas the Nittany Lions have played 16 after winning the Big Ten championship.
“This is no knock to Notre Dame, but I think everyone should be in a conference,” he told reporters. “Things need to be consistent”
Fans reacted negatively to his suggestion. “This is really tiring. PSU played one more game since OSU [poop emoji] the bed against their older brother. “Is he intentionally ignoring the fact that, despite playing in the same conference as his team, OSU has only played 15 games,” one fan asked. “He has no motivation for people to attend a conference other than the fact that everyone else went. “Sad,” remarked another.
“That’s like saying ‘no offense’ and then dissing someone,” added another. “The answer is to eliminate conference championships and for Franklin to mind his own business as far as independence,” proposed another. Franklin did not appear to mention Ohio State, which has also played 15 games since missing out on the Big Ten championship. While Penn State played an extra game this season, the Nittany Lions come into the Orange Bowl with nine days off after playing on New Year’s Eve. Meanwhile, Notre Dame will play the game after a seven-day recovery period.
Notre Dame and Penn State kick off at 7:30 p.m. ET on ESPN.
