7:30 p.m. | ESPN
Hard Rock Stadium Miami Gardens, Florida
Notre Dame Fighting Irish Notes
GAME AT A GLANCE
• Notre Dame and Penn State are meeting for the 20th time, with the series tied at 9-9-1. The two teams have met in the postseason once previously, the 1977 Gator Bowl (a 20-9 Irish win) • Both teams have been ranked on seven previous occasions in the series. This season’s installment will be the collective highest ranking from both teams (No. 3 vs. No. 5 in the AP Poll). • Notre Dame has played in the Orange Bowl on five previous occasions (1972, 1974, 1989, 1990, 1995), with a 2-3 overall record in the Orange Bowl. The most recent trip for the Irish to the Orange Bowl was in 1995 (26-31 loss to Florida State). • The Irish have faced two Big Ten opponents this season, defeating both Purdue (66-7) and Indiana (27-17). • Notre Dame has played twice previously in Hard Rock Stadium (0-2). • The victory over Georgia was the 13th ranked win of the Marcus Freeman era at Notre Dame, more than any other Irish head coach in the first three years of his tenure, and the second-most of any FBS program over the past three seasons (Georgia, 14). • Notre Dame leads the nation in turnovers gained (31). The Irish have earned 148 points off of turnovers this season, compared to their opponents’ 34 (+114 point differential). • Jayden Harrison’s 98-yard kick return to start the second half in the 23-10 win over Georgia was the second-longest kick return in Sugar Bowl history, behind Andre Debose’s 100-yard effort for Florida in 2013. • Harrison’s return also set a Notre Dame postseason record for longest kickoff return, topping the previous high of 96, Armando Allen vs. Hawai’i (’08 Hawai’i Bowl), and ties for seventh all-time in long kick returns in Notre Dame records.
GAME 15 INJURY UPDATE
QUESTIONABLE FOR THE GAME
• No. 36 LB Bodie Kahoun – Questionable for the game (right lower leg) • No. 11 WR KK Smith – Questionable for the game (clavicle)
OUT FOR THE SEASON
• No. 87 TE Cooper Flanagan – out for the season (left Achilles)
TWO-DEEP TIDBITS – OFFENSE
• Jayden Thomas entered 2023 season as Notre Dame’s leading returning receiver and served in that role in the first four games of the 2023 season, catching 12 passes for over 180 yards and a touchdown. • Beaux Collins is Notre Dame’s leading receiver in 2024, with 36 receptions for 445 yards. He recorded 91 receptions for 1,290 yards and 11 touchdowns in 1,578 offensive snaps over 32 games (27 starts) at Clemson from 2021-23. He broke out late in his true freshman season with 31 catches for 407 yards and three touchdowns. • Jaden Greathouse was the first Irish true freshman wideout to catch two touchdown passes in his first-career game (against Navy in 2023). His five touchdown catches during a rookie campaign are the most for a Notre Dame true freshman since 2016. • Jayden Harrison was a first-team All-American as a kick returner at Marshall last season, tying for the FBS lead with two kick return touchdowns in 2023. He recorded his first touchdown catch for the Irish in the 35-14 win over Virginia. In 2023, Harrison played in all 13 games for Marshall (started four), totaling 28 receptions for 410 yards (14.6 yards per reception) and a touchdown. • Kris Mitchell, a transfer from FIU, led CUSA and ranked in the Top 20 nationally in receiving yards in 2023 (1,118 – 18th nationally) and receiving yads per game (93.2 – 13th nationally). Mitchell owns 118 career receptions for 1,853 yards and 13 touchdowns. • Jordan Faison joined the Notre Dame football team as a walk on and made his collegiate athletics debut at No. 25 Louisville in 2023 and was put on football scholarship. He would end the season with 19 catches for 322 yards and four touchdowns, capping the year by earning Sun Bowl MVP honors with five catches for 115 yards and a touchdown. • Notre Dame’s offensive line presents some new faces in 2024 with the departures of NFL Draftees Joe Alt and Blake Fisher. Pat Coogan, Ashton Craig, Billy Schrauth, Tosh Baker, Rocco Spindler and Charles Jagusah own starting experience. Irish linemen Aamil Wagner, Sam Pendleton and Anthonie Knapp all made their first-career starts at No. 20 Texas A&M. Even with injuries and young talent, the line was named a semifinalist for the Joe Moore Award. • Mitchell Evans had a breakout season in 2023 before being sidelined with an injury. A 2024 semifinalist for the Mackey Award, he played in eight games as a junior in 2023, starting seven, and ended the season as the team’s top receiving target, averaging 52.8 yards per game. Through those eight games, Evans totaled 29 receptions for 422 yards and a touchdown during the season, averaging 14.6 yards per catch. • With Evans’ injury in 2023, Cooper Flanagan and Eli Raridon saw action in 2023, each scoring a touchdown, and will look to have an increased role in 2024. • Riley Leonard owns 34 rushing touchdowns for his career, ranking second among all active FBS quarterbacks in rushing touchdowns. He entered his senior season and first with Notre Dame coming off a Duke career as one of the ACC’s premier quarterbacks. See page 23 for more on Leonard. • Steve Angeli made the most of his first-career start in the 2023 Sun Bowl completing 15 of 19 passes for 232 yards and three touchdowns. Prior to that game, he went 19-for-25 passing with four touchdowns in seven relief appearances. • With the departure of NFL Draft pick Audric Estimé, Jeremiyah Love and Jadarian Price are poised to lead the Irish running backs in 2024. Love has posted 11-straight games with a rushing touchdown. See page 26 for more on the Irish running backs
TWO-DEEP TIDBITS – DEFENSE
• Joshua Burnham finished the 2023 season with 18 tackles, four tackles-forloss and a sack. Junior Tuihalamaka appeared in all 13 games in 2023 while posting 10 tackles. • Howard Cross III established himself as one of the top playmaking interior defensive lineman in the country during the 2023 season, and continued his dominance in 2024. See page 20 for more information on Cross. Donovan Hinish stepped up in relief of Cross when injured and put together an impressive showing through three starts. He appeared in nine games in 2023 and posted a career-best four stops in the win over Central Michigan. • RJ Oben transferred from Duke in the offseason with 34 career starts and 50 games played. Entering Notre Dame, he had posted 67 tackles in his career, with 14.5 sacks (loss of 91 yards), five forced fumbles, two passes defended and an interception. Bryce Young is now seeing time in the regular defensive line rotation and has made a significant mark on special teams, ranking second in the nation in individual blocked kicks (3). He is four-star true freshman and was an Adidas All-American as a high school senior. See page 22 for more on Young. • Jack Kiser leads a linebacker room with young talent. A team captain and finalist for the 2024 William V. Campbell Trophy and the 2024 Wuerffel Trophy, Kiser holds the Notre Dame record for career games played. See page 20 for more information on Kiser. Jaiden Ausberry appeared in four regular-season games in 2023, preserving his eligibility. Kyngstonn Viliamu-Asa is a highly-touted five-star linebacker who was a finalist for the high school Butkus Award in 2023. He posted a career-high seven tackles vs. Northern Illinois. Drayk Bowen has posted 54 tackles this season, second behind Kiser’s 64. He appeared in 12 games in 2023 (missing one contest with an injury) and recorded 14 stops and a forced fumble. See page 22 for more on Bowen. Jaylen Sneed appeared in all 13 games in 2023, totaling 14 tackles, five QB hurries and two PBU. • Jordan Clark joined the Irish from Arizona State with 22 career starts and 39 games played entering 2024. Throughout his college career, he has snagged four interceptions (one for a touchdown) and 164 tackles (118 solo) with 7.5 TFL and 24 passes defended. • Adon Shuler has posted three interceptions this season, one each against Texas A&M, Georgia Tech and Virginia. Starting each game in 2024, he showed his playmaking ability late in the 2023 season, posting all six career tackles in the final three games of the year. See page 21 for more on Shuler. Luke Talich quickly established himself as a special teams mainstay during his freshman season in 2023, and posted his first-career pick six vs. Florida State. • True freshmen Karson Hobbs, Leonard Moore and Kennedy Urlacher have impressed in preseason camp. Moore and Urlacher both garnered one four-star ranking through recruitment. Moore made his college football debut at No. 20 Texas A&M, and his first-career start vs. No. 15 Louisville, leading the team with seven tackles. He also posted seven tackles in his second start, at Georgia Tech. See page 21 for more on Moore. Tae Johnson made his debut on the depth chart for Florida State week and saw his first game action after coming back from injury. • Christian Gray started his first-career game in the 23-13 win at No. 20 Texas A&M. He saw action in 12 games and made 11 tackles in 2023. He intercepted his first career pass against Pittsburgh and finished the year with a career-best three tackles in the Sun Bowl victory over Oregon State. • Xavier Watts is a semifinalist for the Walter Camp Player of the Year, Bednarik Award, Lott Trophy and Thorpe Award. Watts won the Nagurski Trophy in 2023 and was a unanimous All-American. See page 18 for more on Watts. Rod Heard II spent his prior career at Northwestern, where he amassed 31 starts and 46 games played with 182 tackles, 11 for loss, two sacks and two interceptions, as well as 10 passes defended, five forced fumbles and a fumble recovery.
RANKED MATCHUPS
• Notre Dame ties for the most ranked wins of any FBS team this season with six. Notre Dame owns the best record against ranked teams in the FBS, going 6-0. • Head coach Marcus Freeman has earned 13 wins over teams ranked in the Associated Press Top 25 over his three seasons at Notre Dame, which is the most of any Notre Dame coach in his first three seasons. • Those 13 ranked wins over the past three seasons are the second-most of any FBS program (Georgia, 14), and the most by any active third-year head coach at his program.
Penn State Nittany Lions Notes
INSIDE THE GAME
NO. 6 SEED PENN STATE MEETS NO. 7 SEED NOTRE DAME IN CAPITAL ONE ORANGE BOWL
• OPENING KICK: No. 6 seed Penn State faces No. 7 seed Notre Dame in a College Football Playoff semifinal game in the Capital One Orange Bowl at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami, Fla. on Thursday, January 9. Kickoff is set for 7:30 p.m. on ESPN.
• SERIES HISTORY: Penn State meets Notre Dame for the 20th time in program history. The series is even at 9-9-1. The Nittany Lions and the Fighting Irish meet in a bowl game for the second time. The two teams previously played in the 1976 Gator Bowl, a 20-9 win by Notre Dame. In the last matchup in 2007, Penn State won 31-10. PSU held Notre Dame to 0 rushing yards on 26 attempts and 144 total yards, while Derrick Williams scored on a 78-yard punt return.
• SINGLETON, ALLEN REACH 1,000 RUSHING YARDS: In Penn State’s 31-14 win over Boise State, Kaytron Allen (1,026 yards) and Nicholas Singleton (1,015) both went over 1,000 rushing yards on the season. They became the first Penn State duo to rush for 1,000 yards in the same season. Allen and Singleton is the first Big Ten duo since Iowa’s Akrum Wadley (1,081) and Leshun Daniels Jr. (1,058) in 2016 and the ninth Big Ten running back duo to run for 1,000 yards in the same season. Allen and Singleton is the only running back duo with 1,000 rushing yards in the FBS this season.
• TAKEAWAYS: After recording three interceptions against SMU in its CFP first round game, Penn State followed up with four takeaways against Boise State. In the first quarter, Kobe King forced a fumble along the sideline, which was recovered by Zakee Wheatley. The fourth quarter featured three interceptions, starting with a pick by Wheatley, who returned it 28 yards to help him earn Fiesta Bowl Defensive Player of the Game honors. CB Zion Tracy secured an interception with 3:44 left in the game and S Tyrece Mills tallied an interception in the end zone to stop Boise State’s final drive of the game. Mills’ interception was one of PSU’s three red-zone stops in the fourth quarter.
• THE OPPOSITION: Notre Dame is the No. 7 seed in the College Football Playoff and earned a quarterfinal win, 23-10 over No. 2 seed Georgia, in the Allstate Sugar Bowl. The Fighting Irish are 13-1 overall this season. Riley Leonard threw for 90 yards and a touchdown, while rushing for 80 yards. Jayden Harrison returned a kickoff 98 yards for a touchdown. On defense, Notre Dame held Georgia to 62 rushing yards and collected nine tackles for loss.
SCOUTING THE FIGHTING IRISH
• Notre Dame is 13-1 this season, including 12-straight wins. • The Fighting Irish entered the College Football Playoffs as the No. 7 seed and No. 5 in the CFP rankings. • Notre Dame opened the playoffs with a 27-17 win over No. 10 seed Indiana in the CFP First Round and a 23-10 victory over No. 2 seed Georgia in the CFP Quarterfinal/AllState Sugar Bowl. • Notre Dame ranks fourth in the nation in scoring offense (37.7), 49th in total offense (406.6), 11th in rushing offense (217.5) and 108th in passing offense (189.1). • Leonard has completed 66.5 percent of his passes for 2,383 yards and 18 touchdowns, while rushing for 831 yards and 15 scores. • RB Jeremiyah Love ranks second in the nation in yards per carry (7.27) and 14th in rushing touchdowns (16). • The Fighting Irish sits second in the nation in scoring defense (13.6), eighth in total defense (295.4), fifth in passing defense (167.4) and 34th in rushing defense (127.9). • S Xavier Watts is second in the country with six interceptions, while totaling 66 tackles and nine pass breakups. • LB Jack Kiser leads the squad with 75 tackles, while DE Rylie Mills paces the team with 8.5 tackles for loss and 7.5 sacks.
LAST ORANGE BOWL PENN STATE WINS OVERTIME THRILLER OVER FLORIDA STATE
MIAMI, Fla. – Kevin Kelly’s 29-yard field goal in the third overtime lifted Penn State to a thrilling 26-23 victory over Florida State in the Orange Bowl. Austin Scott carried five times for 57 yards on Penn State’s second drive and scored from 2 yards out for a 7-0 lead. Scott gained 110 yards on 26 carries and two TDs, replacing an injured Tony Hunt. Two of the nation’s premier defenses then kept each side in check until a wild final 4:09 of the second quarter. Florida State tied the game at 7-7 on Willie Reid’s 87-yard punt return. Then Drew Weatherford hit Lorenzo Booker on a 57-yard TD pass, but the PAT kick was missed. The Lions quickly responded, as Big Ten MVP Michael Robinson lofted a 25-yard pass to Ethan Kilmer, who made a leaping catch over a defender for the TD with just :06 left in the half. Kelly’s PAT made it 14-13 at the half. The Nittany Lion defense did not allow any points in the third period despite great field position for Florida State throughout the quarter. Jeremy Kapinos pinned Florida State deep as the fourth quarter began. Jim Shaw pressured Weatherford in the end zone, he threw the ball away and was called for intentional grounding, giving Penn State a safety and a 16-13 lead with 13:36 to play. Florida State later advanced to the Lions’ 29, but Penn State stiffened and Gary Cismesia hit a 48-yard field goal with 4:08 to play. A 38-yard completion from Robinson to Jordan Norwood took the ball to the Seminoles’ 11. With :32 left in regulation, Kelly’s 29-yard field goal attempt was wide, but he would later emerge as the hero. Robinson was 21-of-39 for 253 yards, accounting for 28 touchdowns during the season. The Lions held No. 22 Florida State to 26 yards rushing, 12 first downs and 3-of-17 on third down. Linebacker Dan Connor made seven tackles (two TFL) and defensive tackle Scott Paxson had six stops (1.5 TFL). Jay Alford made four hits, with 2.5 TFL, and forced a fumble deep to win a spot on ESPN.com’s All-Bowl team. All-America cornerback Alan Zemaitis grabbed his Big Ten-leading sixth interception of the season.
PENN STATE EARNS 56TH POSTSEASON APPEARANCE
• Penn State is making its 56th postseason appearance, including bowl and CFP appearances, tied for eighth all-time. • Head Coach James Franklin has guided his teams to a postseason appearance 13 times (3 at Vanderbilt; 10 at Penn State). • Penn State’s 33 postseason victories (bowl and CFP) are fourth nationally and lead all Big Ten schools. • The Nittany Lions’ 61.8 winning percentage in postseason games (bowl and CFP, 33-20-2 record) is No. 7 nationally among teams with at least 20 bowl appearances. • Penn State has played in 16 different bowl games and has played in each of the New Year’s Six bowls. • Penn State made its first postseason appearance in 1923 when it traveled across the country to face USC in the Rose Bowl Game to cap off the 1922 season.
PENN STATE IN THE ORANGE BOWL
• Penn State has a 4-1 record in five previous appearances in the Orange Bowl. • Penn State participated in the 1969 (Kansas), 1970 (Missouri), 1974 (LSU), 1986 (Oklahoma) and 2006 (Florida State) editions of the prestigious game. • Penn State’s six appearances in the Orange Bowl tied with the Citrus/Capital One Bowl for PSU’s second-most frequent bowl game, behind only the Fiesta Bowl (eight appearances). • Penn State (4-1) and Georgia (4-1) are tied for the best win percentage among teams who have made at least five appearances in the Orange Bowl. • In 1969, Penn State earned a 15-14 win over Kansas in dramatic fashion. Trailing 14-7, Neal Smith partially blocked a punt to give PSU the ball at the 50 yard-line with 1:16 left. Chuck Burhart hit Bob Campbell on a 47-yard completion and three plays later, Burkhart scored with eight seconds left. On the two-point conversion attempt, a pass by Burkhart was knocked away, but Kansas was flagged for 12 men on the field. With another chance, Campbell took a sweep into the end zone. • In 1970, Penn State claimed a 10-3 win over Missouri. PSU forced nine takeaways, including seven interceptions and two fumbles. The Nittany Lions completed back-to-back undefeated seasons. • In 1974, PSU won 16-9 over LSU, highlighted by a 72-yard touchdown from Tom Shuman to Chuck Herd. The Nittany Lions finished off a 12-0 season. • In 2006, Kevin Kelly knocked through a 29-yard field goal to cap off a three-overtime thriller, 26-23, over Florida State. Ethan Kilmer caught a 24-yard touchdown. PSU took a 16-13 lead in the fourth quarter on a safety on an intentional grounding in the end zone, but Florida State answered with a field goal to tie the game. After trading touchdowns in the second overtime, Kelly converted the game-winner.
TOP 5 MATCHUPS
• Penn State is 4-9 all-time in regular season matchups where both teams are ranked in the Top 5 of the AP Poll. • The Nittany Lions have played in six more matchups in bowl games and Penn State is 2-3-1 in those games. • Penn State is 17-62-1 all-time against Top 5 teams, including a 15-56 record in regular season matchups. • When ranked among the Top 5, Penn State has a record of 108-25-1
STORIED PROGRAMS MEET
• Penn State and Notre Dame both rank among the top-10 programs in winning percentage and total victories in NCAA history. • Four of the top-10 winningest programs, by total wins and winning percentage, in NCAA history are from the Big Ten. • Penn State sits No. 7 in all-time victories (943) and No. 9 in winning percentage (.691). • Notre Dame sits tied-fourth with 960 all-time victories and No. 4 with an all-time winning percentage of .732. • The Nittany Lions and the Fighting Irish are also among the most ranked teams in NCAA history according to the AP poll. • Notre Dame has spent 98 weeks ranked No. 1 in the AP Poll (fourth all-time) and Penn State has earned the No. 1 ranking by the AP on 21 occasions (T-17th all-time). (Not including preseason rankings). • Penn State’s 711 weeks ranked among the AP Top 25 ranks ninth all-time, while Notre Dame’s 889 weeks are the fourth-most in NCAA history.
