Notre Dame, Penn State clash in CFP semifinal on TSN, TSN+
Published
The Notre Dame Fighting Irish and the Penn State Nittany Lions meet in the Orange Bowl tonight with a spot in the national championship on the line.
Watch Notre Dame vs. Penn State in the CFP semifinal LIVE at 7:30 p.m. ET/4:30 p.m. PT on TSN1/3 and streaming on TSN.ca and the TSN App with three bonus feeds on TSN+ including the Command Centre, SkyCast and Field Pass with the Pat McAfee Show.
Notre Dame kicked off its playoff journey on Dec. 20 with a 27-17 win over Canadian QB Kurtis Rourke and Indiana before taking down Georgia 23-10 in the Sugar Bowl on Jan. 2.
Penn State dominated their first playoff game, defeating SMU 38-10 on Dec. 21 before ripping off a 31-14 victory over Heisman Trophy runner-up Ashton Jeanty and Boise State.
Notre Dame has won 12 straight games and has just one loss on the season, a 16-14 defeat in Week 2 to Northern Illinois.
In his first season at Notre Dame after three years at Duke, senior QB Riley Leonard threw for 2,383 yards this season with 18 touchdowns.
Penn State’s Drew Allar, a junior, threw for 3,192 yards and 24 touchdowns as the Nittany Lions lost just twice this season. They lost on Nov. 2 against Ohio State 20-13 and in the Big Ten championship game against No. 1 ranked Oregon 45-37.
“Obviously, you don’t get to this point in the season without being good in all three phases,” Penn State coach James Franklin said earlier this week. “So far, got a ton of respect for what we’ve seen on film and what we’ve studied, and we’ve got a lot of work to do.”
The two programs last met in a game on Sept. 8, 2007.
Penn State last won the national championship in 1986 and Notre Dame in 1988. The winner of this game will take on the winner of the Ohio State-Texas semifinal in the national championship game on Jan. 20.