Notre Dame VS Penn State: Orange Bowl Q&A with Black Shoe Diaries

Not sure if you guys know this, but Notre Dame football plays tomorrow

HEYYYYY YOUUUUU GUUUUUYYYSSSSSSS!!!!

I figured I needed to shout to get your attention on a Wednesday, but now that I think about it, are any of us really working or focused on anything else except Notre Dame Fighting Irish football right now???

After a WILDLY enjoyable 23-10 win over #2 Georgia in the Sugar Bowl 6 days ago, Marcus Freeman and his tough 7-seed squad prepare to face off against the 6-seed Penn State Nittany Lions in the Orange Bowl tomorrow night, promising to once again show us a rock-fight of a game that will reward the winner with a shot at the national championship on January 20th.

A lot of us have probably seen at least a little of this Penn State team this year, most likely in its regular season matchup against Ohio State, its Big Ten Championship shootout vs. Oregon, and its two Playoff bouts with SMU and Boise State. But in order to truly understand this team, program, and fanbase and how they may match up with our Irish Thursday night, we figured it was a good idea to phone a friend instead of putting together some guesstimates.

That’s where Brian Bennett comes in — he’s a Senior Writer over at Black Shoe Diaries, SB Nation’s hub for everything Nittany Lion (whatever that means — more on that later). Brian was generous enough to answer a full slate of questions about James Franklin’s reputation, Drew Allar and the PSU offense, what this Nittany Lion defense can do (and how to attack it), power ranking Penn State alumni, and much more. You’re gonna want to read this — he gives a ton of great insight while also having some fun with some of our more…off the wall questions.

So, let’s not waste any more time — here’s what Brian had to say about this Orange Bowl matchup!

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Joe Camporeale-Imagn Images

1. James Franklin has a bit of a reputation with the general college football fan base of being a coach who never really wins the big one — is that justified, or is it unfair considering in his Penn State tenure he’s won a Big Ten title, multiple NY6 bowls, and now has the Nittany Lions in the CFP semis? What do PSU fans think of Franklin as a guy who can or can’t take them to the promised land?

Also, is this his best Penn State team, or if not, what years do you think he had a better squad?

Brian Bennett, Black Shoe Diaries: Over at our site, I think we’ve all taken turns writing some answer to the first question over the years. I’ll shamelessly link HERE to something that I wrote during the bye week about expectations at Penn State. But, in short, I think there is obviously a faction of the fan base that wants more. Is “lunatic fringe” the preferred nomenclature now? However, James Franklin is a good football coach and his teams have been extremely consistent, especially once his recruiting kicked in and the team got a full complement of players back on its roster after the Sandusky sanctions. Do I think he can win a national title at Penn State? I do. Of course, we all know that’s an incredibly challenging task — and a different sort of task now with the 12-team playoff.

A lot will be made about Franklin’s record against AP Top Ten teams or, more specifically, against Ohio State. Well, the truth of the matter is that Penn State was an underdog, and sometimes a heavy underdog, in most of those games. But even with a pair of playoff wins now under his belt, the goalposts have moved because those wins came against a G5 team and a team fresh up from G5. We joke at our site that Penn State could win a national title and there will immediately be the “yea, but they didn’t X, Y, Z” in the hours thereafter. And, hey, we still have a chance of that happening this season.

As for this year’s team, it’s weird. I absolutely DO NOT think that this is his best team at Penn State and I’ll give you the why more later. For the best, I’m partial to the 2017 team headlined by Saquon Barkley that I completely think would have been a very tough out in the current playoff format. But they lost two heartbreaking road games in the closing seconds in back-to-back weeks and didn’t get their shot. But, I will give credit to this year’s group for being the most resilient. I think this team has flaws, but so does everyone else in 2024-25.

Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images

2. PSU QB Drew Allar has had a really nice season — what makes him a good QB, and what weaknesses or limitations does he have that the Irish defense can try to take advantage of?

Brian Bennett, Black Shoe Diaries: He can make every throw. He’s a competitor. He’s smart. He’s greatly improved his mobility — allowing him to pick up first downs with his feet and, more importantly, evade the rush and keep his eyes down the field. He has all of those classic NFL attributes.

His weaknesses would be that his accuracy sometimes suffers, especially when he is off platform and trying to hit routes breaking away from him. I think another weakness is that he sometimes doesn’t trust his arm enough and won’t make risky throws. Against Notre Dame, I worry that he won’t see the windows he would against other teams and he’ll doubt himself and not try to throw guys open — a problem he’s had against Michigan and Ohio State.

All of this sort of ties back to this big weakness of Penn State’s offense: wide receiver play. It’s gotten better, but it has still been inconsistent. I wrote in one of these Q and A’s prior to the Washington game earlier this year that I thought a better wide receiver room in 2023 would have meant Penn State in the college football playoff and maybe winning a national title. This year, Penn State has made the semifinals with only marginally better play outside.

3. FAN QUESTION:

Additions/follow-ups from Pat to this FAN QUESTION:

How good are Kaytron Allen and Nicholas Singleton, and what kind of performance do you expect from them and from the Penn State o-line against a stout but banged-up Irish front seven?

What makes Tyler Warren so good, and have any opponents found success in containing/slowing him down this year? If so, how did they do that, and are there any other Nittany Lion receivers Irish fans need to be worried about stepping up to make some big plays through the air?

Brian Bennett, Black Shoe Diaries: Starting with Allen and Singleton, they complement each other so well. It’s not simply that Allen is the power back and Singleton the speedster either. They both can beat you in multiple ways. Singleton has improved so much as a receiver out of the backfield, while Allen has simply looked faster in the last month of the year. Both are healthy and both will get a lot of touches — after not getting enough against Boise State. Penn State’s offensive line sustained a big injury late in the year when probable freshman All-American tackle Anthony Donkoh suffered a season-ending injury. But Nolan Rucci, a transfer from Wisconsin and son of a former Lion legend, has filled in nicely and the group has been very confident, though penalty prone, in the playoff.

On Warren: they do a great job of scheming him open and he makes contested catches when he’s not open. He’s just big and fast and the best tight end that Penn State has ever had — and, like Notre Dame, they’ve put plenty in the NFL. As I alluded to before, Allar sometimes is reluctant to throw to partially covered receivers. He’s learned to trust Warren more than others, so you’ve seen contested catches from his tight end like in the Fiesta Bowl. Against Ohio State, they bracketed him with safety Caleb Downs always being over the top. He had zero catches in the first two quarters. In the second half, Allar began feeding Warren even when he wasn’t wide open and he made a couple of big plays that nearly had the Lions pull off that rally.

Quickly on receivers — Harrison Wallace III is the top guy. He had a breakout game in the season opener at West Virginia, but has been steady and not spectacular since.

Omari Evans is a speed guy who has seen an uptick in playing time in the second half of the season. He caught a long touchdown pass against Boise State and he is the deep threat. I should note that none of these receivers are great against physical corners, so how the game is officiated out wide will matter a lot to Penn State’s success throwing the ball.

4. What makes this Penn State defense so dominant, and how do you see them matching up with this physical but somewhat inconsistent Irish offense? Will the Irish be able to find any success on the ground, and will Riley Leonard find any success through the air if he has any time to throw (big if, I know)?

Brian Bennett, Black Shoe Diaries: The defensive line is special. They’ve lost some depth there, but Zane Durant (No. 28) is so disruptive at his tackle spot and Dvon J-Thomas and Coziah Izzard are more prototypical space eaters. Then, there are the defensive ends. Abdul Carter is a surefire top of the first round draft pick in April, though his availability for Thursday’s game remains a major question after he was injured in the Fiesta Bowl. Meanwhile, Dani Dennis-Sutton is a former 5-star recruit who has been outstanding after recovering from a midseason groin injury.

Matthew O’Haren-Imagn Images

They stepped up to the challenge in the Fiesta Bowl. Ashton Jeanty was just the second running back this season to get to 100 yards against the Lions and he needed better than 30 carries to get there. Ohio State had success running the ball late against Penn State and USC also had a back go over 100 yards thanks to a lot of misdirection. That might be a key to running the ball well against the Lions — get them moving in one direction and using their speed against them. Will Howard had a couple of critical runs as OSU bled out the clock in their 20-13 win in Happy Valley — so running Riley Leonard is surely going to be a big part of Notre Dame’s attack.

As for throwing on the Lions, there have been some breakdowns in the secondary in about every game this year. Penn State lost its best safety early in the season to an ACL injury. While the unit has overall done a nice job, ball-control teams like Minnesota and Boise State had success by throwing quickly, which is something I could see Notre Dame doing well.

5. What the hell is a Nittany Lion?

Brian Bennett, Black Shoe Diaries: Copy and pasting this from a Q and A that I did with Purdue’s Hammer and Rails earlier this year: You know I’ve been to games at most of the pre-2024 expansion Big Ten stadiums and this is, by far, the question that I get asked the most. So, here you go with the history.

Mountain lions are indigenous to Central Pennsylvania. Penn State sits in a valley next to Mount Nittany. So, Penn State Mountain Lions…nah Penn State Nittany Lions. Just an ode to the tallest peak that looks down on the college.

6. FAN QUESTION:

Brian Bennett, Black Shoe Diaries: The basketball team has embraced it and it looks great. I’m hopeful that there will come a day when they break out something like that for a homecoming game or something.

I do like the “Generations of Greatness” uniforms that Penn State has adopted as an alternate and that they wore in their playoff opener against SMU.

7. Please power-rank the following Penn State alumni and provide as much or as little reasoning as you feel a need to provide for your rankings:

– Ross William Ulbricht, currently serving life imprisonment as founder of the Silk Road under the pseudonym “Dread Pirate Roberts”

– Richard T. James, inventor of the Slinky

– Joonas Suotamo, Chewbacca actor in Star Wars: The Force Awakens

– Ted Eisenberg, D.O. and Guinness World Record holder for most breast augmentation surgeries performed

– Matt Millen, former president of the Detroit Lions

– Ryan Buell, American paranormal investigator, author and producer who was the main host of the TV show Paranormal State

– John Amadeus Devenanzio, television personality better known as “Johnny Bananas” and best known as a competitor on the MTV reality competition show The Challenge

Brian Bennett, Black Shoe Diaries: Oh, this will be fun.

7. Ulbricht – not touching that one.

6. Eisenberg – now, really not touching that (those?) one(s?).

5. Buell – never watched it.

4. Devenanzio – tried to watch it.

3. James – seems harmless, except to those pets who swallowed one.

2. Millen – great player, greater human, worst ever GM (though he would make sure Penn State had a wide receiver)

1. Suotamo – if only because I do remember his Penn State basketball career…where he appeared in 34 games over three years with career averages of 0.6 points and 0.8 rebounds per game for some truly dreadful teams.

8. FAN QUESTION:

Brian Bennett, Black Shoe Diaries: Robbie Gould kicked for 18 seasons in the NFL and made 86.5 percent of field goal attempts. If he had made 1-of-2 on that day against Iowa, the most embarrassing final score ever is avoided.

I’ll look at the bright side and show the consistency of this program since that loss back in October 2004 put Penn State at 2-5. They ended the year 4-7. They’ve had just one losing season since and that one, 2020 pandemic year with guys opting out, comes with a huge asterisk.

9. Alright, let’s get down to it — who wins, what’s the final score, and how does it happen?

Brian Bennett, Black Shoe Diaries: I’ll give you a prediction in a moment with a couple caveats: No. 1 Abdul Carter’s health and No. 2 the fact that I’m writing this on a Sunday afternoon with a huge work week ahead of me. So, this is really mostly gut and lacking on-field analysis. I wouldn’t and won’t bet this game.

I think these two teams mirror each other in so many ways. Both are extremely well coached. Both have sustained and survived key injuries. Both are a dynamic playmaker out wide away from having gone unbeaten in the regular season. Both are shaking off/have shaken off national narratives about not winning the big one. Both are trying to win their first national titles since the 1980s, though both were screwed out of a title in the 1990s. Both have great uniforms.

So ridicule away, especially if I’m wrong, but here goes: I believe that Carter will give it a go at defensive end. If he’s relatively healthy, I think he can give Notre Dame fits. If he’s not, I look for Notre Dame to actually run at him and see how well he can hold his ground. At the end of the day, I think Penn State has a little more firepower on offense with Allen/Singleton healthy as compared to Jeremiyah Love and his “tweaked knee”. I also think Warren gives Penn State the most talented pass catcher in the game and that’s just enough for the Lions to sneak out a close one.

Penn State 21, Notre Dame 20

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Alright y’all, I want to give a massive shout-out to Brian for all his great responses — there’s no question we’re now all much better-informed as we prepare to spend 4 hours as anxious, stressed-out wrecks on our couches tomorrow night.

I highly encourage you all to head over to Black Shoe Diaries for all their awesome coverage of this game (including a Q&A with yours truly wherein I got REAL long-winded about this ND team), and additionally think you should give them a follow on Twitter, as there will be no better or more entertaining source for Nittany Lion breaking news, funny commentary, and coverage before, during, and after the game.

That’s it for this week, friends — as always, GO IRISH, BEAT (Nittany) LIONS!