Head coach James Franklin of the Penn State Nittany Lions shakes hands with head coach Marcus Freeman of Notre Dame.
Carmen Mandato/Getty ImagesNotre Dame Marcus Freeman He was practicing in the Orange Bowl with a little extra fire in his belly after comments the Penn State coach made at his expense James Franklin.
in Press conference on Wednesday, January 8 Before Notre Dame's 27-24 win over Penn State on Thursday, Jan. 9, Franklin, 52, teased Freeman — who turned 39 on Friday, Jan. 10, just hours after the biggest win of his career — about his age and said, “I mean I look at… Hairline This guy is jealous of his hairline in many ways.
Freeman appeared to be largely accepting of the jokes at the press conference, but after his team's win on Thursday night, Freeman's players revealed it was a completely different story.
“He was angry,” the Notre Dame safety said Xavier Watts He said The athlete. He was angry about the press conference, whatever had happened in between. He was crazy about it. “All the anger went towards us and that anger went to the field.”
Notre Dame running back Jeremiah love He noted that he was similarly disturbed by Franklin's comments The athlete“I'm not going to talk about their head coach.”
Marcus Freeman
Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images“We felt like their team didn't really respect us,” said 19-year-old Loew. “We wanted to come into this game and make a statement. Be the aggressor. Control them physically. That's the message. Be physical and play aggressive. The whole game.”
Inside Notre Dame's locker room at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens, the Fighting Irish linebacker Jack Keyser I noticed that it was 12:17 a.m., which meant it was his head coach's birthday.
Courtesy of Marcus Freeman/Instagram Notre Dame coach Marcus Freeman has a great team off the field, too. Freeman, 38, who became Notre Dame's head football coach in December 2021, married his wife, Joanna Freeman, in 2010. The couple met during Marcus's time at Ohio State University, where Marcus was[…]
“Let's just say that 17 minutes ago, Coach Freeman turned 39,” the 24-year-old Kiser said. The athlete. “So he's not the guy that a lot of people treat him to be. Guys want to play for Coach Freeman, and when you start a fire, it can really explode in that locker room.”
Notre Dame's win over Penn State earned them a trip to the College Football Playoff National Championship, which takes place Monday, Jan. 20 at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta. They will face the winner Ohio State–Texaswho will compete on Friday, January 10 at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas.
Freeman did not address Franklin's comments after the game, but he acknowledged the significance of Notre Dame's win — which means Freeman will become the first Black coach in history to coach in a college national championship game.
“I've said this before, I never want to distract from the team,” Freeman told ESPN. Molly McGrath. “It's a huge honor, and I hope all coaches — minorities, blacks, Asians, whites, it doesn't matter, great people — continue to get opportunities to lead young men like this. But this isn't about me. This is about us. We're going to celebrate what we did because it's so special.” “
