Wake up the echoes, the Notre Dame Fighting Irish are once again going to play on college football’s biggest stage. Notre Dame beat Penn State 27-24 in a classic College Football Playoff semifinal, a heavyweight slugfest that saw two teams match each other blow for punishing blow throughout four quarters of tough,

The 12-team College Football Playoff has been fun to watch. It was fun listening to people try to work themselves into a lather over the teams that finished 13th and 14th. There have been a few blowouts, but also a few classic games that have left an indelible impact on the first hours of 2025. Here’s what I’m happiest about:

The Orange Bowl was a huge win for that program. The fact that they made it all this way — against Penn State, no less — speaks to the job Freeman has done. To go from losing to Northern Illinois at the beginning of the season to playing for a national championship is unheard of.