Notre Dame Football

Notre Dame Focused on Penn State in Orange Bowl Over Quick Turnaround

By Matt Freeman

January 7, 2025

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Time was not Notre Dame’s friend this week as the Fighting Irish dealt with the Sugar Bowl being delayed a day following a terrorist attack in New Orleans last week.

Notre Dame’s opposition in Thursday’s Orange Bowl had nothing, but time as Penn State played on New Year’s Eve, which means the Nittany Lions had a couple extra days of recovery after cruising by Boise State in the Fiesta Bowl.

Irish quarterback Riley Leonard didn’t believe the accelerated turnaround mattered too much as Notre Dame is led by veterans who have been in this place before, and the experience in the first two rounds of the College Football Playoff also helped the program this week in terms of expectations.

“I think we’re ready to go,” said Leonard. “Luckily, being in the 12-team playoff, we’ve been able to experience a bowl game already. We hosted one at home, then we went to the Sugar Bowl and now we’re here. We’ve been through this once already, and we get to know how things work, which helps us out a lot.”

Marcus Freeman also has found ways to prepare his team on shorter weeks as the Irish played night games on the road often during his first three seasons as Notre Dame’s head coach. If that wasn’t enough, Mike Denbrock also made the point that Al Golden has head coaching experience, so there is rarely a situation that the program isn’t prepared to handle.

“When him, Marcus and I sit down and have conversations about scheduling and have conversations about atmosphere or logistics or whatever it happens to be - what an invaluable resource to have his experience and the things he’s accomplished as a head coach in the room to lend perspective, experience and really a good mind for the game,” explained Denbrock. “It’s not just with the way he coaches, but the way he thinks.

“I think it’s invaluable when it comes to preparation to have that type of experience on top of what Marcus already brings to the table.”

Notre Dame captain Jack Kiser has noticed that the weeks feel shorter with each week of the college football playoff. But he’s also not complaining about being in Fort Lauderdale this week.

“Everything goes super fast,” stated Kiser. “It’s a business trip. It’s a business that we’re in. You have to move on from previous things pretty quickly and get ready for the next thing. It feels like we were just in New Orleans and just in South Bend playing Indiana.

“To be here is certainly exciting. We’re so glad to be here. It feels warmer and the sun is brighter.”

The loss of a day of prep isn’t going to impact Notre Dame’s chances to win on Thursday, but the extra day of recovery can certainly help at this time of the year. Kiser and the Irish aren’t thinking about that as they are ready to take on the path created for them.

“The way we see it is its necessity to do it,” said Kiser. "You don’t really have a choice, so you just do it. When you have a mature team, it definitely helps, and I think this team is very mature. You look at the style of what we’ve been forced to do, having a hiccup in week two. It’s forced us to go all in each week and then we’re moving on. All-in. It’s prepped us for this situation and that’s helped a lot.”

A positive for Notre Dame is classes are done, so it does allow the players to gain a few more hours for recovery, rehab and sleep, so there’s no excuse not to play well in Miami on Thursday night.

“Rob Hunt and his staff do a great job,” said Notre Dame running back Jadarian Price. “With all the free time we have now and not being in school, I make sure I’m getting as much recovery as I need and even more.”