Marcus Freeman Announcement Arrives One Day Before Notre Dame-Penn State

The No. 7 seed Notre Dame Fighting Irish are set to face off against the No. 6 seed Penn State Nittany Lions in a highly-anticipated Orange Bowl clash on Thursday night.

The Fighting Irish arrived at this point following a stellar 2024-25 campaign under head coach Marcus Freeman. Since falling to unranked Northern Illinois in Week 2, Notre Dame has ripped off 12 consecutive wins — including College Football Playoff victories over the No. 10 seed Indiana Hoosiers and No. 2 seed Georgia Bulldogs.

Before Thursday night’s Orange Bowl clash against Penn State, Freeman is earning recognition for his impressive coaching performance.

On Wednesday, Freeman was announced as one of eight finalists for the Bear Bryant Coach of the Year Award.

Freeman joins South Carolina’s Shane Beamer, Indiana’s Curt Cignetti, Boise State’s Spencer Danielson, Arizona State’s Kenny Dillingham, Texas’ Steve Sarkisian, SMU’s Rhett Lashlee and Army’s Jeff Monken.

“TGS. Coach Marcus Freeman has been named a finalist for the Bear Bryant Coach of the Year Award,” Notre Dame wrote in its announcement on X.

This news comes soon after some more coaching recognition for Freeman. Earlier in the day, the 38-year-old head coach was announced as winner of the George Munger Coach of the Year award.

Freeman and the Fighting Irish will look to punch their ticket to the national title game in Thursday night’s matchup against James Franklin and the Nittany Lions.

“I think it’s human nature to enjoy people saying good things about you. But we talked all year about being misfits, and that’s what we have to continue to be. You have to make the choice to either waste time listening to people tell you how good you are, or what the past has been, or you’re going to put your time into preparing for this opportunity right in front of us,” Freeman said during an Orange Bowl press conference earlier this week.

Thursday’s Notre Dame-Penn State matchup will kickoff at 7:30 p.m. EST.