Penn State coach James Franklin appears to have made an unforced error in his press conference prior to Thursday’s Orange Bowl that wound up serving as fuel for the Notre Dame Fighting Irish.
Franklin made some remarks during the traditional pregame joint press conference that Notre Dame players said served as motivation during Thursday’s 27-24 College Football Playoff semi-final win. At one point, Franklin addressed Fighting Irish head coach Marcus Freeman and joked about Freeman’s age and relative youth, even playfully asking Freeman how old he was.
James Franklin: “How old are you, Marcus?”
Marcus Freeman: “38.”
James Franklin: “I mean, look at the hairline on this guy. Envious of the hairline.” pic.twitter.com/LzhPqCRcOF
— Seth Engle (@bigsengtweets) January 8, 2025
Franklin’s comments were presumably not meant to be taken seriously. Freeman, however, found them to be condescending and disrespectful, at least according to one of his players.
“(Freeman) was angry. He was angry with the press conference thing, whatever was going on between that,” safety Xavier Watts said, via Pete Sampson of The Athletic. “He was mad about that. All the anger went toward us and that anger went onto the field.”
“I’m not gonna speak on their head coach, but we felt like their team didn’t really respect us,” running back Jeremiyah Love added. “We wanted to come into this game and make a statement. Be the aggressors. Dominate them physically. That’s the message. Be physical and play violent. The whole game.”
Franklin had also used that press conference to argue that Notre Dame should have to join a conference, which probably did not help matters.
The Irish came into the game in subpar circumstances and fell behind early, but rallied for the win. They may inadvertently have Franklin to thank for the extra boost.
