A trip to the College Football Playoff National Championship will be on the line when (7) Notre Dame faces (6) Penn State in the Orange Bowl semifinal game on Thursday. It also will mark the 19th meeting between the programs with the all-time series deadlocked at 9-9-1.

Notre Dame and Penn State have traveled shockingly similar paths to reach this year's College Football Playoff semifinal. Both are amongst the sports blue blood class of schools, both have struggled to find any kind of national success in recent decades,

Notre Dame’s Marcus Freeman or Penn State’s James Franklin will become the first Black coach to lead a team into the national title game at college football’s highest level.