How James Franklin Made Marcus Freeman 'Angry' Before Notre Dame's Win vs. Penn State

Sometimes in sports, the great players and coaches find motivation in even the smallest things. That's what happened before Notre Dame's 27–24 win over Penn State in the Orange Bowl on Thursday night.

Just a day before, Fighting Irish coach Marcus Freeman and his Nittany Lions counterpart James Franklin attended a joint news conference in the lead-up to the College Football Playoff semifinal. During the presser, the elder Franklin, in what seemed like a lighthearted manner, asked the 38-year-old Freeman how old he was, then jokingly complimented his hairline. Later on in the press conference, Franklin firmly stated that independent schools, such as Freeman's Notre Dame, should play in a conference.

And Freeman was irked by the presser.

"He was angry. He was angry with the press conference thing, whatever was going on between that," safety Xavier Watts told Pete Sampson of The Athletic. "He was mad about that. All the anger went toward us and that anger went onto the field."

Whether it was something Franklin said, how Freeman preceived something Franklin said, or perhaps just the Notre Dame coach using everything at his disposal to motivate his team, it's clear that his players were in the right frame of mind entering the game.

"I’m not gonna speak on their head coach, but we felt like their team didn’t really respect us,” running back Jeremiyah Love said. "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."

And the motivation didn't end at kickoff.

With his team trailing 10–3 at halftime, Freeman implored his players to seize control of the moment with a simple, but effective, locker room message.

"He said ‘History is written by conquerors, and we’re holding the pen,’” Quarterback Riley Leonard said after the game. "We decide how we want to write our history. I am a firm believer in whether you think you can, or you can’t do something, you’re right. We believed that we could do it, and we went out there and did it."

Of course, there was an actual football game played between the lines on Thursday night, one that the Irish ultimately made more plays in when it counted to ultimately emerge victorious. But it shouldn't be discounted how well Freeman played the game outside the lines to get his team fired up.