Marcus Freeman Takes Aim at James Franklin Following Uncomfortable Orange Bowl Press Conference

Notre Dame captain Xavier Watts confirms what we all saw between head coaches

(EDITORS NOTE: caption correction) Jan 9, 2025; Miami, FL, USA; Notre Dame Fighting Irish head coach Marcus Freeman celebrates defeating the Penn State Nittany Lions in the Orange Bowl at Hard Rock Stadium. | Sam Navarro-Imagn Images

It wasn't that Notre Dame head coach Marcus Freeman and his team needed any extra motivation entering the Orange Bowl, but the Irish leader and his team certainly received it.

Wednesday afternoon when Freeman and Penn State head coach James Franklin participated in a joint press conference and it was there the Notre Dame head coach found just a little more motivation to bring back to his team.

Ohhh. James Franklin thinks this is a teacher-student thing. The guy that’s 1-14 vs Top 5 teams.

Freeman forever. Alt lines. pic.twitter.com/wcp6YOgL8d

— Joe Ostrowski (@JoeOstrowski) January 9, 2025

During the press conference Franklin seemed to try and act like a big brother of sorts to Freeman. Jokes about having hair and asking Freeman's actual age didn't appear to sit well with the Notre Dame head coach.

After Thursday night's epic victory over Penn State, Notre Dame captain Xavier Watts confirmed as much to Pete Sampson of The Athletic.

Notre Dame Captain Xavier Watts and Jeremiyah Love on Extra Motivation vs. Penn State

Jan 9, 2025; Miami, FL, USA; Notre Dame Fighting Irish running back Jeremiyah Love (4) celebrates a touch down in the second half against the Penn State Nittany Lions in the Orange Bowl at Hard Rock Stadium. | Sam Navarro-Imagn Images

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

Watts wasn't the only one to feel a boost of motivation.

Jeremiyah Love wouldn't go as far as to name Penn State's head coach, but shared that he didn't feel the Penn State players respected Notre Dame a whole lot.

Jeremiyah Love on Disrespect from Penn State Players

“I’m not gonna speak on their head coach, but we felt like their team didn’t really respect us,” 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.”

Notre Dame was anything but the more physical team for the majority of the first half but came out of halftime with its hair on fire. A few Love runs early in the second half helped set to the tone for an entirely different looking Fighting Irish team the second half of the game.

Extra motivation shouldn't be needed for Notre Dame when it takes on either Ohio State or Texas is in the national championship, but you can bet that Marcus Freeman will be all over the smallest thing that can be seen as the slightest of swipes.

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