DANIA BEACH, Fla. – In an era that is now long gone, a trip to the Orange Bowl meant a break from the rough weather up north and the capper to a successful season that, if things had gone great, ended with a championship trophy in the case.
This season, for Penn State (13-2) and Notre Dame (13-1), it's the latest stop in the “One and Done” tour that college football has become.
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This pair of iconic programs arrived in South Florida on Tuesday to get ready for the Orange Bowl, which is doubling as the College Football Playoff semifinal this year. At stake in Thursday's game: a trip to Atlanta to play for the national title on Jan. 20. The other semifinal, between Ohio State and Texas, is set for Friday at the Cotton Bowl.
“You get to this point in the season, and when you're out, you're out,” Penn State tight end Khalil Dinkins said of a season that could extend to 17 games for the Nittany Lions. “It's just an important thing to know when it comes to how you approach these games.”
Only in college football is the concept of “lose and you're out” in the postseason even remotely unique. The sport, which for decades revolved around bowl games like the Orange, Rose and Sugar, has now incorporated them into the 12-team playoff that's debuting this year.
Another unique part of this game is that either team playing Thursday could capture the national championship without fulfilling what used to be a virtually ironclad requirement to get that far — winning a conference title.
Back in the day, and even in the most recent four-team playoff, the biggest games were reserved (mostly) for conference champions, with a few runners-up and Notre Dame — which as an independent doesn't have a conference to win — sprinkled in.
“We realize what the stakes are,” Fighting Irish safety Xavier Watts said.
The Irish come in as 2 1/2-point favorites, according to BetMGM Sportsbook. They traveled to the Miami area with one day less between games than had originally been built into the schedule. Their Sugar Bowl game was pushed back a day after the deadly New Year's Day truck attack in the French Quarter in New Orleans.
It has made for a seven-day turnaround for Notre Dame — nothing unusual for the regular season, but slightly condensed this week due to the extra day away from campus that comes with a bowl game, to say nothing of the importance of the game itself.
Among the biggest game-plan challenges for Notre Dame defensive coordinator Al Golden — the former Miami coach who has connections everywhere he looks this week — will be coming up with a way of controlling Tyler Warren, Penn State's 6-foot-6, 260-pound tight end who can catch, but can also throw and run.
“It's never about, like, me versus him,” said Watts, who nevertheless will see Warren a lot in this game. “There will be a lot of people with different responsibilities, and whoever's covering him, it's just ‘Go get the job done.’”
On the other side, Penn State faces a Notre Dame team that has shown a willingness to mix things up.
Irish quarterback Riley Leonard had almost as many yards rushing (80) as passing (90) in last week's 23-10 win over Georgia, and his head-over-heels flip over a Bulldogs defender for a first down late in the game showed what he's willing to do for a win.
“How is this not common to see the quarterback doing everything he can to win?” Leonard said. “I just think that’s common sense.”
Leonard's play came not long after the Notre Dame punt team hustled off the field on fourth-and-short, to be quickly replaced by the offense. That drew the Bulldogs offsides and to keep a late, clock-draining drive going.
Receiver Jordan Faison said coaches aren't shy about introducing new twists and tricks throughout the season.
“It shows you the mental battle that's always going on in this game,” Faison said.
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AP college football: https://apnews.com/hub/ap-top-25-college-football-poll and https://apnews.com/hub/college-football