(Notre Dame) — While Marcus Freeman called the Sugar Bowl win over Georgia “a great moment for our program”, his Notre Dame football team is looking forward, not backwards.

“I met with the captains last night,” notes the third-year Irish head coach. “Before I could even get the words out of my mouth they said ‘Coach, we have to move forward.’. They’re an extension of me. We’re on the same wavelength.”

The obstacle ahead of Notre Dame is a big one, as the Irish face 6th-seeded Penn State, a team with a 13-2 record after winning CFP games over SMU and Boise State.

Freeman commented “Penn State is a very good football team. Very creative offense. (Tight end Tyler) Warren is one of the best players in college football, period, Both of their running backs are home run hitters. Their quarterback is playing as well as he has all season. Defensively they create havoc. (Defensive end Abdul) Carter, like Warren, is as good as any player in the nation. They’re fourth in interceptions. This is a very good football team.”

Notre Dame will be without the services of tight end Cooper Flanagan, who was injured in the Georgia win. There was no mention of running back Jeremiyah Love on the injury report, despite the fact Love was wearing a brace on his right knee as he left the field at the Superdome Thursday night.

Freeman was also asked about the possibility of being the first black coach to coach in a college football national championship game. Either he or Penn State coach James Franklin will have that distinction after the Orange Bowl.

“It’s great because even the guys in the program see there’s no ceiling on what you can achieve,” notes Freeman, who also made the point that while his father is black, his mother is South Korean. “But it’s not about me. It’s about us. I’m just obsessed on helping us achieve team glory.”

But Freeman was quick to turn the attention back to the Nittany Lions. “This upcoming opponent does a heckuva job on defense,” said the Irish boss. “Probably built similar to us. They don’t run the quarterback as much as us, but they want to run the ball. Defensively, we want to stop the run. We haven’t fleshed out all the keys for this game yet, but that’s going to be one of them.”

The Orange Bowl will be played in Miami Thursday night, with kickoff shortly after 7:30 p.m. ET. The game will be televised by ESPN.