Penn State vs. Notre Dame live updates: The latest from the Orange Bowl

Notre Dame has built the nation’s second-ranked defense — allowing just 13.6 points per game — behind an ability to force turnovers. They have 18 more turnovers forced than given up, a margin that ranks third in the country.

Penn State ranks 21st nationally in turnover margin. It has forced seven takeaways in its two College Football Playoff victories so far — three interceptions against SMU, followed by a fumble and three more interceptions against Boise State.

This is the 20th meeting between these teams, who are 9-9-1 all-time against one another, but the first since 2007.

Yet this is only the second time they’ve met in a bowl game, with the last instance coming in 1976, when Notre Dame defeated Penn State 20-9.

This game could be won by which team is able to score once it drives inside the 20-yard line. That area, known as the “red zone,” is where both teams’ defenses have excelled at limited opponents’ scoring.

Penn State’s defense has limited how often opponents score inside the red zone at the fourth-best rate in the nation. Meanwhile, Notre Dame’s defense ranks first. For Penn State and Notre Dame’s offenses, a victory will mean either producing big plays earlier in drives, or finding a way to puncture two of the stingiest defenses in the country.

Penn State (13-2) had never won 13 games in a season until now, a milestone that owes partly to the lengthening of college football’s season thanks to the advent of the Big Ten championship game (in 2011) and expansion of the College Football Playoff to 12 teams, this season.

Still, the victories represent more of a trend than a blip. Since 2016, Penn State has the eighth-best winning percentage among Power Four conferences.

Penn State coach James Franklin on Wednesday questioned the wisdom of extending the season longer than ever.

“I think it’s something that we’re going to have to look at in terms of what’s best for college football, what’s best for the student-athlete experience, what’s best in a university setting, because I don’t know if this is really what it was designed to be,” Franklin told reporters on the eve of the Orange Bowl.

After suffering an arm injury in Penn State’s Fiesta Bowl victory last week against Boise State, All-American defensive end Abdul Carter is “anticipated” to play against Notre Dame, Penn State coach James Franklin said Wednesday.

“He wants to play,” he said. “He’s put a ton of, like, cryptic messages out on social media, which you guys have probably seen those. I learn as much from those as I do from our trainers. But we are hopeful and expecting Abdul to play, and we’ll see how that plays out.”

With Notre Dame’s Marcus Freeman and Penn State’s James Franklin meeting tonight, a Black head coach will have the opportunity to win a national championship for the first time.

“It’s an honor,” Freeman said. “It’s a reminder that you are a representation of so many others who look like you. I don’t take that for granted.”

Among the 134 teams playing in the NCAA’s Football Bowl Subdivision only 11.9% — 16 programs overall — have Black head coaches. According to an analysis by the AP, that lags behind the NFL, where this season 18.8% of head coaches were Black.

The NFL’s “Rooney Rule” mandates that teams interview minority candidates for head-coaching openings, but the NCAA has no such broad rule covering all of its conferences, though there are a few exceptions modeled after the Rooney Rule. The West Coast Conference has the “Bill Russell Rule,” and in 2009, the Oregon legislature passed its own version of the “Rooney Rule.”

Franklin said he vividly recalled the effect of watching two Black coaches face off in the Super Bowl for the first time in 2007.

“I remember that year, the Super Bowl with, if I remember correctly, Tony Dungy and Lovie Smith, there was just a lot of talk within the profession, two African-American coaches coaching in the Super Bowl, and that was a big moment,” he said. “We felt like that was going to have an opportunity to maybe create some change or create some opportunities for guys that had earned the right to sit in those types of rooms.”

Multiple organizations hand out an award for coach of the year, and Notre Dame’s Marcus Freeman has won two of them after leading the Irish to a 12-game win streak and the semifinals. On Dec. 31, Freeman won the Dodd Trophy, which has named a coach of the year since 1976. On Wednesday, Freeman also earned the Munger Award for college coach of the year from the Maxwell Football Club. Freeman is also a finalist for the Eddie Robinson Coach of the Year Award.