Notre Dame defensive coordinator Al Golden was a Penn State captain and almost its head coach. Now he leads the Fighting Irish's stout defense vs. the Nittany Lions in the Orange Bowl.

Notre Dame and Penn State have traveled shockingly similar paths to reach this year's College Football Playoff semifinal. Both are amongst the sports blue blood class of schools, both have struggled to find any kind of national success in recent decades,

We share our thoughts and final score predictions below. Charlie: Both teams are so similar yet one just feels more like a national championship caliber team than the other. The Fighting Irish might not have the explosive downfield passing attack,