With Marcus Freeman seated maybe 24 inches to his right and a cup of coffee at his left hand, James Franklin dove in. Penn State's 11th-year head coach knocked the continued independence of Freeman's Notre Dame Fighting Irish,

Penn State's head coach explains his plan for improving college football. It includes Notre Dame finally joining a conference.

Get excited for the Orange Bowl as Notre Dame takes on Penn State for a chance to compete for the College Football Playoff championship.

Yahoo Sports national columnist Dan Wetzel and senior college sports reporter Ross Dellenger join Sports Illustrated's Pat Forde to react to Penn State head coach James Franklin's comments about Notre Dame's independence and discuss the constant chatter that the Fighting Irish should join a conference.

Penn State head coach James Franklin took a swipe at Notre Dame before the two teams meet in the College Football Playoff semifinal on Thursday. Speaking

The loss to Northern Illinois is no longer relevant to Notre Dame. The losses to Ohio State and Oregon don’t matter to Penn State right now. The Irish (13-1) and Nittany Lions (13-2) face off in the Orange Bowl on Thursday night,

For decades — as the five- and six- and seven-win seasons became the norm — Notre Dame was told that it would never be a national contender again unless it joined a conference, preferably, it seemed,