"He is going to pay for that": Fans have wild reactions to James Franklin's comment on Marcus Freeman's hairline

Notre Dame head coach Marcus Freeman is gearing up to lead his team on the gridiron against the Penn State Nittany Lions. Both teams will be competing in the Orange Bowl CFP semifinal game to secure a spot in this season's natty championship showdown.

The 2025 Orange Bowl CFP semifinal is scheduled to be played Thursday at Hard Rock Stadium in Florida. Before the game, both Marcus Freeman and James Franklin made an appearance during a press conference Wednesday.

During their appearance, James Franklin commented on Marcus Freeman's hairline, stating that despite being 38 years old, he has a great hairline.

"How old are you, Marcus?," James Franklin questioned

"38", Marcus Freeman replied.

"I mean, look at the hairline on this guy. Envious of the hairline," Franklin continued.

Fans took to social media to react to the Penn State head coach's hairline comment. One fan said that Marcus Freeman will use this as a motivation to win the Orange Bowl:

"Yeah he is going to pay for that."

Another fan was not impressed with the Penn State head coach's comments:

"Franklin is one of the cringiest coaches in CF."

This fan came up with a sarcastic reply fit for the Notre Dame head coach in that situation:

"Freeman should have said, 'Im 38, like the number of S**t the bed games you've had in your career!' That would've summed it up nicely."

Another fan said that James Franklin was trying to trash talk Freeman ahead of their game:

"Definitely talking s**t. Knows it's spray on."

This fan shared a hilarious meme regarding the comments.

One fan added that Marcus Freeman looked like he is ready to get the victory in the Orange Bowl showdown:

"Marcus Freeman is so locked in."

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Marcus Freeman heaps praise on defensive coordinator Al Golden

Al Golden served as a coach in the NFL before joining Notre Dame as the defensive coordinator in 2022. During Wednesday's press conference, Freeman opened up about why he decided to hire him and how he has a lot of faith in the experience of his coaching staff.

Freeman also said that it is also a learning experience for him to have NFL-experienced coaches in his staff:

"When I hired Al Golden three years ago, it was for two reasons. One, I believed he had a great defensive mind and could do great things with our defense, and two, at the point, we did not have a former head coach in our staff. And I thought it was important to get somebody that had experience where I had none in our staff.

"The growth we've made in three years has been tremendous, the growth of our defense. And our defense is doing really great things right now, and Coach Golden gets all the credit, and the staff and the players."

Freeman added:

"I believe in them. I believe in trying to gain wisdom from other people that have experience."

The Notre Dame vs Penn State CFP semifinal game is set to kick off at 7:30 p.m. EST. It will be broadcast live on ESPN. Apart from this, the live stream of the game will also be available on various platforms such as FuboTV and Sling TV.