James Franklin gets a reality check from CFB Insider before Penn State-Notre Dame game

Penn State Nittany Lions coach James Franklin has led the team to the college football semifinals. Penn State will play the Notre Dame Fighting Irish on Thursday.

The winner of the Orange Bowl will advance to the national championship on Jan. 20. It's a massive game for both programs and college football insider Heather Dinich of ESPN spoke on "Get Up" and called the Orange Bowl the biggest game of Franklin's coaching career.

"This is the biggest game of his career and it's a chance to not silence his critics who wonder if he can win a big game, but it's at least a chance to close the gap with the elite coaches who can," Dinich said. "When you look at his record against AP top 5 opponents, by comparison, when you look at Kirby Smart and Nick Saban and Urban Meyer, they all have winning records against top five teams, so this is an opportunity for him to at least close that gap."

Throughout his coaching career at Penn State, fans have been critical of Franklin for never winning the big game. In his career against AP top-five opponents, he's a miserable 1-14. He's also 1-10 against Ohio State.

However, as Dinich says, if Franklin and Penn State can beat Notre Dame, it would help silence some critics of the coach never being able to win the big game.

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James Franklin previews Notre Dame matchup

The Penn State Nittany Lions are a 1.5-point underdog against Notre Dame in the Orange Bowl on Thursday. Heading into the game against Notre Dame, Franklin believes the Nittany Lions and Fighting Irish are a very similar football team.

"I think in a lot of ways, they are built similar to us," Franklin said, via 247Sports. "You look at their turnover ratio numbers, you look at their explosive play defense in terms of defending and limiting explosive plays. You look at the middle eight, they are built in a lot of ways that I think we are in terms of emphasizing the statistics that matter.

"And they do a great job of not beating themselves, which I think is a really important thing in college football. It starts with that, and then you kind of go from there and play to your strengths and things like that," Franklin added.

If Franklin can lead Penn State past Notre Dame, the Nittany Lions will play the winner of Texas-Ohio State in the national championship.