"Your color shouldn’t matter": Marcus Freeman gets candid on two Black coaches making history in CFP

Marcus Freeman and the Notre Dame Fighting Irish shocked college football fans during their playoff quarterfinal showdown against the Georgia Bulldogs. Despite being the underdogs, they secured a 23-10 victory over Kirby Smart's team to advance to the semifinals of the 12-team college football playoffs.

With this victory, Marcus Freeman and his team are scheduled to take on James Franklin's Penn State Nittany Lions in the Orange Bowl CFP semifinal game next week. This is the first time two Black coaches have participated in the playoffs in the game's history.

In the post-game press conference, Marcus Freeman was questioned about his thoughts on being one of the two Black coaches in the college football playoff semifinals and making history.

The Notre Dame head coach replied that he was grateful for the opportunity and that the color of your skin should not matter. He believes that it should be your work that makes a difference.

"Very grateful," Freeman said. "It's a reminder that you are a representation for many others and for many of our players that look the same way I do. Your color shouldn't matter. The evidence of your work should."

Marcus Freeman took over as the head coach of the program in 2021. He successfully led the Fighting Irish to a Bowl game appearance in every season so far. This is his first playoff appearance with the program and he will be hoping to help Notre Dame to its first national championship victory since 1988.

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Notre Dame QB Riley Leonard gives Marcus Freeman credit for trick play during Sugar Bowl victory over Georgia

Both Notre Dame and Georgia put up a tough competition in the gridiron during the CFP quarterfinal game. However, Freeman's team was better prepared on offense as well as defense and successfully managed to stay one step ahead of the SEC champions right from the start of the first quarter. In the fourth quarter of the game, Freeman initiated a trick play that confused Georgia's defense.

During a fourth-and-one from their own territory, Notre Dame initially lined up as if to take a punt but instead did a mass substitution to bring in the offense. In the post-game press conference, Leonard interrupted Marcus Freeman during this question to give him credit for that smart trick play.

"Real quick, he's being humble," Leonard said. "That was completely his play. We were going to do it in a different way like two days ago. And then he flipped it, and we executed it that way, and it worked. So he's being humble.... I'll say it for him; Great call, great execution."

The Notre Dame vs. Penn State CFP Orange Bowl semifinal game is scheduled to be played on Thursday, January 9. It is set to kick off at 7:30 p.m. ET and will be hosted at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami, Florida.