The semifinals of the first-ever 12-team College Football Playoff begin Thursday with a blockbuster Orange Bowl matchup between (6) Penn State and (7) Notre Dame. Both teams have leaned heavily on their defenses and run games to reach the doorstep of the College Football Playoff National Championship.

Notre Dame is a slim favorite over the Nittany Lions, but the teams enter the Orange Bowl evenly and uniquely matched.

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,