The Sugar Bowl was pushed back one day due to the tragic act of terrorism in New Orleans on New Year\u2019s Day that took the lives of 15 people and injured dozens more.<\/p>\n
In the wake of the tragedy, Notre Dame<\/a><\/strong> head coach Marcus Freeman revealed that he let his players spend a few hours away from the football team to see their families before playing Georgia<\/a><\/strong> in the College Football Playoff quarterfinals.<\/p>\n Get your team\u2019s official College Football Playoff watch from AXIA by CLICKING HERE: \u201cWatches that tell so much more than time\u201d<\/a><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n \u201cThere was a time yesterday evening when I wanted our players to spend some time with their families that were here. Being a parent myself, in times of tragedy, you want to be around your children,\u201d Freeman told reporters after the quarterfinal win.<\/p>\n CLICK HERE to go to PrizePicks and use code ON3 to receive a guaranteed $50 once you play $5 in lineups!<\/em><\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n \u201cI gave the players from about 6:00 to 9:00 [on New Year\u2019s Day] just a chance to go be with your family if they\u2019re in town. I think that helped the parents as much as it helped the players to be around each other, and to help them reset and get their mind into a place that it needed to be for today.\u201d<\/p>\n The fallout of the attacks caused a surreal atmosphere inside the Caesars Superdome with additional security and police presence posted in and around the arena. The game went on without a hitch and provided a well-needed escape for the fans on hand inside the Superdome and those watching the matchup at home.<\/p>\n Kickoff was pushed back roughly 20 hours, but Notre Dame was ready. A scoreless first quarter saw the Fighting Irish take a 13-3 lead. Notre Dame never looked back, and they ultimately defeated Georgia 23-10 to win its second playoff game of the postseason.<\/p>\n Quarterback Riley Leonard wasn\u2019t able to move the ball through the air, throwing for just 90 yards during the contest while rushing for 80 more. In the end, it took just 244 total yards of offense to take down the Bulldogs thanks to a pair of Georgia turnovers throughout the battle. <\/p>\n The Fighting Irish will move on to play Penn State<\/a><\/strong> in the College Football Playoff semifinal in the Orange Bowl. The victor will advance to the national championship game \u2014 something neither Blue Blood program has ever done in the CFP era. <\/p>\n Kickoff is set for Thursday, Jan. 9 at 7:30 p.m. ET and will air live on ESPN. <\/p>\n The post Marcus Freeman reveals he allowed Notre Dame players three hours with family after New Orleans tragedy<\/a> appeared first on On3<\/a>.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The Sugar Bowl was pushed back one day due to the tragic act of terrorism…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-79841","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/79841","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=79841"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/79841\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=79841"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=79841"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=79841"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}