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The semifinal matchups of the College Football Playoff are going to be so awesome.

At one end of the bracket, we have the juggernaut that is Ohio State’s offense going against an equally formidable Texas defense in the Cotton Bowl on January 10th. In the other semifinal matchup, Penn State will face Notre Dame in what should be a good-ol’ fashioned smashmouth brawl. Both of those teams have capable offenses, but their defenses are stingier than Ebenezer Scrooge at Christmas time. This Orange Bowl (held on January 9th), is one I will watch from start to finish.

While many fans are excited about the Orange Bowl from a football standpoint, ESPN found a different storyline to focus on – and it is right within ESPN’s race-obsessed wheelhouse.

Penn State is coached by James Franklin, and Notre Dame by Marcus Freeman. Both are great coaches in their own right that are highly successful at what they do, and whoever wins this game will have their first crack at being a national champion. ESPN picked up on this factoid, but took it a step further and made it all about each coach’s skin color.

Here’s a graphic that ESPN posted about the Orange Bowl on its X account.

There you have it folks. This is what “The Worldwide Leader in Sports” is valuing the most ahead of a national semifinal – the melanin count of the skin of these men (which obviously has so much to do with football). It’s annoying, and yet so very typical of this failure of a network.

Like I said above, this matchup has the potential to be a classic. The talent, program history, and non-racial storylines run deep in this matchup. ESPN might have a hard time getting upset about it since there is no SEC school in this matchup, but that doesn’t mean you need to taint the game with this extremely tired progressive tactic. 

To borrow a phrase from the Nittany Lions, all normal college football fans can confidently say: WE ARE…not interested in Franklin’s or Freeman’s skin color. All we want to do is watch football and not make this game about race.