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The University of Notre Dame’s head football coach has a message for all of the corporate media outlets trying to make his team’s Orange Bowl victory about his race: Winning football games isn’t about him or his skin color.

The Fighting Irish won the Orange Bowl on Thursday night 27 to 24 on a 41-yard field goal kicked with mere seconds left in the game. The team’s last-minute triumph secured them the first spot in the college football national championship at the end of the month and should have dominated headlines. Instead, national and sports press rooms alike fawned over the fact that, regardless of the Orange Bowl outcome, either Notre Dame or Penn State’s head coach would become the first black coach to make it to the ultimate FBS faceoff.

The ESPN reporter tasked with covering the coach’s and quarterback’s reactions, after spending a little bit of time asking for Freeman’s analysis of the game, pressed the Catholic convert on how much his position as the “first black head coach to go to a national championship game in college football” meant to him.

“I’ve said this before: I don’t ever want to take attention away from the team. It is an honor, and I hope all coaches — minorities, Black, Asian, white, it doesn’t matter, great people — continue to set opportunities to lead young men like this,” he said. “But this ain’t about me. This is about us. We’re going to celebrate what we’ve done because it’s so special.”

ESPN clearly missed the point of Freeman’s speech. In its clip highlighting the coach’s post-game reaction and reflection, the outlet made one last attempt to shove the “first Black and Asian American head coach” narrative down its viewers’ throats.

Even before the game, outlets were focused on skin color over skill. Sports Illustrated hailed the matchup as “progress for black coaches.” The Associated Press claimed black coaches finally “have shot at college football title a generation after that milestone was hit in hoops.” ESPN College GameDay’s Desmond Howard not only elevated the race narrative during the pregame but used it to complain that the “opportunities” for black coaches to win big games are “still limited today.”

To the race-obsessed press, the Orange Bowl gameplay and its outcome paled in comparison to what the New York Post called the “massive implication for black coaches.”

To reduce Notre Dame’s collective hard work and dedication under a humble head coach like Freeman to race, as the press have done, however, is not only an offense to the team but to all college football fans who value the skill and effort that goes into a winning season.

As Freeman hinted on Thursday night, the Fighting Irish’s path to the college football championship was not easy or skin-deep. It could not be attributed to one person or their genetics. Contrary to the corporate media’s virtue signaling, Notre Dame’s college football championship spot was secured via a hard-fought battle flooded with the talent, competence, and expertise of hundreds of men. Their performance on Jan. 20 will be no different.

Jordan Boyd is a staff writer at The Federalist and producer of The Federalist Radio Hour. Her work has also been featured in The Daily Wire, Fox News, and RealClearPolitics. Jordan graduated from Baylor University where she majored in political science and minored in journalism. Follow her on X @jordanboydtx.