Notre Dame football showed they had fight in them, but one player took that a little too seriously
Notre Dame football knew the assignment this week, win in and you clinch a berth in the first ever 12-team College Football Playoff. It was a slightly exhausting game, but they did just that against bitter rival USC, coming away with a 49-35 victory on the road. Anytime the Fighting Irish come away with a […]
Notre Dame football knew the assignment this week, win in and you clinch a berth in the first ever 12-team College Football Playoff. It was a slightly exhausting game, but they did just that against bitter rival USC, coming away with a 49-35 victory on the road. Anytime the Fighting Irish come away with a victory against the Trojans, whether it be by one or 100 points, it means something.
This was also not the prettiest game for Notre Dame on Saturday. It was their defense’s worst game of the season, sure ending season highs in passing yards (360), rushing yards (197), total yards (557), and points allowed (35). This was not the usual stellar performance we have seen from defensive coordinator Al Golden and his unit.
Instead, this became a grind it out affair for the Irish. Their offense did some tremendous stuff in the game, including scoring 35 offensive points and rushing for 258 yards as a team. And in the end, Notre Dame was able to gut out the victory. This team wasn’t perfect, but they sure battled.
In these.w types of rivalries, things can get heated and we typically see a lot of altercations and jawing back and forth. We saw that in this Notre Dame-USC game several times. Perhaps the most heated moment occurred early on in the contest on a goal line play while the Irish were on defense. Defensive tackle Rylie Mills took issue with an offensive lineman grabbing onto his legs.
Mills had quite the reaction.
Despite clearly throwing a swing at the USC offensive lineman, no repercussions were put onto the senior defensive lineman. An official quickly came in after the actions, but it was merely to derail any follow-up issues. Perhaps there was a slight turning of the cheek knowing how heated this rivalry could become.
Otherwise it was a very quiet day for Mills who had been excellent in recent weeks. He ended the contest with two total tackles and one tackle for loss, but got the most important number, a win on the scoreboard.
