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SOUTH BEND — Notre Dame’s path to Friday’s College Football Playoff opener against Indiana was lined with a series of teachable moments, if not outright blessings from on high.
In several cases, going all the way back to Beaux Collins’ shove at Texas A&M and including Jordan Clark’s headbutt against Louisville, penalty flags for unsportsmanlike conduct could have been thrown, should have been thrown, but weren’t.
The most recent brush with potential ejection came in the regular-season finale at USC. Already without nose tackle Howard Cross III due to an ankle sprain, the Irish easily could have lost defensive tackle Rylie Mills after CBS replays clearly showed him punching fallen offensive lineman Emmanuel Pregnon.
Incredibly, 30-year official Ron Snodgrass and his Big Ten crew missed the goal-line exchange entirely, even as Jayden Maiava’s 1-yard quarterback sneak went under video review. CBS rules analyst Gene Steratore, a former NFL referee, noted during the broadcast that personal fouls aren’t reviewable.
Had Mills’ punch to the facemask been noticed in real time, Steratore said, an “instant disqualification” would have resulted.
“If you know Rylie, you know that’s like an extreme,” Irish linebacker Jack Kiser said of his fellow captain and roommate. “I don’t know if I’ve ever seen him … and I don’t even know if he really had the intent to do that, but we got very fortunate that nothing happened from that.”
Losing Mills for the final 42 minutes might have flipped the script on an eventual 49-35 escape job by Notre Dame. USC gashed the Irish defense for 557 total yards as it was.
Replays also showed Pregnon, a 6-foot-5, 320-pound left tackle tugging at Mills’ left knee behind the pile. The out-of-character response from Mills was one of retaliation, but that’s typically the action…
Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/notre-dame-football-equation-simple-090345123.html
Author : South Bend Tribune
Publish date : 2024-12-20 09:03:00
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