A Notre Dame official told CBS Sports the team has been dealing with the illness over the last 10 days
Notre Dame players and staff members are dealing with a “flu or a virus” ahead of Thursday night’s College Football Playoff semifinal against Penn State, a school official confirmed in a statement to CBS Sports’ Brandon Marcello. The statement downplayed the severity of the outbreak, which it says occurred over the past 10 days to two weeks, and maintains that it will not impact any availability for the Orange Bowl.
“It will have no impact on the game,” Notre Dame’s statement read. “Beaux Collins was impacted in the Sugar Bowl, but still played and was on the mend during the game.”
The aforementioned Collins caught one pass for a 13-yard touchdown in Notre Dame’s 23-10 Sugar Bowl win against Georgia. As that final score indicates, the Fighting Irish haven’t had much trouble — sickness or otherwise — through the College Football Playoff to this point.
Notre Dame earned its way to the quarterfinal round with a 27-17 first-round win against Indiana. The Fighting Irish actually led 27-3 late in the fourth quarter but the Hoosiers scored 14 points in the final two minutes to whittle the final score down some.
Notre Dame did get good news on the injury front ahead of its game against Penn State, as coach Marcus Freeman confirmed that leading rusher Jeremiyah Love is expected to play Thursday night. Love has been dealing with a nagging knee injury throughout the playoff, and he was limited to just six carries against Georgia.
