Notre Dame fans raised their hands over their heads as their Fighting Irish secured a double overtime victory over No. 1 Clemson on Saturday night, then quickly lowered their hands to cover their eyes over what they saw after.
Students, lots of them, all over the field.
It was a joyous celebration native to college football, but one that could easily derail what has quickly become a championship-aspiring season for Notre Dame. The defeat of Clemson opened a world of possibilities for the Fighting Irish, and the wrong Notre Dame student crossing paths with the wrong player could derail all of it.
Thankfully, though, Notre Dame seems to have dodged a bullet. A bullet in this case being a load of invisible COVID-infected spittle.
“We had a very celebratory ending to our game. And we certainly, you know, needed to know that we were going to be good,” Brian Kelly told ESPN radio on Wednesday, via Irish Illustrated. “We’ve had two tests; we passed all of our testing on Sunday and again on Tuesday, so that’s a really good sign. But we’ll test again Thursday and we’ll test on Friday. So, you know, that’s always hanging over you.”
Kelly said after the game Notre Dame was prepared for a field storming in the event of a victory, quickly moving to secure both teams from the mob of students. Saturday's game was the last of the season in front of the students. The Irish are on the road this week, and their final two home games (North Carolina on Nov. 27 and Syracuse on Dec. 5) will come after campus closes for the fall semester.
So not only was it the biggest win any Notre Dame student experienced, it was also the last one for the senior class. None of that stopped UND president Father John Jenkins from admonishing the student body, however.
“Look, I mean, it was a very difficult situation to keep them from getting on the field. We don’t have the support staff and people because of COVID out there. We tried to keep Clemson safe, which we did. We tried to do the best we could in the circumstances. We’re just glad everybody is safe right now.”
As always, stay tuned to The Scoop for the latest.