Notre Dame locker room battles flu outbreak ahead of Orange Bowl vs. Penn State

On By Littum

Notre Dame have already lost several players this year to season-ending injuries. Now, several Fighting Irish players are also dealing with an illness.

On3’s Tyler Horka reports that several Notre Dame players are battling the flu ahead of the Orange Bowl mod Penn State. Horka shared the news Thursday morning on Twitter, ahead of Thursday night’s Orange Bowl game.

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“Told the flu is going around the Notre Dame locker room,” Horka wrote. “Those who have it are bad, but it sounds like it’s mostly backups and special teams players. Still something to monitor for the Fighting Irish going into the Orange Bowl vs. Penn State tonight.”

Having a flu outbreak in your locker room is obviously not ideal ahead of a College Football Playoff semifinal. It will be interesting to see what impact, if any, it has on Notre Dame Thursday night.

Notre Dame reached the semifinals of the CFP by beating Indiana and Georgia. The Fighting Irish are now just one win away from playing in the national championship game. The winner of Notre Dame vs. The Penn State game will face the winner of the Cotton Bowl between Texas and Ohio State for the national title.

Injury update on Notre Dame RB Jeremiah Love

One player who has been announced but is expected to play against Penn State is the Fighting Irish running back Jeremiah Love. Marcus Freeman provided an injury update on Love on Wednesday.

“He’s had a good week of training. We have to be smart about how much we ask him to do in practice,” Freeman said, via the Orange Bowl press conference. “Nobody’s 100 percent right now. He’ll be good to go.”

The star running back went down in the third quarter of Notre Dame’s 23-10 win in New Orleans and later had a brace on his right knee. Love went to the injury tent, but after briefly practicing on the sidelines, he went back for further evaluation.

All in all, Love is an important part of the Notre Dame offense, which leans heavily on the run game. He entered Thursday’s game with a team-high 1,076 yards and 16 touchdowns. He along with Riley Leonard and Jadarian Pricehas snapped the Fighting Irish’s 11-game winning streak to get them into the College Football Playoff quarterfinals at the Sugar Bowl.