SOUTH BEND — You could hear a pin drop at Notre Dame Stadium late in the first quarter on Saturday. And with over 77,000 in attendance to watch the Fighting Irish take on USC in a heated rivalry game that normally demands nothing but bellowing cacophony, that couldn’t have been a good thing for the home team.
It wasn’t.
All-American junior safety Kyle Hamilton squirmed on the ground clutching and clawing at his knee. He needed the assistance of two trainers to help him to the sideline. Notre Dame fans watched and hoped. Some probably prayed.
Hamilton didn’t return to the game. Nobody knew in real time what that meant. ACL? MCL? How soon would he be able to return in this season, if at all?
Head coach Brian Kelly answered those queries in his postgame press conference. He said Hamilton has a “pinched fat pad” in his knee. No structural damage. The prognosis is good. He might be able to play as soon as this Saturday against North Carolina. But for three quarters, Notre Dame was without his tenacious presence on the field against USC.
Ultimately, though, it didn’t matter. His replacement, senior DJ Brown, was one of the Irish’s best defensive players in the 31-16 blue and gold victory. There were a lot of impressive individual performances, but Brown had one of the best.
“He did a really fine job for us,” Kelly said. “He did that last year against UNC as well. So I think it's time we start recognizing really solid football players like DJ has been for us.”
Players like Hamilton naturally attract more praise from the masses than guys like Brown. But good defensive football is good defensive football, and Brown played it against the Trojans.
He tied for the team lead in tackles with seven. USC wide receiver Drake London slipped past the Notre Dame cornerbacks on many of his 15 catches for 171 yards. Brown always seemed to be in a good position to make sure London never crossed the goal line.
Keeping London out of there was a team effort. It wasn’t all Brown. Senior cornerback TaRiq Bracy had one of the best games of his career playing primarily nickel corner. He also had seven tackles. He was rewarded with a game ball from Kelly.
“It’s always hard seeing your brother down, but coach stressed unit strength and next man up,” Bracy said. “So we were OK and were able to help Kyle out and get the win.”
Kelly used Bracy as an example in a message to the entire team. He pointed to the way Bracy “bullied” opposing wide receivers on the line of scrimmage and wouldn’t let them release easily into their routes. All 5-10, 177 pounds of him.
“He played the way I was hoping he would play when he came in as a freshman,” Kelly said. “It's great to see a player play his best football in his fourth season. I’m really proud of him tonight.”
It didn’t matter if USC out-gained Notre Dame 424-383 in total yards. It didn’t matter if the Irish allowed London’s Biletnikoff Award campaign to continue with the most receiving yards he’s gained in a game this season.
Notre Dame limited USC to its lowest point total of the year. And the Irish did it without their best defensive player for three-fourths of the game. It was a testament to Brown and Bracy on the back end but also to graduate student defensive end Myron Tagovailoa-Amosa and junior defensive end Isaiah Foskey for being so disruptive up front. And to many Notre Dame players in between.
Like Bracy said: unit strength. Notre Dame needed it without Hamilton. And they got it. Take it from graduate senior linebacker Bo Bauer, who wanted no part in taking the lion’s share of credit for his 79-yard interception return that prevented USC from scoring and led directly to three Irish points early in the second quarter.
“There are a lot of great guys on our team,” Bauer said. “I’m just one-eleventh. On that play 10 other guys were doing what they needed to do, and I just happened to be in the right place at the right time.”
Now that’s unit strength.
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