Advertisement
football Edit

Tagovailoa-Amosa’s scoop-and-score caps another dominant defensive game

Myron Tagovailoa-Amosa did his best Kyren Williams impression.

About 25 yards into his fumble scoop-up and sprint, the graduate student defensive end shifted the ball to his right hand as he felt a pursuer coming up on his left. He wanted to free his left hand to throw a stiff-arm.

For a lineman who rarely touches the ball, it all looked unusually natural. And whether his arm, defensive tackle Jayson Ademilola’s partial block or the turf monster sent Georgia Tech running back turned defender Jordan Mason to the ground, it worked. Tagovailoa-Amosa rumbled the rest of the way into the end zone, with Ademilola right behind him, for his first career touchdown.

Sign up for Blue & Gold’s FREE alerts and newsletter

Advertisement
Notre Dame Fighting Irish football defensive end Myron Tagovailoa-Amosa
Myron Tagovailoa-Amosa returned a fumble 70 yards for his first career touchdown. (Chad Weaver/BGI)

This 70-yard fumble return in his presumed final home game is a memory he will cherish for the rest of his life. It was also a bold-faced exclamation point on Notre Dame’s most dominant performance of the year.

The No. 8 Irish (10-1) beat Georgia Tech 55-0 Saturday, their largest margin of victory in a shutout since 1996. Tagovailoa-Amosa’s score came with 4:50 remaining in the third quarter served as the last call of the Senior Day party. Notre Dame’s defense scored two touchdowns as part of it. That’s two more than it has allowed in the last three games. A unit that scuffled to start the season has surged down the stretch.

"I feel like at the beginning of the year, it was a little bit of adjustment from [former defensive coordinator Clark] Lea to [current coordinator Marcus] Freeman, but we finally got it together,” junior defensive end Isaiah Foskey said. “I don't know the game that sparked it to play Coach Freeman football, but this was the game we put it all on display."

But back to Tagovailoa-Amosa, who did not record one of Notre Dame’s six sacks yet was consistently disruptive all afternoon. He had two quarterback hurries and blocked a field goal attempt at the end of the first half. It was an emphatic return from a battle with the flu that sidelined him from the Nov. 13 win at Virginia.

Someone had to set him up for the touchdown, though. Enter Foskey, who burst off the edge unblocked. He forced Georgia Tech quarterback Jordan Yates to stop his rollout on a bootleg and backpedal. Yates spun around, hoping to unload a throwaway. As he wound up, Foskey smacked the ball out of his hands and onto the turf. Tagovailoa-Amosa was the closest man to it.

“I just saw during that whole play the back of the quarterback, so I just went up the field and tried to tackle him,” Foskey said. “I just went for the ball, got the ball, and got Myron the touchdown.”

Two years earlier, in a game against Virginia, a touchdown eluded Tagovailoa-Amosa on a similar play. He snagged a fumble out of midair on a sack and took off, with no barrier between him and the end zone. He was tackled seven yards shy of it, though, because the quarterback caught him from behind.

“He wasn't quite fast enough, so we always made fun of him for that,” junior defensive tackle Howard Cross III said. “Just seeing him do that, it was really crazy and everyone loved that.”

Tagovailoa-Amosa is 15 pounds lighter than he was in 2019, a weight loss prompted by his offseason switch from tackle to end. It might’ve made the difference. Foskey’s downfield block on Yates and discard of him into wide receiver/oncoming pursuer Kyric McGowan removed all doubt. Tagovailoa-Amosa reached the end zone and started the dance party.

“I knew as soon as he took it, he was definitely going to make this,” Cross said. “It’s perfect for him. Seeing him stiff-arm, it’s icing on the cake.”

CLICK HERE TO JOIN THE DISCUSSION ON THE LOU SOMOGYI BOARD

----

• Learn more about our print and digital publication, Blue & Gold Illustrated.

• Watch our videos and subscribe to our YouTube channel.

• Sign up for Blue & Gold's news alerts and daily newsletter.

Subscribe to our podcast on Apple Podcasts.

• Follow us on Twitter: @BGINews, @MikeTSinger, @PatrickEngel_, @tbhorka, @GregLadky, and @ToddBurlage.

• Like us on Facebook.

Advertisement