Brian Kelly updates Notre Dame flu problems, status of two key defenders

The flu has been running its course through the Notre Dame football program. On Monday, Notre Dame head coach updated the team’s fight against the flu, also providing some pivotal injury updates for a couple of banged up players on defense.

Kelly noted that two offensive linemen got sick the morning of Notre Dame’s game on Saturday against Georgia Tech. But hopefully, the worst of the flu is behind Notre Dame.

“Well we had two guys that were really sick that played through (the flu), (Jarrett) Patterson and (Josh) Lugg,” Kelly said. “Played pretty good with the flu. They got it in the morning, fought through it. We had only one other guy come down with it yesterday. Knock on wood, every day has been an experience. So we’re hoping that we’re coming out on the other end of that.”

Notre Dame linebackers Jack Kiser and JD Bertrand are also banged up with injuries, but Kelly is optimistic that neither injury will be too serious.

“I think from Kiser’s perspective, it wasn’t a high ankle sprain,” Kelly said. “Deltoid, which I thought was somewhere else, but I guess it’s in the ankle too. So it’s explained to me that it’s not high ankle. Muscular in a sense. He should be good to go. It’ll be a matter of just working through the next couple of days.

“That was probably the biggest one. Bertrand had a clean X-ray on his back. So he looked to be in pretty good shape there. Those were really the key injuries coming out of Sunday.”

Notre Dame cracked the top five in the latest AP Poll

After a chaotic couple of weeks in college football, Notre Dame is on the rise in the latest rankings. The Fighting Irish come in at No. 5 in the latest AP Top 25 Poll. Kelly and Notre Dame have a shot to make the College Football Playoff if everything goes right.

Ohio State (No. 2) and Michigan (No. 6) face off in Week 13, meaning that one of those teams will suffer a loss and likely fall at least a little bit in the rankings. Georgia (No. 1) and Alabama (No. 3) will face off in the SEC Championship game.

In the midst of Notre Dame’s fight for the playoff, Kelly has also been linked to the USC job opening. Kelly addressed those reports this week, calling it all “smokescreens.”

“No,” Kelly said. “I mean, look, I think Mike Tomlin had the best line, right? Unless that fairy godmother comes by with that $250M check, my wife would want to take a look at it first. I’d have to run it by her.”

Notre Dame and Stanford kick off at 8 p.m. ET on Saturday night.