Howard Cross III reveals in-game advice his father gave him playing sick vs. Duke

Howard Cross III had a monster game for Notre Dame against Duke, putting the exclamation point on the Fighting Irish victory with a strip-sack of Riley Leonard. To Fighting Irish fans, that game could wind up in the same breath as Michael Jordan during the 1997 NBA Finals against the Utah Jazz.

Cross played through a sinus infection. At times, he couldn’t even breathe as he was trying to break through the Duke offensive line and pressure Leonard. But his dad — a Super Bowl champion tight end — made sure Cross played the game like he would if he was fully healthy.

In fact, during the game, he looked up at the stands to try and tell his dad he didn’t fell well. But he knew the response if they could have an actual conversation, and he made sure to stay sharp.

“I mean, he’s always proud of me if I have a game like this,” Cross said on College Football Live. “He’s a big advocate for running to the ball no matter what. I’m sure that even if I didn’t do anything else, he would have said, ‘You could have run a little harder on the ball.’

“But yeah, I looked him in the stands and I’m like, I do not feel all that great. And the only thing I could see him saying was if you want to feel better, you better run it out.”

Howard Cross III: ‘I can’t do what I do’ without the defensive line

Cross filled the stat sheet to help Notre Dame to the thrilling 21-14 victory. Along with the strip-sack, he had 13 tackles and 3.5 tackles for loss to lead the Fighting Irish defense.

Despite those impressive numbers, Cross deflected the credit. He pointed out his teammates who helped set him up to have a big night — both the ones fans saw during the game and the ones they didn’t.

“I was only able to do what I’ve been doing because of my D-line,” Cross said. “They’ve been pushing me and I can’t do what I do without them doing their jobs, as well. And also, I’m going to give a shoutout to the scout team O-line. They were getting on me all week, making sure I was doing what I supposed to do. I couldn’t really have done anything without them.”

Next up for Notre Dame is a trip to Louisville to take on the undefeated Cardinals. It’s a third consecutive ranked opponent in prime time for the Fighting Irish. Kickoff is set for Saturday at 7:30 p.m. ET on ABC.