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

Notre Dame has already lost multiple players this year who are out with season-ending injuries. Now several Fighting Irish players are dealing with a sickness, too.

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

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“Been told the flu is going around the Notre Dame locker room,” Horka posted. “Those who have it have it bad, but it sounds like that’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 game. 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 the Notre Dame vs. 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 Jeremiyah Love

One player who is banged up but expected to play against Penn State is Fighting Irish running back Jeremiyah Love. Marcus Freeman provided an injury update on Love on Wednesday.

“He’s had a good week of practice. We have to be smart about how much we’re asking him to do in practice,” Freeman said, via the Orange Bowl press conference. “No one is 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 victory in New Orleans, and later he had a brace on his right knee. Love headed to the injury tent, but after briefly working out on the sideline, went back in for further evaluation.

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