A Close Up Look at Notre Dame’s On Field Scuffle with “UCLA”
Tempers flared at the end of the first half of yesterday’s Notre Dame win over USC. The two sides were involved in a scuffle on the field that had the referees so flustered, they called a penalty on “UCLA” prompting perhaps the loudest reaction of the night from the Notre Dame home crowd.
Here’s a close up look of how the started as players were starting to leave the field.
Little late on this but here is my view of how the whole halftime incident got started.
Stepp and Kareem talk a little, only escalates further when USC's Jalen McKenzie gets into it.
AdvertisementThen Kelly and a USC assistant start jawing….good fun all around. https://t.co/fuJeyUJssW pic.twitter.com/7VwHSzbfk7
— Adam Derengowski (@AdamDerTV) October 13, 2019
Unfortunately, this video cut off before the referee assigned offsetting penalties on both Notre Dame and “UCLA”. The gaffe by the referee gave everyone a good laugh and led to multiple “U – C – L – A” chants from the home crowd throughout the rest of the night. Hopefully, that is s chant that sticks at future Notre Dame – USC games in Notre Dame Stadium because it was definitely getting on the nerves of the USC fans in attendance.
Brian Kelly can be seen pretty heated in the video above and somehow, USC head coach Clay Helton lost his shoe in the excitement.
Somehow Clay Helton lost his shoe in the chaos pic.twitter.com/N9JBfDGnIp
— Keely Eure (@keelyismyname) October 13, 2019
Everything eventually calmed down and there wasn’t any carryover into the second half. No players picked up another unsportsmanlike conduct in the second half so there were no ejections.
Just another chapter in the Notre Dame – USC rivalry that hopefully leads to some more good-hearted ribbing of USC in the future.
Frank Vitovitch has been Co-Owner and Editor in Chief of UHND.com since joining forces with Kyle Flavin in 1999. Since that time, he has written over 2,000 articles covering Notre Dame football, recruiting, and basketball. He also works with all staff and external writers on all articles published on UHND.com. Frank's love for Notre Dame football started at a young age watching Rocket Ismail give opposing coaches ulcers in the late 1980's. By day Frank works in marketing and holds a degree in Digital Media from Drexel University. Frank's work has been cited by online/print editions of NBC Sports, ESPN, and Sports Illustrated and has been quoted on air by ESPN's Collin Cowherd. He's conducted interviews with Notre Dame legends Rocket Ismail, Randy Kinder, Lee Becton, Reggie Brooks, Michael Stonebreaker, and Ned Bolcar among others over his 20+ years of covering Notre Dame football. He's also been published in the print edition of USA Today Sports Weekly and the USA Today College Football Preview multiple times. Other Published Works/Citations for Frank Three Reasons Notre Dame Will Beat Alabama - USA Today Notre Dame Suspends WR Kevin Stepherson, RB C.J. Holmes Indefinitely - Bleacher Report Notre Dame / Ohio State Fiesta Bowl Preview - Eleven Warriors Brace Yourself: The Fighting Irish are Relevant Again - Sports on Earth Interviews with the Enemy: A Q&A with Frank Vitovitch of UHND - Yahoo! Sports Five Good Minutes: Notre Dame Football Preview With UHND.com - BC Interruption Vicious Electronic Questioning with UHND - MGO Blog
What fun! The refs called them UCLA! Ha ha ha ha….good times!
After a dominant first half, in which ND failed to capitalize on many opportunities to pad the lead even more, ND came out for the second half unprepared and barely held on for the win.
If USC had recovered that onside kick, they would have won. No doubt about it.
And Bozo Kelly nearly gave them a second shot at it…..only for not being flagged for being an idiot.
That scuffle at halftime fired up USC.
And Kelly, predictably, put his team to sleep.
“I don’t watch the games.”
Too busy venting in your burn book.