Rylie Mills Shines, Notre Dame Defense Dominant in 52-3 Win Over Florida State
Rylie Mills has experienced a lot of football during his time at Notre Dame, but it’s not often he’s lined up without his running mate Howard Cross III as the two have held down the interior of the defensive line over the last two seasons.
Cross went down with a sprained ankle in the first half and Mills got mad.
In fact, Mills recorded back-to-back sacks in the two plays following Cross leaving the game to make a loud statement that Notre Dame’s defensive line was going to be fine.
“We said you have to be strong up the middle and it starts up front with those two seniors, those guys that are veterans,” stated Notre Dame head coach Marcus Freeman. “They are playing really well.
“Rylie got some individual glory today. He got the sacks, but there's a lot of people who contributed to Rylie having the sacks. You talk about coverage and you talk about some other guys up front. Individual glory is a part of it. When you play well and some things go your way, you're going to get recognized, but responsibility has been playing at a high level.”
Mills finished with three sacks on the night, which tied his career-high for sacks in a game. Yet, the Lake Forest (Ill.) native wanted to talk about how his defense worked together to hold Florida State to just 208 total yards of offense.
“For the defense and the defensive line, it was dominant,” Mills stated. “It kind of shows when the front end and the back end are on the same page, it’s hard to get completions on us. That’s one of the great things about our defense. We feed off each other. The corners are coming up to us saying we’re killing it and it’s great. They’re getting picks. It works both ways.”
Injuries have been a common theme on the defensive line this fall and Cross’ ankle is the latest.
Yet, Mills and the defensive line room don’t feel more pressure to perform despite guys going down with injuries.
“I think our defense really has the next man in mentality,” explained Mills. “It’s not really guys going down and it changes our thing. Honestly, I think at the start of the season, Howard and I knew we had to step up our game. We saw where it wasn’t enough and it sparked a fire in both of us that we had another level we could hit.
“It goes back to why we came back in the first place. We came back to be a better version of ourselves and play for a dominant defense.”
Dominant is what Notre Dame was during the 52-3 waxing of Florida State. In total, Notre Dame recorded eight sacks and 10 tackles for loss while also forcing two interceptions.
Florida State starting quarterback Brock Glenn finished 5-of-18 for 51 yards, which will win a lot of ball games.
“I don't think we did anything out of the ordinary,” Freeman said of getting pressure on the quarterback all night. “I think our guys are playing with clarity. Some of the rush lanes, some of the different stunts we're doing, they are playing with clarity, which equals velocity. That's what we talk about all the time, clarity equals velocity.
“When guys are really understanding what to expect, which way the slide is coming, hey, how do I want to attack this guy in protection, you see some good things happen.”
Notre Dame will now look to finish November strong as the Irish are fully in the mix for the College Football Playoff.
Saturday night was a challenge as Florida State’s roster talent doesn’t indicate a 1-9 football team, but Notre Dame’s preparation and focus was strong during the week, which pleased Freeman.
“I think it starts with the captains,” said Freeman. “I meet with the captains once a week, sometimes twice a week, and this week we met on Monday and they said, ‘Hey, Coach, we want to say something to the team, about how important this final four stretch is -- but this one, right. We know we have four, but this one.’
“It's one thing as the head coach when you say that, but when your captains are the ones driving that message, that's a sign of maturity of your team and that's what I'm really proud of.”
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