Florida
Notre Dame football brings boom to Florida State with eight sacks
Notre Dame football brings boom to Florida State with eight sacks
SOUTH BEND, Ind. — Maybe Notre Dame defensive tackle Rylie Mills will get a shout-out from the “Costco Guys” for his three-sack performance against Florida State on Saturday night.
Following the 52-3 win over the Seminoles in Notre Dame Stadium, Mills gave credit to the viral father and son duo of A.J. & Big Justice for his favorite sack celebration. The dance, which involves a double-armed flex over the shoulders with some toe tapping, started to become popular in sports after it was paired to the duo’s song, “We Bring the Boom.”
Mills, a 6-foot-5, 295-pound graduate senior, and Notre Dame’s defense had plenty of opportunities to celebrate Saturday. The CFP No. 10 Irish (8-1) recorded eight sacks, intercepted two passes, one of which safety Luke Talich returned for a 79-yard touchdown when the backups were in the game late, and limited Florida State to 208 yards of total offense.
“I think as a defense we brought the boom,” Mills said.
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Florida State’s offense felt the doom. The Seminoles (1-9) managed to kick a 23-yard field goal to end a 16-play, 75-yard drive on their opening possession of the game, but they fell apart from there. Florida State punted on its next five possessions before halftime and finished the game with six three-and-outs.
The interceptions came in the second half as Notre Dame’s pass rush started to wear on Florida State’s two-quarterback rotation. Starter Brock Glenn threw both of them, the first of which nickelback Jordan Clark snagged to end FSU’s first drive of the second half. The interception came one play after Mills’ third sack of the game.
Clark credited Notre Dame’s defensive line for pressuring Glenn into throwing a bad pass to tight end Kyle Morlock.
“I didn’t have to work too long or too hard tonight,” Clark said. “All credit to those guys. They work their tail off. [Defensive line] Coach Wash (Al Washington) does such a great job just keeping them ready, keeping them dialed. You saw that tonight. You’ve really seen that all year. They make our job as a secondary really, really easy.”
The job could have become harder for Notre Dame’s defensive line when starting nose tackle Howard Cross III left the game with a left ankle injury early in the second quarter. Mills stepped up immediately with back-to-back sacks in the next two plays after Cross’ injury.
Notre Dame head coach Marcus Freeman described in the postgame press conference Cross’ injury as an ankle sprain. He thought Cross may have been able to come back into the game if needed. But in the moment, Mills didn’t know how seriously Cross may or may not have been hurt.
Earlier in the week, Freeman praised the Mills-Cross duo for playing a big role in Notre Dame’s ability to generate a pass rush despite losing its top two vyper defensive ends, Jordan Botelho and Boubacar Traore. Mills did enough for the two of them Saturday night with five tackles, three sacks and another quarterback hurry.
“When Howard went down, I was just gutted for him, because I know how much he put in this week and how much he makes everyone better,” Mills said. “For me, it kind of gave me a little frustration. We saw our guy go down, which you never want to see. Hopefully, that led to that.
“I just wanted to make sure Howard was OK. He was great after that. He was a leader on the sideline, talked to young guys, talked to me and kind of gave everybody words of encouragement.”
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Junior Donovan Hinish played more with Cross sidelined. He took advantage of the opportunities with five tackles and two sacks of his own. Senior defensive tackle Gabriel Rubio recorded one tackle and batted down a screen pass to make his presence felt.
The rest of Notre Dame’s eight sacks came from junior vyper Junior Tuihalamaka, junior linebacker Jaylen Sneed and a shared sack between freshman defensive end Bryce Young and sophomore linebacker Jaiden Ausberry. The Irish reached eight sacks in a game for the first time since totaling eight against Virginia in 2019.
“Rylie got some individual glory today,” Freeman said. “He got the sacks, but there’s a lot of people that contributed to Rylie having the sacks. You talk about coverage, and you talk about some other guys up front.”
Florida State’s quarterbacks combined to complete just 10 of their 26 passes (38.5%) for 88 yards. Glenn finished 5-of-18 for 51 yards. Luke Kromenhoek was 5-of-8 for 37 yards.
Those numbers aren’t possible without good play in the secondary to complement Notre Dame’s pass rush. But Clark wanted the big fellas to received the glory.
“It was really the D-line,” Clark said. “Honestly, we’d like to take credit for it, but when you got guys pass rushing like Rylie Mills was pass rushing tonight and the rest of those guys, it makes it really easy for us.”
Florida State became the fifth team to fail to reach the 250 yards of offense against Notre Dame this season. Notre Dame hadn’t limited so many teams to so few yards since the 1988 season.
Even though a strong performance was expected against a feeble Florida State offense, the accomplishments for this defense are starting to pile up and add to a College Football Playoff résumé that will be stamped with three more wins.
“I think from the whole defense it was dominant,” Mills said. “That just kind of shows when the front end and the back end are on the same page. When you see the backs covering like they did, it’s hard to get completions on us.
“That’s one of the great things about our defense. We feed off each other. If the D-line’s doing really good, the corners, they’re coming up to us being like, ‘You guys are killing it. This is great.’
“And then vice versa. They’re getting picks, and we’re like, ‘Dude, this is great. Make them hold the ball.’ It works both ways.”
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Florida
Gas prices rise in South Florida amid U.S. and Israel’s conflict with Iran, as the stock market also reports a dip
Four days into the Iranian conflict, gas prices are rising at many stations in South Florida.
“I’ve traveled all over the United States,” says Stacey Williams. CBS Miami spoke to him as he was gassing up on the turnpike. He paid $66 for 20 gallons of diesel to fill his pickup truck. Williams has noted the fluctuations in fuel as he drives to locations for his work on turbines. He just spent three weeks at the Turkey Point Nuclear Power Plant south of Miami.
“The salary we get paid per hour does not add up to what we pay for gas, housing, and food,” he says.
Mitchell Gershon is also dealing with the higher gas prices. He has to fill three vehicles constantly for his business—Thrifty Gypsy, a pop-up store at musical venues. He’s back and forth from Orlando to Miami and says fuel is costing him 20% more. When asked how he handles these fluctuations, he said, “Have a little backup cash so you are ready for it.”
The rise in oil prices contributed to a drop in the stock market on Tuesday, which means some retirement accounts dipped, too. CBS Miami talked to Chad NeSmith, director of investments at Tobias Financial Advisors in Plantation, for perspective on the drop.
“We are seeing most of the pullback today. Yesterday was a shock,” he says. He’s not expecting runaway oil prices but says investors should stay in the loop: “Pay attention to your portfolio. Stick to your goals. Have a plan because these things are completely unpredictable.”
That unpredictability has Williams adjusting his budget. “You just cut back, cut corners, all you can do,” he says.
STARKE, Fla. (AP) — A man convicted of fatally shooting a police officer with his own service weapon during a traffic stop is set to be executed Tuesday evening in Florida.
Billy Leon Kearse, 53, is scheduled to receive a three-drug injection starting at 6 p.m. at Florida State Prison near Starke. Kearse was initially sentenced to death in 1991 after being convicted of first-degree murder and robbery with a firearm.
The Florida Supreme Court found that the trial court failed to give jurors certain information about aggravating circumstances and ordered a new sentencing. Kearse was resentenced to death in 1997.
Kearse awoke at 6:30 a.m. He declined a last meal and has remained compliant throughout the day, corrections spokesman Jordan Kirkland said during a news conference. Kearse met with a spiritual adviser during the day but had no other visitors.
This is Florida’s third execution scheduled for 2026, following a record 19 executions last year. Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis oversaw more executions in a single year in 2025 than any other Florida governor since the death penalty was reinstated in 1976. The highest number before then was eight executions in both 1984 and 2014, under former governors Bob Graham and Rick Scott, respectively.
According to court records, Fort Pierce Police Officer Danny Parrish pulled over Kearse for driving the wrong way on a one-way street in January 1991. When Kearse couldn’t produce a valid driver’s license, Parrish ordered Kearse out of his vehicle and attempted to handcuff him.
A struggle ensued, and Kearse grabbed Parrish’s firearm, prosecutors said. Kearse fired 14 times, striking the officer nine times in the body and four times in his body armor. A nearby taxi driver heard the shots and used Parrish’s radio to call for help.
Parrish was rushed to a nearby hospital, where he died from the gunshot wounds, officials said. Meanwhile, police used license plate information that Parrish had called in before approaching Kearse to identify the attacker’s vehicle and home address, where Kearse was arrested.
Last week, the Florida Supreme Court denied appeals filed by Kearse. His attorneys had argued that he was unconstitutionally deprived of a fair penalty phase and that his intellectual disability makes his execution unconstitutional.
The U.S. Supreme Court rejected Kearse’s final appeals Tuesday afternoon without comment.
A total of 47 people were executed in the U.S. in 2025. Florida led the way with a flurry of death warrants signed by DeSantis, far outpacing Alabama, South Carolina and Texas which each held five executions.
Besides the two Florida executions this year, Texas and Oklahoma have each executed one person so far.
Two more Florida executions have already been scheduled for this month. Michael Lee King, 54, is scheduled to die on March 17, and the execution of James Aren Duckett, 68, is set for March 31.
All Florida executions are carried out via lethal injection using a sedative, a paralytic and a drug that stops the heart, according to the Department of Corrections.
STARKE, Fla. (AP) — A man convicted of fatally shooting a police officer with his own service weapon during a traffic stop is set to be executed Tuesday evening in Florida.
Billy Leon Kearse, 53, is scheduled to receive a three-drug injection starting at 6 p.m. at Florida State Prison near Starke. Kearse was initially sentenced to death in 1991 after being convicted of first-degree murder and robbery with a firearm.
The Florida Supreme Court found that the trial court failed to give jurors certain information about aggravating circumstances and ordered a new sentencing. Kearse was resentenced to death in 1997.
This is Florida’s third execution scheduled for 2026, following a record 19 executions last year. Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis oversaw more executions in a single year in 2025 than any other Florida governor since the death penalty was reinstated in 1976. The highest number before then was eight executions in both 1984 and 2014, under former governors Bob Graham and Rick Scott, respectively.
According to court records, Fort Pierce Police Officer Danny Parrish pulled over Kearse for driving the wrong way on a one-way street in January 1991. When Kearse couldn’t produce a valid driver’s license, Parrish ordered Kearse out of his vehicle and attempted to handcuff him.
A struggle ensued, and Kearse grabbed Parrish’s firearm, prosecutors said. Kearse fired 14 times, striking the officer nine times in the body and four times in his body armor. A nearby taxi driver heard the shots and used Parrish’s radio to call for help.
Parrish was rushed to a nearby hospital, where he died from the gunshot wounds, officials said. Meanwhile, police used license plate information that Parrish had called in before approaching Kearse to identify the attacker’s vehicle and home address, where Kearse was arrested.
Last week, the Florida Supreme Court denied appeals filed by Kearse. His attorneys had argued that he was unconstitutionally deprived of a fair penalty phase and that his intellectual disability makes his execution unconstitutional.
Final appeals were pending Tuesday before the U.S. Supreme Court.
A total of 47 people were executed in the U.S. in 2025. Florida led the way with a flurry of death warrants signed by DeSantis, far outpacing Alabama, South Carolina and Texas which each held five executions.
Besides the two Florida executions this year, Texas and Oklahoma have each executed one person so far.
Two more Florida executions have already been scheduled for this month. Michael Lee King, 54, is scheduled to die on March 17, and the execution of James Aren Duckett, 68, is set for March 31.
All Florida executions are carried out via lethal injection using a sedative, a paralytic and a drug that stops the heart, according to the Department of Corrections.
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