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
Florida man charged with plotting to bomb New York Stock Exchange
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Florida
‘I feel like Bin Laden,’ Florida man arrested by FBI for planning to bomb NYSE to 'reboot' US government
A Florida man has been arrested and charged in connection with a plot to bomb the New York Stock Exchange in an effort to “reboot” the US government, according to the FBI.
Harun Abdul-Malik Yener, 30, from Coral Springs, Florida, was charged with attempting to use an explosive device to damage or destroy a building involved in interstate commerce.
The FBI began investigating Yener in February after receiving a tip that he was storing materials related to bomb-making in a storage unit. Agents searched the area after obtaining a search warrant. They found “bomb-making sketches, numerous watches with timers electronic circuit boards and other electronics that can be utilised to build bombs.
According to the FBI, Yener had also been conducting online searches about bomb-making since 2017.
In March, Yener admitted to authorities during questioning that he had knowledge of making “rockets” and “bombs” and had previously tried to join a “domestic extremist group.” He also revealed that in 2015, he had considered travelling to Iraq to join ISIS but ultimately decided against it because he doubted the group’s ability to meet its objectives.
Yener allegedly told undercover FBI agents that he planned to detonate the bomb during the week before Thanksgiving, targeting the New York Stock Exchange in lower Manhattan. Court documents state that his goal was to “reboot” the US government.
‘I feel like Bin Laden’
“There is one place that would be hella easy… the stock exchange, that would be a great hit. Tons of people would support it. They would see it and think dude, this guy makes sense, they are [profanity] robbing us. So that’s perfect,” he told the agent.
“I feel like Bin Laden,” he told the undercover agent.
Weeks before his arrest, Yener had modified two-way radios to function as remote triggers for explosives. He also planned to wear a disguise while planting the device, according to court filings.
Yener appeared in court on Wednesday afternoon, where it was decided he would remain in custody while awaiting trial.
(With inputs from agencies)
Florida
USC Trojans In Recruiting Battling With Florida, Texas For Four-Star Joseph Mbatchou
With the early national signing period approaching quickly, the USC Trojans have been working hard on the recruiting process. The Trojans have lost some key recruits but gained some big names. One target to watch for is defensive lineman Joseph Mbatchou, who is set to visit USC on Nov. 30.
Mbatchou is a class of 2025 four-star defensive lineman playing for Grayson (Ga.). On3 ranks Mbatchou as the No. 22 defensive lineman in the nation and the No. 36 player from Georgia. The four-star recruit was once committed to the Florida Gators but re-opened his recruitment in October.
Mbatchou is predicted to commit to the Texas Longhorns, but after another visit with the Florida Gators, Florida has jumped into the top two. The Auburn Tigers have also been a top team in the running for the four-star recruit. One last school to watch out for is the USC Trojans.
Mbatchou is considering visiting the USC Trojans on Nov. 30, when they face the Notre Dame Fighting Irish in the final regular-season game. Mbatchou announced this visit in October and is still considering it. As he narrowed down his decision, there was a chance he would no longer meet with USC, but the official visit is still set.
On3 ranks the USC Trojans class of 2025 as No. 13 in the nation and No. 4 in the Big Ten. Though they may have lost a couple of big names, they were able to flip five-star quarterback Husan Longstreet after a big push for him.
USC coach Lincoln Riley and the Trojans’ staff must work hard to flip Mbatchou. The visit will be the most important way to convince the four-star recruit, as that is how Florida rose back into the top two. Visiting USC during the final weekend of November could help the Trojans with the game being right before national signing day.
Mbatchou is expected to make his decision during the early signing period. Texas is the top prediction for now, but expect the USC Trojans to make a final push for the four-star defensive lineman.
This week, USC will take on the UCLA Bruins at the Rose Bowl on Saturday, Nov. 23. The game will be broadcast on NBC and kickoff is at 7:30 p.m.
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