Notre Dame fans stormed field during COVID-19. Here’s what Dabo, Kelly said about it
Saturday’s Clemson-Notre Dame game was played in front of a pandemic-reduced crowd of 11,011.
And at least a few thousand of them — most likely students — stormed the field afterward, jamming together and making it hard for both teams to get to their respective locker rooms.
It was a moment that Notre Dame head coach Brian Kelly was prepared for, he told reporters afterward. The No. 4 Irish won the game 47-40 in double overtime over the No. 1 Tigers.
“When they stormed the field you got a sense of a special moment at Notre Dame,” Kelly said. “I told our team in our walk-thru today, I said, ‘Listen, when we win this thing, the fans are going to storm the field. With COVID being as it is, we’ve gotta get off the field and get to the tunnel.’ Now I beat them all to the tunnel, so that didn’t go over so good.”
Clemson coach Dabo Swinney said, who was shown on TV trying to navigate his way off the field, said he didn’t have a problem with the celebration that came as new COVID-19 case counts are surging across the United States.
“It was an epic game, emotional game,” Swinney said. “They were excited for their team.”
The state of Indiana alone reported a record 5,007 new COVID cases on Saturday. “The virus spread is accelerating,” the Indianapolis Star reported.
This story was originally published November 8, 2020 at 1:04 AM.
