Notre Dame coach bristles when asked about his players faking injuries vs. UGA

Notre Dame coach Brian Kelly seemed offended on Sunday when he was asked about two of his players faking injuries to slow down UGA’s momentum in the loss to the Bulldogs.

On the questionable play in the third quarter, the UGA offense was quickly moving down the field when Notre Dame linebacker Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah got up after a play and was walking slowly off the field. His teammate, Alohi Gilman, pushed Owusu down after appearing to get instructions from the Notre Dame bench.

The sly tactic, caught on tape by CBS, worked as the officials called timeout – which provided a much-needed breather for the Notre Dame defense. UGA ultimately settled for a field goal.

Kelly gave a terse response when asked about the fake injury in his Sunday conference call:

“Owusu was evaluated for a concussion. He was brought to the tent. So, that’s hard to be booing at a young man who suffered an evaluation for a concussion.

“Quite honestly, Georgia doesn’t play very fast, so I found that to be quite interesting there would be a number of questions on something like that.”

But Notre Dame wasn’t finished with the alleged fake injuries. Later in the game, linebacker Asmar Bilal appeared to purposely walk into Fromm after a play – with Bilal immediately dropping to the ground in an NBA-like flop that would make legendary flopper Vlade Divac very proud.

Fromm was visibly frustrated with the flop, and CBS broadcasters even suggested that officials could flag Notre Dame for unsportsmanlike conduct.

Kelly’s explanation on Sunday: “Then the other one (Bilal) was cramping.”

Bilal was treated with eye drops after his flop.

“Again, it’s a non-issue. It happens in college football all of the time. Guys go down and they’ve got to be administered to. I’ve seen games against us where there have been many, many more, so I’m not even sure why you’re asking the question.”

So Notre Dame blatantly just faked an injury. pic.twitter.com/OCWycBRjej

— Connor O'Gara (@cjogara) September 22, 2019

Second assumed faked injury of the night for Notre Dame. (CBS) pic.twitter.com/8GJSn3FJnZ

— Pep Talk Sports (@PepTalkSports) September 22, 2019