It's been a rough lead up to the Citrus Bowl for Brian Kelly and the Notre Dame Fighting Irish and things are not improving just yet. Entering the weekend, the team had already suspended three players for the game against LSU and, on cue, a fourth player was suspended for an unspecified violation of team rules.
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This time, the player in question is sophomore running back Deon McIntosh, who joins wide receiver Kevin Stepherson, running back C.J. Holmes and tight end Alize Mack on the shelf for the game. While McIntosh is not a massive name on a national stage, he has been productive to the tune of 368 yards and five touchdowns on the ground this season and, if nothing else, Notre Dame's depth has taken a significant hit.
The duo of Stepherson and Holmes were suspended for shoplifting arrests, while the removal of Mack from the proceedings was less clear in similar fashion to McIntosh. Regardless of reasoning, though, the Irish face an uphill battle against a talented and likely motivated LSU team on a neutral field and the shuffling on the roster before kick-off will do nothing to help Notre Dame in what should be a very interesting match-up between the white lines.
