Notre Dame Loses Rylie Mills When It Needs Him Most: Key Impact Analysis

Rylie Mills’ untimely loss leaves a major void for Notre Dame’s defense before the biggest game of the season.

Notre Dame defensive lineman Rylie Mills (99) and linebacker Jack Kiser (24) celebrate a sack by Mills during a NCAA college football game between Notre Dame and Stanford at Notre Dame Stadium on Saturday, Oct. 12, 2024, in South Bend. / MICHAEL CLUBB/SOUTH BEND TRIBUNE / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

Notre Dame needs all the help up front it can get against Georgia

Notre Dame received brutal news today as it has been confirmed that standout defensive lineman Rylie Mills will miss the remainder of the CFP due to a knee injury sustained in the Indiana game.

News like this would always hit a fan base like a ton of bricks, but this hit even harder considering who the Irish's next opponent is.

Georgia would love nothing more than to protect its new QB Gunner Stockton from having to be a hero in this game by being able to move Notre Dame in the run game behind their massive offensive line which features multiple players well over the 320-pound mark.

Everything just became a bit easier for Kirby Smart and his Bulldogs with the news that Notre Dame will be without its main cog in the interior.

How will Notre Dame adjust its lineup and approach?

Notre Dame is now playing without Mills, Boubacar Traore, and Jason Onye along the defensive front. Gabe Rubio and Howard Cross are available and, even so, both have battled injury this year as well. So what will Notre Dame do to try and compensate for this latest round of bad injury news?

Rubio and Donovan Hinish must step up and play their hearts out. It's their time and moment now to step up and fill this role. It'll be interesting to see schematically how Al Golden will choose to adapt to this new and frustrating dynamic.

Will the Irish need to commit more bodies to the line of scrimmage and count on the back end of the defense to hold their own on an island all night? Possibly. Is this asking a lot of Notre Dame's secondary? It sure is, but this is the strength of Notre Dame's defense and if you can count on any group to survive this kind of fight, it'd be this group.

While this news is quite brutal, this is football. Notre Dame has had many next man up moments this year and succeeded through them now comes the latest and biggest.

For more Irish news & notes follow John on Twitter @alwaysirishINC, Always Irish on Youtube and or your preferred audio podcast provider.

Notre Dame Steps Up for Heavyweight Clash Against Georgia in the CFP

Marcus Freeman Earned Notre Dame's First CFP Victory The Hard Way

Marcus Freeman Adds His Name To Notre Dame History Books

Notre Dame's Defense Dominates as Garbage Time Points Prove Irrelevant