Georgia Tech QB Justin Thomas was not holding the ball here. He had handed the ball off to Broderick Snoddy out of the triple option. He was just standing around, minding his own business. Notre Dame DL Romeo Okwara blew him up like he was leaping toward the end zone:
This is nothing besides a cheap shot: There was no tactical reason to hit Thomas, as he didn't have the ball. There was no deception on the handoff, so it's not like Okwara was tricked into thinking he had the ball. Thomas was facing in the opposite direction, so there's no way he could've protected himself from the hit. This was just a player trying to hurt another player, and that's dirty as hell.
Luckily, karma exists, so this run play went for 48 yards and the penalty for unnecessary roughness moved the ball halfway to the goal. Georgia Tech scored on the next play.
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