SOUTH BEND, Ind. — Standing outside the visitor’s locker room at Notre Dame Stadium, Chris Polk couldn’t enjoy his best game as a Husky.
Polk, a redshirt freshman, couldn’t celebrate his first 100-yard game as a college running back. Couldn’t smile about the fact that he brushed off defender after defender on his way to 136 rushing yards, 106 of which came in the second half.
Polk, who played every bit like a player who once committed to USC, instead was dejected like the rest of his teammates following the Huskies 37-30 overtime loss to the Irish.
“It really doesn’t matter to me, I’m not a selfish guy,” he said. “There’s no I in team.”
Polk showed considerable toughness breaking numerous tackles, especially in the second half, but it was the tackle — or non-tackle depending on who you ask — that made perhaps the biggest difference in the game. Polk took a third-down carry into the end zone for what was initially ruled a touchdown in the fourth quarter, but replay officials ruled his knee hit the ground before the ball crossed the goal line, giving the Huskies first-and-goal instead of a touchdown. Polk was stopped for a loss on the next play, and the Huskies ended up eventually settling for a field goal.
“It looked good, but there’s no replay in the stadium, so we have to go with what they said,” Huskies coach Steve Sarkisian said.
“If he was down, he was down. We’ve got to call another play. The thing when you look at it from our perspective is that we didn’t get in the end zone after that. And when you have the ball first-and-goal at the 1, you should score a touchdown, and we were not able to do it.”
Like his coach, Polk said he thought he was in, but that he wouldn’t argue if the officials in the replay booth thought he was down.
“I thought I was in, but I guess the eye in the sky saw differently,” he said. “You can’t argue with that.”
And in the end, Polk would have gladly given all of his 136 yards back for one more in that situation.
“If I have 100 yards or 10 yards as long as we win I’m happy with it,” Polk said. “But we lost so I’m obviously not happy with my performance.”
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