College football: Notre Dame suspends another player before Citrus Bowl

No. 14 Notre Dame has suspended a third player for the Citrus Bowl against No. 17 Louisiana State.

Junior tight end Alize Mack, who received considerable playing time this year after missing the 2016 season because of academic issues, will miss the Jan. 1 game against the Tigers because of “an internal team matter,” coach Brian Kelly said Thursday. He did not disclose details but said the punishment is limited to the game in Orlando, Fla.

Already indefinitely suspended for the Fighting Irish are sophomore wide receiver Kevin Stepherson and freshman running back C.J. Holmes, who were arrested on shoplifting charges last week at a mall near South Bend, Ind.

“If I could explain 18- to 20-year-olds and their thought process after being in [this career] for 27 years, I’d have written that book already,” Kelly said of Stepherson and Holmes. “We try to expose our kids to the foundational principals of making good decisions. They broke one of our commandments — you can’t steal and they did. I can tolerate a lot of things but I can’t tolerate stealing.”

Kelly said he was still considering the length of the suspensions for Holmes, who saw limited action in eight games, and Stepherson, who caught 19 passes for 359 yards and five touchdowns after missing the first four games as punishment for off-field issues.

Gasparilla Bowl

Frank Nutile threw for 254 yards and a touchdown to lead Temple to a 28-3 victory over Florida International at St. Petersburg, Fla.

Nutile teamed with Isaiah Wright on 45-yard touchdown in the fourth quarter and also scored on a four-yard run to give the Owls (7-6) an early lead.

The victory was the fourth in five games for Temple, which rebounded from a 3-5 start to finish with a winning record in its first season under coach Geoff Collins.

FIU (8-5) matched a school record for victories in its first year under Butch Davis, the former Miami, North Carolina and Cleveland Browns coach.

Etc.

Kent State named Sean Lewis, Syracuse’s co-offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach the last two seasons, as its head coach. Lewis, 31, takes over a Kent State program that went 2-10 last season and won only 14 games in five years under Paul Haynes. ... The NCAA granted additional eligibility for North Carolina linebacker Allen Artis, who missed most of the 2016 season amid charges of sexual battery and assault on a female student. Those charges were dismissed and his attorney told the Associated Press on Thursday that the NCAA granted an appeal this week allowing Artis to play the 2018 season.