Irish’s DuBose Will Miss 2 Games : Notre Dame: NCAA cites loan from boosters. School says it will go along with the ruling.

SOUTH BEND, Ind. — Notre Dame linebacker Demetrius DuBose was suspended by the NCAA Tuesday for two games for accepting money from Notre Dame boosters.

Athletic Director Dick Rosenthal said DuBose will miss the season opener Saturday at Northwestern and the Sept. 12 game against Michigan.

Rosenthal said DuBose and the university accept the ruling.

Notre Dame received informal notice of the suspension Tuesday, while an official letter from the NCAA is expected Wednesday, sports information director John Heisler said.

The NCAA, ruling in the wake of recent reports in the Los Angeles Times, said that DuBose’s relationship with Grant and Rose Courtney of Seattle violated NCAA rules when he accepted a $600 personal loan and other benefits from them, Rosenthal said in a statement.

“The details involving the case are unique and include a friendship between Demetrius and the Courtneys that began more than a year before he became a prospective student-athlete,” Rosenthal said.

Coach Lou Holtz was taping his weekly radio show and was not immediately available for comment.

Grant Courtney earned a graduate degree from Notre Dame. The couple earned undergraduate degrees from Harvard.

Courtney is president of the Western Washington Notre Dame Alumni Club, and his wife is a former Notre Dame admissions officer. DuBose grew up in Seattle.

“Their relationship was born from the Courtneys’ interest in Demetrius’ academic development, and we can see how it was possible for the Courtneys and Demetrius to have made an error in judgment,” Rosenthal said.

Another report in both The Times and the Seattle Times said that DuBose obtained a $25,000 car loan from a Washington state bank, using his prospects as a future pro as leverage to obtain the loan, which is scheduled to be paid back in January.

“The NCAA has investigated this transaction and has indicated that it does not violate its amateur provisions,” he said.

DuBose’s name didn’t appear on the depth chart for the Northwestern game. He has practiced little for the opener, and will be replaced by Pete Bercich.

“That’s life,” Holtz said earlier Tuesday. “Somebody’s got to pick up the rifle and keep marching.”