The Notre Dame football team suffered a major blow this past weekend against Virginia when it lost starting quarterback Malik Zaire, who fractured his ankle after a Virginia defender rolled up on it. But this is what the Irish have prepared for – anything that comes their way, no matter how unfortunate it may be. “I honestly believe, I have all the confidence in the world in my ability to be the quarterback for Notre Dame“. Then what happened in week 2 was possibly the most shocking thing we’ve seen this season, as FCS Jacksonville State took Auburn to overtime before the Tigers prevailed.
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While Virginia is now 0-2 on the season, the team is hoping to build on their improvements they’ve made, despite the two losses, and move ahead with a renewed motivation to win. Notre Dame coach Brian Kelly admitted Tuesday that he does indeed analyze situations, for example, losing three offensive starters to injury in 120 minutes of football, but the reality is that many times only bad luck can be deduced from something.
Kizer, like Zaire before him, has some mobility, so there remains a package of read option plays with C.J. Prosise to keep the defense guessing. He also has prototypical QB size: “6’4 ½”, 230 pounds. Kelly was sure to point out that he was recruited to this brand of the Notre Dame offense, so the game plan should not have to change that much.
“It’s kind of one of those things where we can’t handcuff him and baby him”, Kelly added. He said players just need to understand and perform their assignments. “I expected I would be very nervous when the time came”. Kizer is a dual-threat quarterback that has a live arm, good mobility and can make quick decisions under pressure. “He’s going to go out there being very confident”.
Kizer knows taking care of the ball is a priority. Zaire was impressive against Texas in the 38-3 win for Notre Dame, but now he is done for the year and gives way to Kizer as the team starts a tough run on the schedule. All but one of the Jackets – B-back Patrick Skov, who played there with Stanford – have never played a game there. Kelly said freshman quarterback Brandon Wimbush, the backup to Kizer, will play this season.
Was Kizer even nervous going into the game? So it’s not as if he’s unprepared for the moment.
On the game-winning drive – one that covered 80 yards in eight plays in 1:42 – the former All-Ohioan, who quarterbacked Central Catholic to the Division II state championship in 2012, was 5-for-7 for 76 yards. Is Notre Dame still a legitimate College Football Playoff contender? “We always really focus on the block of eight-that’s our back four and our four midfielders”.
Here are the results of the last week’s Irish match-ups. But what SportsLine’s simulations viewed as slight advantages against Clemson and Stanford have now become oh-so-slight disadvantages.
As programs such as Virginia try to turn themselves around, the deal with Notre Dame has taken one of the biggest advantages the Cavaliers have – an abundance of private school talent nearby – and given it to the Irish. He committed a huge blunder in hiring George O’Leary in 2001, who was fired just a week later after it was discovered he lied on his resume.
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After getting off to a rough start, the Irish volleyball team (4-5), led by first-year head coach Jim McLaughlin, logged a few wins in their first home tournament of the season.
