Brian Kelly went into this year’s opener against Texas planning to play both quarterbacks, but the game quickly turned into a one-man show.
Advertisement
Kelly blamed the 50-47 double overtime loss to the 11th-ranked Longhorns to an inability by the Fighting Irish to finish the game off on offense, defense or special teams. His performance was a thing of beauty as he punished any defender who got in his path. The possibility of an upset, the kind the Longhorns pulled off against Notre Dame, is one of the sweetest victories in sports.
The Miner offensive line proved they could hang with Arkansas past year, but clearly Texas might be a different beast upfront defensively. “Kizer has that same arm strength to attack down the field and can make winning throws on the move”, Zierlein wrote. “From that I’ve definitely developed into someone that I wanted to be for this season”. The seventh-year Irish coach interested in big-picture critiques after one game, and his message is that his team’s defense will ultimately be fine. You had an excellent profile of Polian before the season started, but what’s his tenure been like in Reno? “That Notre Dame game, it means nothing right now”.
Kizer’s 2017 NFL Draft stock is reportedly “soaring”, and he is already becoming viewed as one of the top quarterback prospects in the country should he declare for the draft following the 2016 season, according to Bleacher Report’s Matt Miller.
“Actually, the offensive line was one of our better groups”. Jones racked up 249 yards on a career-high 31 carries with a pair of scores against New Mexico State. I will fully allow him to step in and say the things he needs to say because he understands the offense just as much as me.
Meanwhile, the unit was much more stagnant with Zaire behind center. He added that Texas had “decent pace” at times on Sunday. The Miners’ 38 points were the most to open a season against an FBS program since 1965.
Even if you are a passionate Notre Dame fan, and were disgusted with the end result, there was no way you could deny the entertainment value of Sunday’s game.
With that, the competition between Kizer and Malik Zaire came to an end, at least for now. And would have made flawless sense after last season, when Kizer was 8-3 as the starter and showed the makings of a future National Football League quarterback while Zaire nursed a broken ankle. So we had a lot of young guys that got their first start. When the extra point got blocked to turn a potential three-point lead into a tie game, the energy in the stadium and on the sidelines would have completely deflated.
Watching Notre Dame block Texas’ point after attempt with 3:29 remaining in the game, which would have given the Horns a three-point lead, and then for Shaun Crawford to return it all the way for the rare, game-tying “2-pointer” was brilliant theater.
Bedford said Notre Dame utilized the same strategy that Kansas State did past year. Ohio State is No. 4 and MI is No. 5. “These guys have probably dreamed of playing for Texas growing up”. “Just situation of the game, whatever was going on”.
Advertisement
Hunter is now undergoing concussion protocol back in South Bend, Ind., and his status for Notre Dame’s home opener against Nevada on Saturday is unclear.
