Coach Charlie Strong, who took over the team at the end of Mack Brown’s massively successful career, was thrilled with his players’ outstanding overtime-win against Notre Dame.
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“It was just an impressive win and I was just so happy for the players”. Notre Dame won 35-0 on September 5, 2009, marking only the third time coach Chris Ault’s team was shut out in his 25 years as the Wolf Pack coach. Kelly had the chance to make a change after the bowl game last season and he didn’t. That is obviously going to be an issue when looking at the probable matchup of Darian Hicks and whoever ND runs out to his side. The reality is there’s still a lot of football to be played before Texas can even be considered a contender for the College Football Playoff, or even the Big 12 Championship, for that matter.
Kelly rightfully pointed out that the Irish defense did settle in in the 2nd half, giving the offense an opportunity to make a comeback. But if they play with the same edge and attitude they had against Notre Dame for the rest of the season, then they could prove that they definitely are on the way back.
That’s two stinkers in a row for Notre Dame’s “D”.
While the duo of Nicholson and Cox were strong against Furman, they are going to need to be smart in their play against a QB like Kizer. First-time starters, two of them really at the linebacker position. Texas’ young talent will only get better as the 2016 winds on.
“We evaluate from week to week”.
“This is a great start for us”, Strong said. “So anything that we do from a defensive standpoint has my signature on it”.
Kelly predictably tried to focus on the resiliency his team displayed by coming back from a 31-14 deficit to take a fourth-quarter lead.
But a Texas defense that allowed Notre Dame to run for 203 yards (4.6 ypc) and convert 7-of-15 third downs (45 percent), bowed up as P.J. Locke sacked Kizer on second-and-8, ultimately forcing a punt that helped force OT. It wasn’t against Texas.
Either way, Notre Dame’s safeties will be a concern moving forward.
“You knew (Buechele) could handle it”. Special Teams: Even. C.J. Sanders is a valuable weapon as a punt and kick returner for the Irish, but Nevada is strong in its kicking and return game. “You admit it. I’ve had many times where I go up on my first day of shooting and I’ve got my big scene and I’ve learned that”. But come on. Kizer was much better than Malik Zaire on Sunday night and it could be argued that if he had played more, Notre Dame would have scored enough to beat Texas. I would never get up in front of our team or say publicly, ‘Boy, we’re just trying to keep it close.’ I want to win.
Now, with everything good that happened on Sunday, let’s talk about why Texas isn’t back just yet. Zaire’s three possessions resulted in no points; Kizer produced six touchdowns on his own. I have more confidence in Buechele because of his accuracy and overall demeanor, as well as Gilbert and the offensive coaching staff, but they all still have a challenging road ahead of them.
“Too early to tell”.
Hunter was on the receiving end of a vicious helmet-to-helmet hit in the end zone and promptly removed from the game.
I said it yesterday in the Sunday presser, Kelly has to know who his quarterback is.
Houston made another case for Big 12 admission with its 33-23 upset of OU on Saturday.
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“This kind of thing can be missed by the on-field refs, but now that they introduced this additional layer into it, yeah, I think it was surprising that they didn’t take a look at it”, he said.
