Malik Zaire showed he’s more than a runner, picking apart the Texas defense in a dominant performance in his first home start.
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The unranked Longhorns were no match for the 11th-ranked Fighting Irish Saturday night before a raucous Notre Dame Stadium sellout crowd as Notre Dame rolled to a 38-3 victory.
Texas didn’t have a first down until the last minute of the first quarter when Johnathan Gray rushed for 11 yards on his carry and didn’t get into Notre Dame territory until the final minute of the first half. Texas coach Charlie Strong is rebuilding an organization with a youth movement that will still take some time to gel. With the win, Notre Dame improves to 1-0 on the season and Texas falls to 0-1.
All Zaire did against the Horns in a little over three quarters was throw for 313 yards, completing 19-of-22 passes and tossed three touchdown strikes.
Notre Dame’s offensive plan was based on their belief Folston is an all-around back who could run with speed and power, catch passes out of the backfield and block well in pass protection when needed. Josh Adams has made my two veteran running backs better because of his level of play, and that’s across the board.
Notre Dame quarterback Malik Zaire celebrates after running back…
Mike Greenberg, ESPN: Couldn’t tell if Notre Dame is that good or Texas is that bad. I don’t know that you really know for sure until you get the test.
On the opposite side, Texas’ Strong felt his team just didn’t prepare well enough.
“(Texas) had a tough time blocking that group”, Notre Dame coach Brian Kelly said. “So we get the ball to Will vertically down the field where I think a lot of teams sometimes don’t challenge the wide field as much”.
“I think any top notch football program has to be able to call on some of these freshman players that have the mental and physical ability to come in and compete right away, because it creates competition within your program that rises all ships”, Kelly said.
“We believe in Malik and trust in him”, Kelly said.
Notre Dame played well from start to finish against a rebuilding team that only five years ago was in the title game. The first of those two Zaire-to-Fuller touchdowns came on their second possession of the night. However, there will be some bumps and bruises for this young Texas team, and we are going to find out what they are made of real fast playing a night game in South Bend.
Getting into the competition, the Irish’s 882 victories are second all-time in FBS, whereas Texas was one behind in third with 881.
Notre Dame did the Horns a favor by canceling contests in 2019 and 2020. But it took one series to realize these weren’t your father’s Longhorns and Texas was in no condition to compete with Notre Dame despite enormous interest in the matchup. The 5-foot-9, 214-pound junior led the Irish in rushing last season with 889 yards on 175 carries and was expected to get even more chances this season as the only experienced back. He returned later in the game to the sideline on crutches. “His first inclination was to run inside and play physical”.
Freshman running back Josh Adams didn’t hear the thunderous roar of the University of Notre Dame fans after his first collegiate play for the Fighting Irish football team.
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“We have to get better”. Not after Tyrone Swoopes gave the Longhorns a pulse with a 48-yard pass midway through the third quarter to set up a 41-yard field goal (without timeouts from Kelly) by Rose.
