Here’s the thing, though, about the “Notre Dame doesn’t have talented players on defense” narrative. Pro Football Focus had Notre Dame down for 24 missed tackles on Sunday night.
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But there was so much more going on. The touchdown clinched Texas’ first win over a top 10 opponent since 2008 and their first win in a season-opener since 1980. Those instincts were on display late in the 4th quarter with Texas driving and the game tied at 37 and Studstill jumped a pass in the flat that had been killing Notre Dame all night. Swoopes carried 13 times for 53 yards in the 18-wheeler package (he’s No. 18), looking like a bigger version of Blake Bell and OU’s Belldozer of yesteryear.
That adjustment was vital to Notre Dame getting the game to overtime. “Having said that, I’m proud of the resiliency they showed on the road down 17 points in the second half. They had so much confidence in one another”. Junior D’Onta Foreman exploded for 131 yards and a touchdown against the Fighting Irish, while senior quarterback Tyrone Swoopes scored three touchdowns on the ground. With Buechele, always with a freshman you don’t know how they will perform the first game.
“Just unfortunate that it wasn’t officiated or reviewed in a manner that I thought it should have been”, Kelly said, adding that his exchange with the officials following the play was “heated”. Jones’ 11th career 100-yard game marked an impressive return after missing the final 10 games of 2015 with a foot injury. There is good talent and depth at receiver, too, so that could be a problem for an Irish defense that was exposed against Shane Buechele and the Texas passing attack.
Notre Dame’s running backs looked good Sunday night. Some players were in tears as they left the field in Austin. Instead, they answered all the adversity.
The way in which the second-stringer remains involved is determined by the player. In visible pain, Hunter received attention from trainers several minutes after the play.
If Notre Dame indeed moves forward with Kizer as its No. 1 quarterback, Kelly said he’ll need to see his backup (in this case, Zaire) approach that role with the right kind of attitude. The two sophomores combined for eight catches, 130 yards and three touchdowns. Linebacker Malik Jefferson anchored a stout Texas defense, seemingly everywhere on the field at all times.
After those two awesome drives from the schools the defense woke up a bit especially for texas while Zaire was quarterback who only threw 2 completions for six yards against the Texas D. At Halftime the ratings grew larger as UT held a 21-14 lead over ND. Without Hunter, Notre Dame went on to complete just 3 of 7 passes for 48 yards over the course of the fourth quarter and two overtimes.
And then it was Swoopes sealing the deal in OT.
“To get people to believe in you, you have to give people a reason”, Strong said. “We wanted make a statement and we did”.
When Kelly announced in mid-August that he was committing to a QB tag team for the season opener, he also was emphatic he was open-minded as to how long it would last and where it might lead. After a house-cleaning that resembled UTEP coach Sean Kugler’s early days, Texas won three straight to close the 2014 regular season, then got pounded by Arkansas in a bowl.
No one knows that like Perrin, who played defensive end for Darrell Royal.
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Or the Houston Cougars making the statement that it can play with the best the conference has to offer, sits in a key city in the heart of Big 12 country, a city that is one of the prime recruiting areas in America?
