It didn’t take long for the Notre Dame Fighting Irish to find themselves out of their game against archrival USC Trojans, seeing their opponent score three touchdowns in the first quarter all the while not being able to put two feet forward themselves.
Playing for the Irish, the fall of Everett Golson was well documented. Throughout his early season success, the quarterback was slowly building him a resume that would have likely landed him in New York as a Heisman Trophy finalist.
But the wheels quickly feel off that wagon, as constant turnovers first ruined Golson’s Heisman’s hopes followed by Notre Dame’s season.
After a perfect first of the season, only a win against the Naval Academy kept the Irish from dropping a goose egg during the second half.
It would be just as easy to blame the defense for the collapse, as only Florida State was unable to score more than 30-points in the final six games but everything falls back on Golson and his inability to hold onto the ball.
Finally, finally, after what seemingly felt like forever Notre Dame Head Coach Brian Kelly had enough of the turnovers and the offensives inability to move the ball and decided to shake things up, turning to backup quarterback Malik Zaire.
The sophomore quarterback entered the game without having thrown a pass at the colligate level but that didn’t stop him from shinning in his first extended bit of playing time. The final stat line wasn’t the most eye popping (9-20 passing, 1 rushing touchdown) but he was the instant spark the struggling offense needed.
In his first series, he didn’t waste any time to move the ball by going 64-yards in just 3-plays. After Greg Bryant ran the ball for four yards, Zaire connected with Chris Brown for 49-yards before finishing the drive himself with an 11-yard run for the touchdown.
Quick, efficient, never put the ball on the ground – the perfect drive.
Known for his ability with his legs, Zaire displayed great poise and authority throwing the football. Despite completing less than 50% of his passes – most was actually due to more than a handful of drops by the receivers – the sophomore threw with good velocity and accuracy.
His legs opened things up for others as well, on Greg Bryant’s longest run of the game. Running the read option, Zaire handed the ball off to Bryant who ended up taking the ball 27-yards on the play. Misreading the play was one of the Trojans’ safeties biting on Zaire keeping the ball, allowing Bryant to get the corner and take off.
I’m not one to play the ‘what-if’ card, hindsight is 20/20 after all, some can be said for Kelly sticking with ‘his guy’, who happened to lead the Irish to the national championship game two years ago.
But it speaks even more volumes of not recognizing when something isn’t working and that the problem isn’t solving itself. A 7-5 finish after a 6-0 start isn’t a recipe for an elongated career in South Bend, no matter what your previous accomplishments were.
It’s not how the Irish would have liked to start the ‘Zaire era’, getting blown out on the road against their arch-rival but nonetheless it began with a bang and a clean slate on the turnover sheet.
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