Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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54 SEPT. 16, 2023 BLUE & GOLD ILLUSTRATED I n the midst of pregame warm-ups against Texas, there was a temporary flashback to Sept. 9, 2000. That was the day No. 1 Nebraska's "Sea of Red" fa n s p a c k e d i n a b o u t 30,000 strong in Notre Dame Stadium, leading to a chant of "Husker Home Game!" before surviving in overtime against the in- spired Fighting Irish. The Texas brigade of b u r n t o ra n ge t h i s yea r wasn't quite as conspicu- ous, but still fairly promi- nent and detected by Notre Dame head coach Brian Kelly, who acknowledged that it did disturb him. "A little bit, quite hon- estly," he said of the droves of Texas fans wearing the team colors mainly in the south and east side of Notre Dame Sta- dium. "In pregame, you're looking around and you see it, and then it just kind of closes in after that. But I was just … prob- ably looking for something to complain about at that time, because I had no play- ers to get on or anything like that." The Irish players were at such an emo- tional peak to get the season started with a flourish that Kelly stated the team meal took about "two and a half minutes." There wasn't much to kvetch about during the game either, a 38-3 Notre Dame rout. Virtually all the boxes of championship football were checked: • Zero turnovers. • Domination from both sides of the line. • The fewest yards of total offense allowed (163) in his six seasons at Notre Dame by the Irish defense, while espe- cially excelling on the "money down," meaning the Longhorns were 2 of 13 on third-down conversion attempts. • An ideal showing on offense in which 313 passing yards were accumu- lated in only 23 attempts, while the run- ning game eclipsed the telling 200-yard barrier (214) despite losing its top run- ner, Tarean Folston, in the first quarter because of a knee injury. The more than 2-to-1 ratio of runs (52) versus passes might even placate the old guard that yearns for the days when running the ball with effective- ness in myriad ways promotes legiti- mate championship contention. • The player Kelly said he was most eager to evaluate with his development, junior quarterback Malik Zaire, was the star of the show with his combination of accuracy, football IQ , composure and play-making attributes. There is no such thing as a flawless performance in a team sport, and for the Irish it included several false starts and other miscommunication on occasion. There was also a question about whether Notre Dame was that good or if Texas is in just too much of a recon- struction mode. After all, the Long- horns finished under .500 last year by concluding with a 48-10 slaughter at home by TCU before compiling a hu- miliating 59 yards of total offense dur- ing its 31-7 bowl loss to Arkansas. Only time will tell if the performance might be looked back on as fool's gold. Nevertheless, Notre Dame performed the way a College Football Playoff con- tender is supposed to in these situations. It started fast with a 14-0 first quarter lead, weathered some setbacks and ad- justed accordingly, and salted the contest away in the third quarter, allowing it to clear the bench in the fourth. The performance har- kened back to another one not from the distant past — the 31-0 rout of Michigan in the previ- ous night game played at Notre Dame Stadium last September. That was the game where the fist-pumping defensive coordinator Brian VanGorder became an instant icon with the first shutout of the Wol- verines in 30 years. It also was the game where Everett Golson continued to validate that finally Kelly has "his kind of quarterback" at the throttle. In his second straight start that season, Golson and the offense did not have a single turnover — just like Zaire (now also described as the ideal QB to oper- ate Kelly's offense) has not in his only two starts, first in the Music City Bowl versus LSU, and now Texas. Fortunes eventually changed for both VanGorder and Golson (a top-five Heis- man Trophy candidate through his first eight games) a couple of months later, with the Irish eventually yielding more points than ever before in a season and Golson finishing with 22 turnovers. Still, the wisdom, humility and ex- perience gained last November should provide a compass in 2015 on continued concentration and overcoming inevi- table setbacks, e.g., knee injuries al- ready to senior nose guard Jarron Jones, freshman nickel Shaun Crawford and running back Tarean Folston. It's the best way to continue avoiding, or delaying, Kelly's complaint depart- ment. ✦ Just like in the 31-0 win over Michigan in 2014, the 38-3 drubbing of Texas led by quar- terback Malik Zaire provided early optimism for Fighting Irish fans in 2015. PHOTO BY BILL PANZICA BEST OF THE FIFTH QUARTER ✦ LOU SOMOGYI ✦ SEPT. 14, 2015 Complaint Department Minimal In Rout Of Texas EDITOR'S NOTE: The late, great Lou Somogyi possessed an unmatched knowledge of Notre Dame football, and it was his mission in life to share it with others. Those of us at Blue & Gold Illustrated would like to continue to provide his wis- dom and unique perspective from his more than 37 years covering the Fighting Irish for this publication.