Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/296331
BY ANDREW OWENS W ith the temperature reaching 70 degrees in South Bend for the first time since Oct. 12, 2013, 27,986 fans attended the an- nual Blue-Gold Game at Notre Dame Stadium and watched the offense jump ahead early in a 63-58 win. Sophomore quarterback Malik Zaire stole the show with an excellent per- formance. On the first possession, he engineered a nine-play, 65-yard drive. On the penultimate play of the series, he connected with sophomore wide re- ceiver Will Fuller for a 29-yard gain to the 1-yard line. The next play, senior running back Cam McDaniel reached the end zone. The offense led 53-3 at one point in the second quarter. With a limited num- ber of offensive and defensive linemen, Notre Dame used an offense versus defense scoring system for the second straight year rather than a traditional Blue team versus Gold team format. In the first half, Zaire completed 15 of 19 pass attempts for 259 yards with two touchdowns. He finished with 292 yards on 18-of-27 passing. His senior counter- part, Everett Golson, completed 13 of 23 throws for 160 yards. "There was some development there in terms of where they were at times during the spring," head coach Brian Kelly said. "There was a little bit bet- ter attention to some of the details that they have to have at that position. There was one series where Malik kind of got away from some of the things that we needed to do, but by and large I thought he was fairly consistent. His problem has been consistency of staying with progressions. "Effort [and] pocket awareness were okay. We've still got a ways to go there." With a new defensive coordinator in Brian VanGorder, the Irish kept most of their defensive looks close to their vest. That aspect largely contributed to the early offensive domination. Kelly admit- ted as much after the game. Nonetheless, the defense made a comeback bid in the second half before losing by five points. During the first quarter, the game was overshadowed by the announcement that synthetic turf will be installed at Notre Dame Stadium this offseason. The work will begin May 19 (the day after MAKING MOVES With a strong performance this spring and in the Blue-Gold Game, Malik Zaire is making his case to be the starting quarterback this fall