Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/424772
Zaire finished the game 9-of-20 pass- ing for 170 yards. After the loss, Kelly had not yet determined a starter for the bowl game and will instead use the prac- tice sessions to evaluate the position. "I anticipated that being the question, and I really don't have an answer for you," he said. " We tried to get a spark offensively. I think Malik gave us that spark. We had a couple of drops on one drive that could have kept the drive alive. We missed a field goal. I really don't think we punted when he was in the game. "We did some pretty good things. He missed some things in the red zone, which is, for me, anticipated with it being really his first significant time." Zaire had seen the field in only mop- up duty at quarterback this season prior to the regular-season finale. With Notre Dame's 7-5 finish, questions have emerged about the program's future at the position. "Everything in life is about getting the opportunity," Zaire said. "When the opportunity came, I didn't even look at it as a make-or-break point. I looked at it as a way to help the football team. "The only thing moving forward is just being as prepared as I can be for the guys around me. That's who I play for — the guys around me. We have a great squad and a great offensive unit, and the O-line is great and the run- ning backs are great. It's my job to be a distributor and get the ball to all of our great guys." When Zaire entered the game in the second quarter, it was not the lone swap Kelly made, with fifth-year senior right tackle Christian Lombard benched in favor of sophomore Mike McGlinchey. With Zaire — a left-handed quarter- back — in the game and McGlinchey protecting his blind side, Notre Dame allowed just one sack. "Other than the last play where we had a quarterback sack where the ball should have come out of [Zaire's] hand, our quarterback was clean when [Mc- Glinchey] was in there, and that's ob- viously the biggest thing," Kelly said. "When you go to right tackle, you want your quarterback upright. "Initial observation — and again, I haven't watched the film so I can't give you specifics — but when you make a change at the tackle position, your first thought is can you hold up on the edge, • Notre Dame entered the intersectional rivalry against USC on a three-game losing streak for only the second time in 86 meetings. Contrary to this year, the Irish snapped the skid — an eight-game streak — in 1960. • Notre Dame did not intercept USC redshirt junior quarterback Cody Kessler, snapping a string of 14 consecutive games with at least one interception. • Entering the USC game, 668 of 738 (90.5 per- cent) Notre Dame tackles were made by players with remaining eligibility, and only three tackles against USC were made by players that will not return next year: two from fifth-year senior safety Austin Collinsworth and one by senior tight end Ben Koyack (on a Trojans fumble return). • Sophomore middle linebacker Jaylon Smith be- came the first Irish defender to exceed 100 tackles since Manti Te'o made 113 in 2012. Smith cur- rently has 103 after making 14 versus the Trojans. MISCELLANEOUS NOTES