Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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UNDER THE DOME TWO QUARTERBACKS RATHER THAN ONE After three bowl preparation practices, head coach Brian Kelly came to at least one conclusion: He'll play two quarterbacks against LSU. Both senior Everett Golson and sophomore Malik Zaire have received a chance to prove themselves, and the Irish head coach has seen enough positive play from each that he wants to utilize their individual strengths in unison against the Tigers. "It's been great competition," Kelly said following the Dec. 15 practice. "They've both benefited greatly from the last three practices and film time. "I want to play them both because I think both of them have some different traits. We need to find a way to win the game, and I think both of them can help us win." Golson's strengths come largely from his better understanding of Notre Dame's playbook due to having played two full seasons, including this year when he completed 60.1 percent of his passes for 3,355 yards with 29 touchdowns. Zaire, meanwhile, has shown a better grasp of Kelly's read-option schemes than Golson has. Together, Kelly hopes their different approaches may keep LSU on its heels in the Music City Bowl Dec. 30 at Nashville, Tenn. Regardless of how one or the other fares, Kelly fully expects to play both extensively. With that said, if one were to come out playing perfectly, Kelly would have a difficult time removing him from the game. "I don't know if I've ever gone into a game with he's only go- ing to play this amount regardless," Kelly said. "You try to get a feel for it. There are some things that we clearly know that one quarterback does better than the other. We'll go to those strengths regardless of the situation." Playing both a right-handed (Golson) and a left-handed (Zaire) quarterback could present some protection difficulties, but LSU does not have a blitz-heavy defense, so Kelly said he is not as concerned about that as he would be if the Irish were set to face a blitz-happy team such as Arizona State, for example. "They just put their hand in the dirt," he said. "They just go play. I don't think it's going to cause them much [of an issue], but there are teams where this would cause a little bit more of an issue." LSU may not cause too much havoc in that sense, but some opponents next year may, and that is of note since Kelly said he would not eliminate the possibility of a two-quarterback system in 2015. "I'm open really to anything at this point," he said. "We want to put the best football team, the best offense, that we can put on the field. Ideally, you'd like to have one, but if we've got two, then that's what we'll do. We'll see how this plays out, and then evaluate it as we move forward. "I haven't ruled out any kind of scenario." — Douglas Farmer The read option is sophomore quar- terback Malik Zaire's forte, but he also passed for 170 yards in just more than a half of action in the 49-14 loss at USC in the regular- season finale. PHOTO BY BILL PANZICA