Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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IN THE TRENCHES ANDREW OWENS Three straight weeks in November, the Irish got it to the fourth quarter, be- fore botching the opportunity in every way imaginable: fumbles and intercep- tions, bad holds and pushed kicks. For an extended stretch of Kelly's tenure, Notre Dame has thrived in close games. By the end of the regular season, it just felt like the Irish would find a way to screw it up. If outside observ- ers have that feeling, there must have been some doubt in the players' heads during a month where seemingly ev- erything went wrong. Against the Ti- gers, Notre Dame executed a perfectly laid-out plan of attack from Kelly. "I said, 'Listen, we're going to get you to the fourth quarter. Trust the plan — I'll get you to the fourth quar- ter. I promise you that. Then we have to go make plays,' " Kelly said. "And we made plays. … When you work so hard at something, you need to start to see the benefits of that and they were working hard and preparing hard, but they weren't seeing the benefits of that." With sophomore quarterback Ma- lik Zaire under center for the major- ity of the contest, Kelly played to his strengths. The Irish utilized the read option and sprinkled in jet sweeps and screens to keep the stingy LSU defense off balance. The typical signs of an Irish loss — turnovers, 40-plus pass attempts, etc. — were nonexistent in a clean effort from Notre Dame in its biggest bowl win in more than 20 years. Kelly, however, deflected questions about whether 2015 could bring more of the same. "The most important thing for us today was to win this game," he said. "We had to have a game plan for to- day. We know what we have with both quarterbacks. He's not going to change, so we're going to continue to utilize [him]." With Zaire as the runner and senior quarterback Everett Golson the passer, Notre Dame's offense was efficient, controlled the clock and managed the game without the unit's typical highs and lows. "Life is about these opportunities we get each and every day, and tak- ing advantage of it," Zaire said after his first career start, during which he ran for 96 yards, passed for 96 yards and accounted for two touchdowns (one on the ground and one through the air). Now it's another offseason and an- other offseason controversy under center in South Bend. Many were quick to discard Golson, but the tal- ent is still there if — and it's a big if — he can overcome the turnover woes. Zaire showed he could be a more than competent college quar- terback. Whichever way Kelly and the Irish go at quarterback in 2015, there are plenty of playmakers to go along with an offensive line that should be im- proved next fall. As always in South Bend, chaos is the normal state of being. ✦ Andrew Owens has been a writer for Blue & Gold Illustrated since August 2013. He can be reached at aowens@blueandgold.com