Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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IN THE TRENCHES ANDREW OWENS transfer. In response, the quarterback tweeted, "Don't believe everything you hear." Many Irish fans have developed a 'Who needs him anyway?' attitude to‑ ward Golson after Zaire expertly ran the Notre Dame offense with 96 yards and one touchdown on the ground, and 96 yards and a score through the air. While Zaire is without a doubt the better runner and operator of the read‑ option offense, Golson still might pres‑ ent head coach Brian Kelly his best op‑ portunity to reach the 10‑win mark in 2015. Golson led the Irish to a 6‑0 record and a near defeat — how might 2014 have played out differently had the of‑ ficial not reached for a flag to negate the Corey Robinson touchdown? — of No. 2 Florida State Oct. 18. He is the better passer and is at his best when improvising. Clearly, the issue with Golson is turn‑ overs — 22 of them during the regular season — and whether his confidence is shaken past the point of return, at least at Notre Dame. If — and it's a big if — he can correct his turnover‑prone ways, he is still the best fit to start at quarterback in 2015. Sure, Zaire managed the offense ef‑ fectively against LSU and displayed what an impressive athlete he is, but he does not possess the passing ability Golson does. On top of that, a glance at the Music City Bowl box score presents another issue. Zaire rushed the ball 22 times against the Tigers. He can get away with that in a one‑time postseason game when Notre Dame doesn't play for another eight months. But expecting him to han‑ dle that type of contact and abuse over a 12‑game schedule with only one bye? It's not realistic. On National Signing Day, Kelly had not been on campus enough — while recruiting and attending the Super Bowl — to gauge the mindset of his quarterbacks weeks after the Music City Bowl. "It will start to be clearer to me when we get with the guys here and begin some of our workouts [in mid‑Febru‑ ary]," he said. "It's going to be a com‑ petitive situation. How they embrace competition will be the first criteria." Just as it is unrealistic to expect Zaire to withstand 20‑plus hits per week dur‑ ing the regular season, it is similarly unlikely that a 50‑50 split of the reps could work throughout a full campaign. What might be ideal for the Irish is to have Golson starting with Zaire coming off the bench in certain situations, to pick up short yardage in the run game and read option or to close out a drive in the red zone. It is difficult to envision a Zaire‑led Irish squad vying for a trip to the Col‑ lege Football Playoff, but Golson dem‑ onstrated that ability through the first seven games before the bottom fell out in 2014. Only time will tell how another offseason quarterback controversy might play out, but it is in Notre Dame's best interest to have both Golson and Zaire on the roster Sept. 5. ✦ Andrew Owens has been a writer for Blue & Gold Illustrated since August 2013. He can be reached at aowens@blueandgold.com