Blue and Gold Illustrated

BY ANDREW IVINS W hen Notre Dame's Brian Kelly addressed the media at the start of fall camp, the head coach proclaimed that culture would beat scheme for the Irish in 2015. While the message carried weight at the time for a team that's expected to make a run at the College Football Playoff, what Kelly forgot to mention was that scheme would play just as much of a factor as culture. Notre Dame executed a near-perfect game plan in beating Texas 38-3 to open the season with a statement. Junior quarterback Malik Zaire threw for 313 yards and three touch- downs, freshman running back Josh Adams added a pair of scores and the defense held Texas to just 163 yards of total offense. It was the perfect storm for the Irish, and one that started early in front of a sea of blue, gold and green. "We didn't want to start off with the mentality of it just being the opener," junior linebacker Jaylon Smith said. "We wanted to start off like it was midseason." Notre Dame did just that. The Irish (1-0) raced out to a 14-0 first-quarter lead behind a 16-yard touchdown strike from Zaire to junior wide receiver Will Fuller. The pass from Zaire was simple — a slant to Fuller on third-and-11 — but one that set the stage for a night to remember from the junior quarterback. After freshman kicker Justin Yoon added a 38-yard field goal in the sec- ond quarter to give the Irish a 17-0 halftime lead, Zaire and Fuller contin- ued to connect. The first-year starter responded to a third-quarter field goal from the Longhorns (0-1) with a 66- yard touchdown pass to Fuller and followed it up with a six-yard scoring throw to senior wide receiver Chris Brown. Fuller — who finished the night with a game-high 142 receiving yards on seven catches — was Zaire's top target, but those two were just part of the story for Notre Dame. The rest lay with coordinator Brian VanGorder's defense. Texas entered the night with plenty of question marks on offense, and the Irish didn't give them a chance to find answers. Smith led a front seven that was consistently in the backfield and produced four sacks — a number that matched last year's single-game high. "I think I had one of those," Smith said with a smile. Smith did, but so did true freshman lineman Jerry Tillery, who along with TEXAS BBQ The Irish cook the Longhorns, 38-3, in their season opener

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