Blue and Gold Illustrated

THE FIFTH QUARTER LOU SOMOGYI which 313 passing yards were accumu- lated in only 23 attempts, while the run- ning game eclipsed the telling 200-yard barrier (214) despite losing its top run- ner, Tarean Folston, in the first quarter because of a knee injury. The more than two-to-one ratio of runs (52) versus passes (23) might even placate the old guard that yearns for the days when running the ball with effectiveness in myriad ways promotes legitimate championship contention. • The player Kelly said he was most eager to evaluate with his development, junior quarterback Malik Zaire, was the star of the show with his combination of accuracy, football IQ, composure and playmaking attributes. There is no such thing as a flawless performance in a team sport, and for the Irish it included several false starts and other miscommunication on occasion. There was also a question about whether Notre Dame was that good or if Texas is in just too much of a reconstruc- tion mode. After all, the Longhorns fin- ished under .500 last year by concluding with a 48-10 slaughter at home by TCU before compiling a humiliating 59 yards of total offense during its 31-7 bowl loss to Arkansas. Only time will tell if the performance might be looked back on as fool's gold. Nevertheless, Notre Dame performed the way a College Football Playoff con- tender is supposed to in these situations. It started fast with a 14-0 first quarter lead, weathered some setbacks and ad- justed accordingly, and salted the con- test away in the third quarter, allowing it to clear the bench in the fourth. The performance harkened back to another one not from the distant past — the 31-0 rout of Michigan in the previ- ous night game played at Notre Dame Stadium last September. That was the game where the fist- pumping defensive coordinator Brian VanGorder became an instant icon with the first shutout of the Wolverines in 30 years. It also was the game where Everett Golson continued to validate that finally Kelly has "his kind of quarterback" at the throttle. In his second straight start that season, Golson and the offense did not have a single turnover — just like Zaire (now also described as the ideal QB to operate Kelly's offense) has not in his only two starts, first in the Music City Bowl versus LSU, and now Texas. Fortunes eventually changed for both VanGorder and Golson (a top-five Heis- man Trophy candidate through his first eight games) a couple of months later, with the Irish eventually yielding more points than ever before in a season and Golson finishing with 22 turnovers. Still, the wisdom, humility and ex- perience gained last November should provide a compass in 2015 on continued concentration and overcoming inevi- table setbacks, i.e. knee injuries already to senior nose guard Jarron Jones, fresh- man nickel Shaun Crawford and run- ning back Folston. It's the best way to continue avoiding, or delaying, Kelly's complaint depart- ment. ✦ Senior Editor Lou Somogyi has been at Blue & Gold Illustrated since July 1985. He can be reached at lsomogyi@blueandgold.com

• Cover