Blue and Gold Illustrated

his nine carries, we would not have been surprised by a Texas upset. Instead, the Irish offensive line asserted itself, and the depth that head coach Brian Kelly has lauded was manifested with exceptionally hard running between the tackles by senior C.J. Prosise (20 carries for 98 yards), whose surge allowed for much yardage after initial contact, and 49 yards and two touchdowns on just five carries by fresh- man Josh Adams, possibly the top surprise in the rookie class. The line particularly adjusted well in the second half to the constant movement by the Longhorns front. After rushing for 86 yards and 3.7 yards per carry in the first half, Notre Dame wore down the Longhorns with 128 rushing yards at a clip of 4.4 yards per carry after the intermission. ADVANTAGE: Notre Dame NOTRE DAME PASSING GAME VS. TEXAS PASS DEFENSE Zaire put on a clinic while making virtually every thrown behind excellent protection, knowing when he had to put zip on the ball and balancing it with touch when needed. He was particularly effective across the middle, highlighted by his 16-yard scoring toss to junior Will Fuller (seven catches for 142 yards and two touchdowns) on third-and-11, and went through his progressions with aplomb. Zaire's debut in Notre Dame Stadium was our stat of the game. ADVANTAGE: Notre Dame SPECIAL TEAMS For a spell in the second half, it looked like special teams snafus by the Irish — a missed 45-yard field goal, a fumbled punt by freshman CJ Sanders that teammate Torii Hunter Jr. recovered and fifth-year senior Amir Carlisle returning a kickoff only to his 10 — were going to affect them. But they balanced out with good punt and kick coverage, a 38-yard field goal by Justin Yoon and quality punting by sophomore Tyler Newsome, who placed three of his four punts inside the 20. His first kickoff went out of bounds, giving Texas good field position, but he recovered thereafter. ADVANTAGE: Even THIRD-DOWN CONVERSIONS Two crucial third-down plays set the tone. With the game scoreless in the first quarter and the Irish facing third-and-11 from the Texas 16, Zaire rifled a perfect bullet across the middle to Fuller in the end zone for the score. On the next series with Texas fac- ing third-and-one from its 44, running back D'Onta Foreman was thrown for a loss while trying to go up the middle. Those consecutive possessions reflected Notre Dame's dominance in this area, where it was 8 of 14 (57.1 percent) compared to Texas' anemic 2 of 13 (15.4 percent). ADVANTAGE: Notre Dame TURNOVERS In two starts under Zaire, last year's Music City Bowl win versus LSU and now Texas, Notre Dame did not commit a turnover. The Irish didn't turn it over in their first two games last year either before the deluge hit. To Texas' credit, it didn't have any turnovers either despite being under constant harassment from de- fensive coordinator Brian VanGorder's troops. ADVANTAGE: Even ANALYSIS Everything begins with line play, and Notre Dame was clearly superior on both sides of the line of scrimmage. Zaire's threat as a runner was barely needed, but it helped open up avenues in the pass- ing game that he was able to consistently exploit. The wealth was spread liberally, and a Texas of- fense that was rendered helpless at the end of last season was going to be hard pressed to come back without being able to run the ball. No turnovers by the Irish and special teams work that kept Texas bottled up deep aided the cause. ON PAPER REVISITED BY LOU SOMOGYI

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