Blue and Gold Illustrated

IN THE TRENCHES ANDREW OWENS It's unfortunate, but we'll find a way to put it together so we can win foot- ball games with DeShone Kizer as our starting quarterback." Notre Dame appears to have a bona fide stud running back in converted wide receiver C.J. Prosise, who has rushed for 253 yards in two games. With an experienced offensive line and a talented receiving corps highlighted by touchdown machine Will Fuller — will teams ever learn to stop playing him so close to the line of scrimmage? — the tools are there for Kizer to suc- ceed. When asked about Kizer during the weeks leading up to Zaire's season-end- ing injury, Kelly admitted that the soph- omore has steadily developed but is not necessarily ready to engineer a playoff run. He echoed those sentiments fol- lowing the win at Virginia. "I've commented a couple times in our pressers that he can win games for us. I want to win a championship with him," he said. "We saw today he can win games for us. We need to elevate him to that next level. "Now he's going to get first-team reps, and that's what we'll go to work on." Kizer said offensive coordinator/ quarterbacks coach Mike Sanford told him earlier in the day about the 2012 Irish — neither were with the program during the 12-1 season — and the way they went about their business in refus- ing to lose. Notre Dame will no longer be a trendy pick for the College Foot- ball Playoff, but without Zaire under center, the ceiling probably dropped from 12-0 to 10-2. While Kelly rode a sophomore quar- terback to the BCS National Cham- pionship Game three years ago in Golson, that team could rely on its de- fense. With the 2015 version fresh off a shredding courtesy of a mediocre offense, that recipe seems unlikely to work as it did in 2012. "Heck yeah," Kelly bluntly replied when asked if Notre Dame is deep enough to complete its mission with- out four key contributors. "We've lost our starting running back and our starting quarterback. Those are diffi- cult injuries. There's no question. "We've got a lot of really good play- ers around him. DeShone doesn't have to win it himself. We've got to play better defense, and we've got to defend the pass better — but if we play better defense and support DeShone, we can be the kind of football team we hope to be." Kizer seems unlikely to be consumed by the pressure of the position or the situation. He remained poised during a frantic final drive to beat Virginia, so nerves wouldn't figure to be his undo- ing against Georgia Tech or on the road at Clemson. So much is riding on the next three months. Notre Dame is such a veteran- laden group that it almost seems unfair that its destiny largely revolves around the actions of a sophomore signal- caller, but that's where Kelly's squad now finds itself. For better or worse. ✦ Andrew Owens has been a writer for Blue & Gold Illustrated since August 2013. He can be reached at aowens@blueandgold.com

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