Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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BY ANDREW OWENS I n one of the most significant games in Temple history, the Owls rose to the occasion against No. 9 Notre Dame. Ultimately, however, the Irish prevailed 24-20 with a late touchdown. Sophomore quarterback DeShone Kizer connected with junior wide re- ceiver Will Fuller on a 17-yard score with 2:09 remaining to put the Irish (7-1) ahead for good and hand Temple (7-1) its first defeat this season. Prior to the snap, Kizer audibled from a designed run play. "Throughout the whole game, I missed quite a few times to throw balls into a Cover 2 area, and this was a per- fect time to unleash it," Kizer said. "I didn't really expect to be in that situ- ation. … They gave us Cover 2, and I knew exactly where to throw the ball." Earlier in the drive, Notre Dame converted on third-and-four at its own 31-yard line with a seven-yard connec- tion between Kizer and Fuller. On the next play, the signal-caller found fresh- man tight end Alizé Jones for a 45-yard gain to set up the game-winning score. "They were playing some zone coverage," Kizer said. "The corner bit down on the No. 1 receiver and opened up a little hole. I threw it in there and Alizé's one of the fastest, most athletic tight ends in the country. If you put the ball in his hands, he's going to make a play." In the fourth quarter, Kizer com- pleted 6 of 7 passes for 97 yards with a touchdown. His lone incompletion was on the final play of the game when the Irish faced a fourth down and decided to have their signal-caller throw the ball out of bounds rather than risk a blocked punt disaster akin to Michigan in its shocking home loss to Michigan State Oct. 17. Senior cornerback KeiVarae Russell intercepted Temple junior quarterback P.J. Walker's pass with 1:08 left to se- cure the win for the Irish. With 12:52 left in the game and the No. 21 Owls facing third-and-goal from the Irish 7-yard line and trail- ing 17-10, Walker 's pass fell incom- plete, but Temple gained a fresh set of downs and the Fighting Irish defense lost a player on a targeting call. Senior safety Elijah Shumate was ejected for the helmet-to-helmet hit and will also miss the first half of Notre Dame's next game at Pittsburgh Nov. 7. "They said it was targeting," head coach Brian Kelly said. "Targeting to me is when you're trying to obviously take someone out, and I thought he led with his shoulder. I'd have to watch it [again]." With Temple's first-and-goal at the 4-yard line, Notre Dame's defense nearly produced a goal-line stand rem- iniscent of the 2012 undefeated regular season. Three runs gained the Owls three yards before junior running back Jahad Thomas scampered into the end zone after receiving a pitch from Walker. Shumate's replacement, senior Nicky Baratti, was in position to stop Thomas short of the goal line, but could not make the open-field tackle. In all, the drive lasted seven minutes and 21 seconds. After forcing a punt, the Owls took the lead with a 36-yard field goal. Walker scrambled 21 yards to move