Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/594735
TURNING POINT For the third time this season and the 13th time in Brian Kelly's six years at Notre Dame, the Irish rallied to victory after trailing in the fourth quarter. Trailing 20-17 after a 37-yard Temple field goal with 4:45 left in the game, sophomore quarterback DeShone Kizer and the Irish offense responded with a 75-yard drive that took only six plays and culminated with a 17-yard touch- down pass from Kizer to junior wideout Will Fuller with 2:09 remaining. From his 31 and facing third-and-four, Kizer completed a seven-yard toss to Fuller, and then followed with a perfectly placed 45-yard completion to freshman tight end Alizé Jones on a corner route. The drive had a similar feel to the 80-yard march at Virginia Sept. 12 when the Irish prevailed 34-27 in the closing seconds. STAT OF THE GAME Sophomore quarterback DeShone Kizer's 442 yards of total offense — 299 passing and 143 rushing — were the seventh-most by an individual in a Notre Dame game, with Joe Theismann's 512 (526 passing and minus-14 rushing) in the 38-28 loss at USC in 1970 still the most. More notable is Kizer joined Jarious Jackson as only the second Fighting Irish quarterback to pass for more than 200 yards in a game while also eclips- ing the 100-yard rushing mark. Jackson passed for 276 and ran for 107 in a 34-30, comeback victory at home versus Oklahoma in 1999. Kizer had 110 rushing yards in the first half, highlighted by a 79-yard touchdown run to put Notre Dame ahead 14-10. He then had 165 passing yards in the second half, with his 17-yard touchdown strike to junior Will Fuller the game-winner with only 2:09 left in the game. NOTRE DAME ALREADY IN 'PLAYOFF' March Madness requires a college basketball teams to survive and advance while winning six straight games to capture the title. From that perspective, instead of talking about College Football Playoff possibilities and style points this November, it might be wiser for Notre Dame to look at the next month as already being in playoff mode. Win, and you are still in the conversation. Lose, and you are eliminated from champi- onship talk. Just like in March, four wins would put you in the Final Four. Unlike in the tournament format, the Fighting Irish don't necessarily control their own destiny. Style points might indeed factor into the College Football Playoff equation at the end, but concentrating on that could negatively affect the foremost goal of first winning the game. THREE OBSERVATIONS BY LOU SOMOGYI