Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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ford Nov. 28 to keep alive its playoff dream. That defeat (24-22) came Oct. 3 at Clemson, which is now preparing for the Dec. 31 semifinal as an unde- feated and No. 1 team. Despite the injuries, Notre Dame takes no solace in knowing it came close to finishing in the top four. "I won't tell you that they were jumping up and down when the an- nouncements were made today be- cause they were disappointed that they weren't one of the four teams, but they also want to play one more game together, and this is that opportunity to play one more game together," Kelly said after the Irish were pitted against No. 7 Ohio State (11-1) in the Fiesta Bowl Jan. 1. For each injury, Notre Dame had a capable replacement waiting in the wings. For each Zaire, there was a De- Shone Kizer. Even senior running back C.J. Prosise, a 1,000-yard rusher in his first season at the position, gave way to stellar play by freshman Josh Ad- ams when the former missed most of the final month with injuries. "I love my team," Kelly said after the 38-36 loss at Stanford. "I put this team up against anybody in the country. Fact of the matter is we're not going to get that chance. We get that. We understand it. So it's disappointing, but I'm very proud of our football team." THRILLING FINISHES One-third of Notre Dame's schedule came down to last-minute finishes, with the Irish finishing 2-2 in that de- partment. On Sept. 12, Kizer's 39-yard touch- down pass to junior wide receiver Will Fuller with 12 seconds left lifted the Irish past Virginia in a near upset that could have quickly derailed the sea- son. Zaire went down with a broken ankle earlier in the game, but Kizer's poise stood strong. "Now, DeShone has to run our foot- ball team and we feel good about it," Kelly said after the win. "He's got great weapons around him and we saw that tonight." Kizer finished with 2,600 yards and 19 touchdowns through the air, and added 499 yards and nine scores on the ground as an able replacement for Zaire. It's already difficult to not look ahead to spring practice, when Zaire, Kizer and freshman Brandon Wim- bush will compete for the starting job. Three weeks after the win at Vir- ginia, Notre Dame traveled to Clem- son and played while Hurricane Joaquin poured down on the game's participants. The Irish nearly over- came deficits of 14-0 and 21-3, but a two-point conversion attempt in the final minute fell short of forcing over- time. After a pair of wins at home against eventual ranked opponents — 41-24 versus Navy and 41-31 over USC — the Irish faced adversity on the road again. Temple, at a surprising 7-0, led with mere minutes to play until Kizer against connected with Fuller for the game-winner with 2:09 to play. In a sign of Kizer's comfort despite being a first-year starter, the sopho- more audibled out of a run call to find Fuller for the 17-yard score. "It all comes with experience. When you go out there and you do it once or twice, that's how it's going to end up