Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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www.BLUEANDGOLD.com OCT. 3, 2016 29 Kelly said in his opening statement after the loss. "All of them impact the game: sloppy turnovers, kickoff re- turn for a touchdown and the inabil- ity to mount anything consistently throughout the game." The Irish special teams gave up a 96-yard kick return for a touchdown in the opening quarter, taking away all the momentum they had gained after jumping out to a 14-0 lead. Duke charged back after that return, forcing a quick three-and-out by the Notre Dame offense and then driving 78 yards on eight plays to tie the game at 14-14. Notre Dame countered with a drive of its own, but a missed field goal by sophomore placekicker Justin Yoon kept the game tied. Notre Dame had a first-and-10 at the Duke 21-yard line on that drive, but a three-yard loss by senior running back Tarean Folston and a false start by senior left tackle Mike McGlinchey helped lead to the field goal attempt. It was downhill from there for Notre Dame. Backup quarterback Malik Zaire — who technically started at receiver — was sacked for a 12-yard loss to kill a second-quarter drive with the game tied. Zaire taking a sack in that situation infuriated Kelly. "We sprinted out and moved the pocket for the specific reason that if there's any kind of pressure, you can throw the ball away," Kelly said of the play design. "So, you won't see that again." On Notre Dame's next possession, junior quarterback Kizer dropped the ball without a Duke player touching him, and the Blue Devils recovered it at the Irish 25-yard line and scored a play later to make it 21-14. Kizer's first turnover and the two special teams mistakes are why Kelly chose not to focus on the defense fol- lowing the game. "Those turnovers were deadly and obviously the kickoff return for a touchdown just put us in a tough situation," Kelly said. By the end of the game, the Notre Dame offense had put the ball on the ground four times, losing two of those fumbles. Kizer threw an interception late in the fourth quarter with Notre Dame backed up at its own 5-yard line. Duke took advantage of Kizer 's mistake, starting its game-winning possession at Notre Dame's 45-yard line. Ten players later, Duke place- kicker AJ Reed nailed a 19-yard field goal to give Duke a 38-35 advantage with 1:24 left in the game. After taking a 35-28 lead in the fourth quarter, Notre Dame suffered through Kizer 's pick and could not get anything going on its final drive. "Poor execution. Poor, poor execu- tion," Kelly said of his offense's final two drives. "I like what we called. I liked the looks that we had, and we did a poor job executing." Prior to those two offensive drives, the Irish defense gave up a 64-yard touchdown pass from redshirt fresh- man quarterback Daniel Jones to senior wide receiver Anthony Nash on a blown coverage, which tied the game back up. Notre Dame could not capitalize on its opportunities as much as Duke could, which is why the Irish fell to 1-3 on the season. INCONSISTENT QB PLAY HINDERS IRISH Junior quarterback DeShone Kizer set a career high with 381 passing yards, the second straight week he set a new standard in that category. He also tied for the team lead with 60 rushing yards. NOTRE DAME VS. DUKE QUARTER-BY-QUARTER COMPARISON Notre Dame 1st Qtr. 2nd Qtr. 3rd Qtr. 4th Qtr. 1st Half 2nd Half Total Time of Possession 10:17 6:32 6:10 6:29 16:49 12:39 29:28 Third-Down Conversions 1-3 3-5 0-1 1-3 4-8 1-4 5-12 Fourth-Down Conversions 0-0 0-0 0-0 0-1 0-0 0-1 0-1 Average Field Position ND-32 ND-27 ND-18 ND-20 ND-29 ND-19 ND-25 Duke 1st Qtr. 2nd Qtr. 3rd Qtr. 4th Qtr. 1st Half 2nd Half Final Time of Possession 4:43 8:28 8:50 8:31 13:11 17:21 30:32 Third-Down Conversions 2-3 1-3 1-4 2-4 3-6 3-8 6-14 Fourth-Down Conversions 0-0 0-1 0-0 0-1 0-1 0-1 0-2 Average Field Position DU-22 DU-35 DU-22 DU-45 DU-31 DU-32 DU-32 PLAY CHART (NO. OF PLAYS) Yards ND DU (-) Yards 6 4 0-5 Yards 38 39 6-9 Yards 11 15 10-19 Yards 10 9 20-29 Yards 7 4 30-39 Yards 1 2 40-49 Yards 1 0 50 or more Yards 0 1 RED ZONE EFFICIENCY (INSIDE 20-YARD LINE) No Poss. TD FG Score ND 5 4 0 1 Duke 3 1 1 1 BIG PLAYS (25 YARDS OR MORE) Notre Dame • 3-6 ND29 Kizer pass complete to St. Brown for 26 yards to the DU45 • 2-5 DU44 Kizer pass complete to Stepherson for 44 yards and a touchdown • 2-4 ND41 Kizer pass complete to Hunter for 28 yards to the DU31 • 1-10 ND40 Kizer pass complete to Sanders for 30 yards to the DU30 • 1-10 ND20 Kizer pass complete to St. Brown for 25 yards to the ND45 • 2-7 ND35 Kizer pass complete to Sanders for 27 yards to the DU38 Duke • 1-10 ND25 Jones pass complete to Chambers for 25 yards and a touchdown • 1-10 ND32 Jones pass complete to Nash for 32 yards and a touchdown • 2-10 DU28 Duncan rush for 32 yards to the ND40 • 1-10 DU36 Jones pass complete to Nash for 64 yards and a touchdown Junior quarterback DeShone Kizer threw for a career-best 381 yards, but missed a number of open receivers and struggled with his post-snap decision making. PHOTO BY BILL PANZICA