Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/871976
18 SEPT. 18, 2017 BLUE & GOLD ILLUSTRATED Ohio State's J.T. Barrett and Cardale Jones rushed for a combined 1,244 yards en route to the 2014 national title, defeating Oregon Heisman win- ner Marcus Mariota, who eclipsed 700 rushing yards each of his last three seasons with the Ducks. Clemson rose to elite status this decade first with Tajh Boyd and then Deshaun Watson, who rushed for 1,734 yards and 21 touchdowns the past two seasons while leading the Tigers to the title game both times and their first national championship in 35 years. Even Alabama's Nick Saban, who had more of the conventional pro- style attack, turned to freshman Jalen Hurts last year (2,780 passing and 954 rushing) to lead a 14-0 start be- fore falling in the closing seconds to Watson's team. The man Hurts replaced in the opener was Blake Barnett, who origi- nally committed to Notre Dame, changed his mind, enrolled at Ala- bama and is now playing at Arizona State. Without Barnett reneging, the Fighting Irish probably later that year don't sign Brandon Wimbush, who originally cast his lot with Penn State. THE HEIR By 2015, Kelly had developed con- tinuity in his recruiting where play- ers such as Malik Zaire and DeShone Kizer provided the requisite mobility and overall acumen to run his spread offense. In 2015-16, Kizer rushed for 992 yards, although in the latter season the Irish went through the throes of a 4-8 season. Kizer showcased enough of his skills to become a sec- ond-round draft pick as a junior last spring and earn a starting spot this summer with the Cleveland Browns. In Wimbush, Kelly might have his best combination at quarterback in arm strength, mobility, run threat, leadership and football IQ. His first start, versus Temple this year, pro- duced only the eighth 100-100 game (both passing and rushing for at least 100 yards) in school history. However, Wimbush did not neces- sarily aspire to be a double threat. "I struggle with watching people and then trying to pick some things up from them," Wimbush explained. "Tiger Woods never watched any other golfer because he wanted to be the greatest, and he was like, 'If I watch someone else, then some- thing else might mess me up in what they're doing.'" If Wimbush strives to be a certain type of "labeled" quarterback, it's more in the mold of the Green Bay Packers Aaron Rodgers, if not clas- sic drop-back figures Tom Brady or Peyton Manning. "Those are the guys who last right now in the league, the conventional guys and the drop-back passers," Wimbush said. "But you see Aaron Rodgers who's able to utilize his feet when a play breaks down, so that's what I think I'm able to do and that's what I bring to this team. "… Marcus Mariota he will last a long time [in the NFL], and Watson hopefully the same. They use their feet when they have to. Those guys were throw first, and I think I'm sim- ilar in that context." For his part, Kelly said the "dual threat" is more media driven about demarcating quarterbacks who can do damage as runners from conven- tional pocket passers. "I don't buy into the dual threat [or] pocket passer kind of deal," the head coach said. "I want a guy that has The 100-100 Club In this year's opener against Temple, junior Brandon Wimbush became only the sixth quarterback at Notre Dame to pull off a minimum of 100 passing yards and 100 rushing yards in the same game, and it was the eighth time it happened overall. Here is a chronological list of all the 100-100 efforts: 1. Sept. 22, 1956 — Paul Hornung In 87-degree heat at SMU, the Heisman Trophy winner that season completed 5 of 9 passes for 113 yards, with a 55-yard score to Jim Morse, and rushed for 101 yards on 11 carries — most of it on a 57-yard fake punt for a score. Alas, the Irish lost 19-13, a harbinger to the 2-8 season. 2. Oct. 3, 1970 — Joe Theismann In Notre Dame's first game ever on artificial turf, the Heisman runner-up led Notre Dame to a 29-0 drubbing of Michigan State, the school's first win in East Lansing in its last 10 tries, or since 1949. Theismann completed 12 of 17 passes for 147 yards and added 107 yards on 13 carries. 3. Oct. 1, 1988 — Tony Rice En route to the national title, this 42-14 victory against Stanford was a breakthrough for Rice when he completed 11 of 14 passes for 129 yards and rushed 14 times for 107. Coming into the contest, Rice was only 9-of-27 passing (33.3 percent) through the air, but practiced throwing darts to improve his technique. 4. Oct. 3, 1998 — Jarious Jackson Stanford was the victim again in this 35-17 Irish victory. Making his fourth career start, Jackson com- pleted 11 of 15 passes for 163 yards and rushed 18 times for 100 yards in the second of eight straight wins under second-year head coach Bob Davie, who would later be succeeded by then Cardinal head coach Tyrone Willingham. 5. Oct. 2, 1999 — Jackson Almost a year to the day later, Jackson made history by becoming the first 200-100 performer in a game at Notre Dame when he rallied the Irish from a 30-14 deficit against first-year head coach Bob Stoops' Oklahoma Sooners to a 34-30 triumph. In the rain, Jackson completed 15 of 21 throws for 276 yards and ran 15 times for 107 yards (nearly identical in the latter to Theismann in 1970 and Rice in 1988). 6. Oct. 31, 2015 — DeShone Kizer In the 24-20 victory versus 7-0 Temple — which has had its fill of Notre Dame dual threats at QB — Kizer almost established his own 300-100 club, completing 23 of 36 passes for 299 yards and adding 17 carries for 143 yards for a remarkable 442 yards of total offense. His 79-yard dash off the zone read put Notre Dame ahead 14-10, and his 17-yard TD toss to Will Fuller with 2:09 left was the game-winner. 7. Nov. 28, 2015 — Kizer Another stellar outing by the Kizer this time resulted in a 38-36 loss when Stanford converted a field goal as time elapsed. Kizer completed 13 of 25 passes for 234 yards with a score and ran 16 times for 128 yards, including a go-ahead TD with only 30 seconds left in the contest. 8. Sept. 2, 2017 — Brandon Wimbush His starting debut resulted in 17-of-30 passing for 184 yards and 12 carries for 106 yards. Sixteen more yards through the air by Wimbush would have placed him in the current two-man, 200-100 club. — Lou Somogyi