When the next Rudy is scripted, they may as well use yesterday’s game as the template for it played out with the cinematic highs and lows that would have been seen as implausible if they hadn’t played out on national television. When Malik Zaire broke his right ankle late in the third quarter, the game, which the Irish never put out-of-reach, swung in favor of the Virginia host, whose players and crowd brayed for literal Irish blood. When the Cavaliers took the lead, 27-26 on an Albert Reif run with 1:54 to go, hopes for a win and, to many, for the season, appeared shattered.

Fortunately, DeShone Kizer was not in that hopeless number. The literal “next man in,” Kizer connected with Will Fuller on a forty-plus yard pass. Kizer made the play possible by avoiding two Virginia pass-rushers and Fuller gave him a target by beating the coverage and staying on his feet to make a basket-catch at the near left pylon with :12 on the clock. Kizer then completed the two-point conversion with his feet to deflate the raucous crowd.

Fuller put on a clinic against the Cavaliers and his name is finally entering the national discussion. After torching Texas, he should have been more on the radar of the Cavalier defense but far too often, and fatally for them on the game’s penultimate scoring play, he was yards behind the nearest defender and his hands were too sure. His two touchdowns give him four on the season.

The Irish were double-digit favorites, coming off a near-perfect performance the week before against Texas. The Cavaliers were coming off a loss at UCLA and were without two starting offensive linemen so the ease with which the Irish offense moved the ball in the first half was not surprising, though they were unable to convert drives into touchdowns without resorting to chicanery. It was all Justin Yoon, who connected from 32 and 45 yards following a perfectly-design fake field goal  which saw holder DeShone Kizer flip the ball, technically a pass, to a streaking Durham Smythe who then rumbled unmolested into the end zone. Who said Tight End University was dead?

There was rot in the Irish game, though, as they failed to build on their 12 points and allowed Virginia to move the ball effectively and eventually take a 14-12 lead into the half. The Irish were awful on third down, going 0-10 for the game. On the defensive side of the ball, the Irish weren’t much better, as the Cavaliers went 6-15 on third down and 1-1 on fourth down conversions. As a whole, Brian VanGorder’s defense was a mess, looking far too confused and inept given its maturity, experience, and supposed familiarity with the system. They were abused by Virginia’s Canaan Severin and failed to get that kind of harassing pressure on quarterback Matt Johns they brought to bear against Texas. Whether his players were looking ahead to Georgia Tech or were basking in the glow of the win over Texas, Brian VanGorder needs to quickly right the ship.

On offense, for Zaire, it was a game of two halves. He was mostly ineffective in the first and showed little of the precision he did against Texas. In the second, he was better, connecting on a 59 yard pass to Will Fuller for a touchdown and running the ball himself for a superb 39 yard carry. He finished the game having gone 7-18 for 115 yards and a touchdown and a QBR of 56.9. Kizer went 8-12 for 92 yards and two touchdowns and a QBR of 75.1.

Losing Zaire may have dashed any realistic dreams for a National Championship. His loss begs several questions: how many more starters can the Irish lose for the season? How big is the leadership gap between Zaire and Kizer? Finding those answers will test Brian Kelly most of all, who now must develop a rapport with a new signal caller, modify the offense, and get the locker room to rally.

If there was a bright spot, it was the running game. Notre Dame finished with a total of 253 yards on 34 carries, half of which were by C.J. Prosise. Prosise certainly delivered on the promise and praise with which he had been slathered by the coaching staff in the off season, ending the day with 155 yards and one touchdown.

The Irish will need to coalesce around those bright spots in the coming days if they are to see through a schedule that is suddenly more fraught with peril. Leadership will get them there and, thankfully, Notre Dame has that in abundance. There is depth at most positions and there is experience, both among the players and the staff, such that close wins like yesterday’s may be more a sign of strength, à la 2012, than of weakness, à la, well, you pick the season.

The post Kizer You Say? Notre Dame Tops Virginia 34-27 appeared first on Her Loyal Sons.

Malik may never fully escape the shadow of Everett Golson, who was himself impressive in his fresh start at Florida State. Golson’s influence at Notre Dame was impossibly blown out of proportion as he played, over the years, the roles of sainted savior, lost sheep, and hapless hero. His backup, Zaire was thrown into the boil via last year’s Music City Bowl, where he shone a light bright enough to ultimately show the once starter the road to Tallahassee.

Last night, however, Zaire was the brightest star in a whirling constellation that baffled Charlie Strong’s players and fell in brilliant swaths from the magic wands of Coaches Kelly and VanGorder. Witness Zaire’s 86.6% pass completion rate that garnered him the most perfect-performance since Steve Beuerlein. Zaire had as many touchdowns, three, as incompletions and was as comfortable firing short- or mid-range darts as he was directing sixty-yard strikes. Notre Dame’s defensive scheme stymied Texas, resulting in four sacks of the two Texas quarterbacks.

If there was a surprise last night, it was the flash off Josh Adams, a freshman running back who was the “next man in” after Tarean Folston went down with a knee injury. C.J. Prosise carried the load for the Irish, collecting 98 yards on 20 carries, but Adams exploded on the scene with two touchdowns, the second of which was a brilliant twenty-five yard run. He finished the night with 49 yards on 5 carries.

Jaylon Smith and the defense overpowered Texas from the opening whistle. Smith was everywhere, collecting seven tackles and one sack. Joe Schmidt had six tackles. Jerry Tillery, the freshman converted offensive lineman, picked up the first sack in his career. Overall, Texas managed a mere 60 yards on the ground and neither quarterback ever looked comfortable.

The opposite was true for Notre Dame. The offensive line, four veterans and the monster Mike McGlinchey, held its shape throughout the game and gave Zaire textbook-perfect pockets in which to pick his receivers. They opened yawning holes for the running game and the coaches responded, calling 52 rushing plays that netted 214 yards.

On this Sunday morning, it is easy to question whether Texas, beset by youth and in year two of the Charlie strong era, was just bad enough to make Notre Dame look as good. Answering that question, though, can be done by looking at what the Irish got right. There were few false starts and none that you could blame on a fidgety signal-caller. There were no turnovers. No ill-timed routes or errant passes into space frustrated scoring opportunities. If anything, a strong argument can be made that the Irish played pretty close to perfect and most teams would have been pressed to keep up.

Notre Dame’s performance is all the more impressive as it came in an opening weekend that exposed the lie that is the thirteen game season. As the Irish were taking Texas apart, LSU and McNeese State huddled under awnings and away from a lightening storm that engulfed Death Valley. After some hours, the decision was made to call the whole thing off. The game will not be replayed, so that LSU, a favorite to win the SEC West, will “only” play twelve games this year. Just like Notre Dame. As so many teams either open against a tomato can or schedule at least one during the season, the notion that thirteen games is somehow a standard to be followed just melted away.

For today, Irish fans should enjoy the moment. Leave for tomorrow the questions of where do we go from here.

The post Magic Malik: The Irish Impress, 38-3 appeared first on Her Loyal Sons.

The Fighting Irish Spring 2014 Roster at Wide Receiver looked like this, with Daniels added in:

The first thing that jumps out at you is that we have a kid named Buster. After that, it’s the position’s youth. DaVaris is our only senior. Though players like Corey Robinson and CJ Prosise flashed tantalizing tidbits of their promise, there is no other “proven” commodity at the position than DaVaris. His six reception performance against Alabama was one of few bright spots for an over-matched Irish squad.

Now, when you look at WR production in the last two seasons, you see how far ahead of his peers DaVaris really is:

2013
[table “” not found /]

2012
[table “” not found /]

TJ Jones was the statistical leader in 2013 and 2012, with Daniels taking second-place behind him. You see, though, a huge gape between DaVaris and the next-ranked Irish player. If, as has been written previously, this is the season where Kelly conjures the offensive magic from his Cincinnati days, Daniels is going to be a key component of whatever formula is put on the board. The ‘Bama highlights evidence a clear chemistry between Golson and Daniels, though Golson’s targeting him was, at times, reckless in the extreme. Perhaps the return of these two prodigal players will help them as much as it will Irish expectations.

The post Daniels Adds Depth, But Was Anything There? appeared first on Her Loyal Sons.