Right there was the moment when many of us Notre Dame fans said, "Shit! There goes the season!" Actually I yelled "Mother Fucker" when watching the replay that made it look pretty clear that Irish QB, Malik Zaire's season was done...
The Irish offense seemed out of sink for much of Saturday's game with Virginia...And I wasn't thrilled with the defense's play, especially in the second half...At the end of this run, Zaire had racked up 87 yards on 10 carries for the day...He was 7 for 18 in the passing game for 115 yards and a TD...Not quite the performance many of us were expecting after his excellent showing against Texas...But Zaire is the guy...The coaches love him...His teammates love him...He talent is very clear...So ND Nation has hung our collective hat on this kid...
So when coach Brian Kelly confirmed after the game that Zaire had a fractured ankle and would miss the rest of the season, a week after starting running back Tarean Folson's season was ended with a knee injury, hopes of winning season, and making the palyoffs seem harder to imagine...There has been a lot of talk of Notre Dame's depth, but at this rate how long will the depth hold up?
Enter Sophomore QB, DeShone Kizer...Kizer who stepped in Saturday to complete 8 of 12 passes for 92 yards and 2 TD's...One coming on a fake field goal, and the other a 40 yard, last minute, game winning TD pass to Will Fuller...Pulling out a 34-27 win...
Kizer is 6-4, 230 lb. dual-threat QB from Toledo, Ohio...Coming out of High School Tom Lemming had him ranked as the 40th best player in the nation...He saw no game time last year, and got a bit of mop-up duty during the Texas game...He has a seriously strong arm, but seems to need to learn some touch...Also, while the dual-threat QB is nice, and opens up more of the playbook, they also have a better chance of getting hurt, just like Zaire...
The offense rallied around Kizer at the end...Hopefully they won't miss a beat, but I think this season just got a bit tougher...
No comments:
Post a Comment