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...
Well, it's Labor Day...Summer is officially over...I'm okay with that...I'm a Fall kind of guy to begin with, so the heat and humidity can fuck off very much please...
And what comes with Fall? Football! It was great watching the Fighting Irish beat the living shit out of Texas Saturday night 38-3...The Irish defense was pretty dominate...And the Offense, for the most part was able to do whatever they wanted...The O-Line pushed Texas around...Notre Dame picked up 214 yards on the ground, and almost all of that after starting running back Tarean Folston left the game after 3 carries in the first quarter with a torn MCL injury...3 carries, 19 yards, season over...That sucks!
C.J. Prosise, a RB turned WR, was turned back into RB, and put up 98 yards on 20 carries...Freshman Josh Adams added 2 TD's and 49 yards on 5 carries...Fellow Freshman, Dexter Williams picked up 24 yards on 7 carries late in the game...
Much of the talk around Notre Dame coming into this season has been hype about how they feel this is there best group of players, with the most depth...Well, the backfield depth will have to step up and prove that early now...
As for Texas, I thought they would be more competitive this year, but maybe not...The talking heads kept praising Texas QB, Tyrone Swoopes, and going on about his bright future...REALLY? kid completed 7 out of 22 passes for 93 yards...I wasn't impressed...They may want to give the other kid a bit more of a look...
An impressive performance was my HEISMAN DARKHORSE, Irish QB, Malik Zaire who completed 19 of his 22 passes for 313 yards and 3 TD's...
Here's the whole game in under 3 minutes for ya...
Oh, and Texas...When you're getting your ass kicked 38-3, and the game has less than two minutes left...And you make a tackle on the 4th string running back...That's not the time you stand over the guy and taunt him...Coach Strong, you got a lot of work to do with those dolts!
- As for the rest of the College Football action, as usual the first week was filled with mostly big-time teams playing cream-puffs...But there were a couple good ones...Northwestern upset #21 Stanford...#2 TCU wasn't impressive at all against Minnesota...Washington gave #23 Boise State all they could handle...#25 Tennessee woke up in the second half after Bowling Green spent the first half exchanging punches with them...Everyone who has Bowling Green on their schedule better watch out...This team plays fast and hard...They have the speed to run with the so-called "SEC Speed"...
And for the weekend's biggest goose-bumps moment...BYU beating Nebraska 33-28 on a "Hail Mary"...
That's a play that will get ya right in the feels, as my son says!
-Kansas State Marching Band...Listen, I'm a big supporter of marching bands...Christ at out local high school games, people go to see the band, not the football team...(the band could totally take the football team out!) But Kansas State did you really think no one, especially the PC Police wouldn't catch this move?
They are trying to tell everyone that the cock and balls on the right are suppose to be the Starship Enterprise...It's clear that on the left is a rival Kansas Jayhawk...But really, Star Trek? That's no Enterprise....That's a prize about to enter the Jayhawks mouth!
Screw apologizing...You got caught...Admit that you were shitting....Or jizzing on your rival, and own it, you fucking pervs...It's college football, you're suppose to be dicks to your rival!
-As for life here...It's been crazy...The kids will finally start school Tuesday, as their building were under construction...And the wife is back...Last week, I was a single parent as my wife was in Houston doing training for her new job...Other then her having to make a couple trip there each year, it's going to be great for us...On the plus side, she brought me home a sweet Astros cap!
-One last thing...The judge made his ruling...We all Goodell an his ego are going to fight it...Whatever...I don't give a fuck...So, ESPN, FOX Sports, Bleacher Report, SI, and even us at the Gab...Can we please shut the fuck up and never hear or say the words "deflate-gate" again!?!
Just a few days ago it was reported that Notre Dame running back Greg Bryant would be suspended for the first four games of the season...The reason? The ever so popular "undisclosed violation of team rules"....
News has gotten worse for Bryant and the Irish backfield...He has now been declared Academically Ineligible for the 2015 season...
As a Sophomore, Bryant averaged 5.4 yards per carry last season for a total of 289 yards and 3 TD's...He had been battling (RB/WR) C.J. Prosise for the #2 RB job before this...It looks like Prosise just won that battle...Junior Tarean Folston is slated as the #1 RB...
This will have some impact on the team, but I don't think it will be a critical loss...I'm just happy that on occasions, the Irish show that they still have standards...
