Kelly believes No. 8 Irish can vie for title with QB Kizer

Notre Dame, which was averaging 23 shots per game prior to today’s match, got off just nine shots but was the first team to outshoot the Wolverines this season, limiting U-M to three shots. Above all else, while he didn’t even play a full half of football, Kizer’s final line of 8-12 for 92 yards, two touchdowns, and a passer rating of 186.1 was enough to give Kelly confidence in his new starter going forward.

Starting quarterback Malik Zaire suffered a fractured ankle and is done for the season, Irish coach Brian Kelly announced after the game. They’re happy, but they lost a kid they feel really strongly about. “For whatever reason, probably miscommunication, the receiver got behind us”, London said. He said Kizer’s package is geared more toward the pass, but he can run as well.

“That last drive our offense put together was pretty special”, Johns said. Prosise, who some believe is the fastest guy on the team, had the most rushing yards by a Notre Dame player since Cierre Wood’s 191 in the 2011 Purdue game.

Clemson will host Notre Dame in Death Valley on 10/3/15.

Kelly said each of the Irish quarterbacks has a list of their top 10 pass and runs plays.

“We were largely ineffective in our short yardage run game”. The most important came on his 4-yard scoring run to cap Auburn’s first possession in overtime. After falling behind 12-0 entering the second, quarterback Matt Johns connected with Evan Butts for a two-yard touchdown pass after a 75-yard drive. That moxie may have been surprising to those that haven’t seen Kizer in action (99 percent of us), but it wasn’t to Kelly. “(We’ll) play to the strengths of what we have around the quarterback”.

The Irish registered their third straight 2-0 victory on Sunday, which was also their sixth shutout in eight matches this season. The 4th quarter the Cavs tore up the Irish defense. The separated shoulder injury forced South Carolina to roll with Perry Orth, who had shown some good glimpses in the season opener as well in relief of a banged up Mitch.

Notre Dame is coming off a last-second come-from-behind victory where the Irish had to rally past the Virginia Cavaliers after losing starting quarterback Malik Zaire to a season-ending ankle injury.

Zaire had a solid day as a dual threat, throwing for 115 yards and a touchdown and running for 87 yards on 10 carries.

“We’ll do some things a little bit differently with him than we did with Malik”, Kelly said.

“Those are hard injuries. The program moved to an incredible 361-1-1 when taking a two-goal lead, and it will enter Atlantic Coast Conference play undefeated.

“We are not going to make any excuses for where we are”, Kelly said. Just says a lot about the resolve of the group we have out there. Players like Fuller and C.J. Prosise will likely have to step up for the Irish offense if they wish to continue success.

The Woodberry Forest alum carried the ball seven times for 64 yards against a defensive front that could not plug in running gaps.

“I told him, ‘I trust you. I was very pleased with the progress from game one to game two”. “At first it was hard moving into something new, but now I think I’ve got what I need to succeed in the position”.