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DeShone Kizer game-winning TD lifts Notre Dame past Virginia (Video)

By Patrick Schmidt

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Notre Dame lost their quarterback to injury and then looked like they would lose to Virginia and any chance of earning a berth in the College Football Playoff.

The Notre Dame Fighting Irish trailed 14-12 at halftime to Virginia and things only proceeded to get worse for Brian Kelly’s team in the second half.

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Notre Dame lost starting quarterback Malik Zaire to a severe ankle injury in the third quarter and he had to be carted to the locker room for further evaluation after he was 7-of-18 passing for 115 yards and a touchdown.

DeShone Kizer came in to replace the injured Zaire who couldn’t put any pressure on his right ankle and looked a bit shaky until the final drive. Kizer looked calm and collected as he led the Irish to the game-winning touchdown with 12 seconds left in the game as Will Fuller came down with the grab to avoid the upset and ending the Irish’s chance of making the College Football Playoff.

Moving forward, the biggest problem for Notre Dame may not be replacing Zaire, but rather their defense that couldn’t slow down Virginia quarterback Matt Johns who was 25-of-37 passing for 278 yards and two touchdowns and added a touchdown run.

The Irish defense we thought would be so good in the preseason and saw dominate Texas in Week 1 has a lot to improve on before playing Georgia Tech on Saturday and Clemson in two weeks and USC in six weeks.

It’ll be interesting to see how long Zaire will be out with his injury and how Kizer fares in the weeks ahead when the competition will be much more challenging, but Notre Dame can take a deep breath after avoiding a huge loss on the field.

But then again, they did lose Zaire which may end their chances of a Playoff anyway.

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