Irish Romp Past Outmanned Nevada

DeShon Kizer passed for two touchdowns, ran for one and pitched to Tarean Folston on an option play for another as Notre Dame rolled past Nevada by 39-10 on Saturday. The Irish overcame a shaky, mistake-filled start to dominate the line of scrimmage and stuff the Wolfpack attack until Brent Zuzo hit a field goal 41 minutes into the game. The victory lifts Notre Dame’s record to 1-1, but the loss of starting cornerback Shaun Crawford to a season-ending Achilles injury put a bit of a damper on the day.

After a series of penalties and missteps to begin the contest, the Irish finally opened the scoring early in the second quarter on a short field goal by Justin Yoon. The floodgates opened and Kizer led the hosts to touchdowns on three of the next four series, the last of which extended the lead to 25-0 with only seconds remaining in the half. A notable play during that stretch was an interception by defensive tackle Jarron Jones on a screen pass inside the Nevada ten yard line.

Notre Dame continued to have success in the third period, as a 43-yard burst by Josh Adams keyed an 85-yard touchdown march. Kizer departed at that point after completing 15 of 18 passes for 156 yards, with one interception on an underthrown deep ball. Malik Zaire took over at the helm with the Irish ahead by 32-3, and he immediately led a scoring drive that was capped by a Dexter Williams dive into the end zone. The Wolfpack added their lone touchdown in the final moments against the Irish reserves.

Let’s review the answers to the pregame questions:

Can Kizer’s receivers do a credible job even if Hunter is not in the lineup? Hunter did not play, but C.J. Sanders, Equanimeous St. Brown and Kevin Stepherson each had multiple receptions and played quite well.

Will Nevada be able to sustain a balanced attack or must they abandon the run early? The Irish pulled away in the second quarter and forced Nevada to open it up, but quarterback Tyler Stewart was not up to the task.

Can the Notre Dame secondary tighten up and prevent the big play? There were a couple of shaky plays and Crawford went down on one of them, but they coverage was definitely improved until Nick Coleman blew an assignment late in the fourth quarter to set up Nevada’s only touchdown.

Will the Irish defensive linemen be able to make plays in the backfield? Notre Dame had good pressure on the pocket and a few blitzes worked very nicely, but the Wolfpack line was not especially good.

Can Sanders and the special teams make some noise? A Sanders punt return to the Nevada 25 set up the first Irish score, and the Wolfpack handed Notre Dame two points on the ensuing kickoff when the return man exited the end zone before crossing back to take a knee.

When will ND deploy its own Texas-sized cannon and Jumbotron to assault and alienate the fan base? Not this week, but stay tuned.

The Irish return to the real world next week when the Michigan State Spartans come to town. This win was definitely needed to restore confidence to the defense and provide traction for both the offensive line and wide receiving corps.

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15 thoughts on “Irish Romp Past Outmanned Nevada

  1. Game turned out about as expected. Loss of Crawford hurts. Real test is next week against Michigan State which can not necessarily make the season, but can definitely break it.

  2. A good, boring confidence builder against a clearly inferior team after a bad beginning.

    Losing Crawford is a bummer.

    MSU is – MSU. I was in Turkey in 1966 serving in the military when that game was played and I remember finding out the score by asking someone in Yalova.

    That was the year the defense gave up 38 points.

    In 10 games.

  3. Brian Polian looks just like coach Kelly, and he hopes to become the coach at ND someday, sometime in the next 20 years.

    You saw it here first.

    And he is a good coach.

  4. Brian Polian’s record at Nevada in 3 years there is 19 wins, 21 losses. Chris Ault, the previous coach at Nevada had a much better win percentage than that. Mr. Polian may be a good guy and all but I wouldn’t call that a good coach yet. He is unproven.

  5. Surprised at lack of chatter about Sanders. That kid is deadly! If he keeps his current trajectory he is going to be extremely special. Receivers as a group really stepped up for absence of Hunter, who I was very glad did not play. D looked better but not sure what to make of that given Nevada’s talent level. BVG lives another week I guess.

    Good confidence boost and experience builder. Glad Zaire played and had success. Hopefully the Lads have a good week. I feel better about Sparty.

    • Sanders showed he was electric at times last year and clearly is taking the next step. I am excited we have a weapon who could take any screen pass or punt return to the house. During the Spring and into summer work outs I thought Kizer would be the guy but Kelly would utilize Zaire in short down and red zone type situations ala Leak/Tebow from years back. I would love to see some of that if Kizer cannot convert in the red zone efficiently.

  6. Was the big 12 instant replay group that got suspended due to their gross error in theOklahoma State game the same group that mishandled Tori Hunter’s helmet to helmut hit that they didn’t review?

  7. Coleman did not blow a coverage, he fell down. A cannon would be a welcome addition to scare some of the fans to stand up and yell!

  8. Glad to see that Corey Robinson was elected student body president…But we could also use him as the No. 1 or 2 wide receiver.

  9. Jake from Ohio (not State Farm) says:

    Defense improved, but I am troubled by one stat: zero sacks. This is going to be a problem, especially with the youth in the secondary needing a consistent pass rush to help it out. We did get some pressure but if BVG’s complex blitz scheme doesn’t make it home against Nevada, I am not seeing it being effective against any other team’s on our schedule.