A Season With

SOUTH BEND, Ind. -- Malik Zaire showed he's more than a runner, picking apart the Texas defense in a dominant performance in his first home start. Zaire threw for 313 yards and three touchdowns, and No. 11 Notre Dame held Texas to 163 yards of total offense in a 38-3 victory Saturday night. Zaire was 19-of-22 passing, an 86.6 percent completion rate that was second-best in school history. Steve Beuerlein completed 10 of 11 passes against Colorado in 1984, a 90.9 percent completion rate. Ten of those passes went for 15 yards or more. "He threw precision routes," Kelly said. "We knew what he was capable of. I think he put it together tonight, and he has room to grow." Zaire credited his line. "They gave me some great protection. The receivers did a good job catching the ball. The whole team collectively as a unit did a great job," he said. Texas coach Charlie Strong said his defense didn't do enough to pressure Zaire. "We just gave him too much time to throw it and they have really outstanding receivers," Strong said. "When you allow him the time and he can find him, which he did, he's going to make those throws." Will Fuller caught a pair of touchdown passes -- one a 66-yarder -- and finished with 142 yards receiving. Chris Brown added a 6-yard touchdown catch. Freshman Josh Adams ran for a pair of TDs, including 14-yard score on his first career carry, and C.J. Prosise added 98 yards rushing on 20 carries. Kelly said Tarean Folston, the leading rusher from last season, sustained an injury to his right knee. He didn't immediately know the severity. Notre Dame took advantage of an inexperienced Longhorns squad starting three players who were in high school a year ago, amassing 527 yards of total offense. "We've got to get more consistent with stopping the run. We'd have one stop, two stops, and every now and then there would be an explosive play," Texas defensive end Naashon Hughes said. The Irish had seven runs of 10 yards or more,

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. -- Notre Dame keeps winning games and losing players. Whether the ninth-ranked Fighting Irish can keep it up will depend on whether their replacements keep putting forth golden efforts. Quarterback DeShone Kizer came in for the injured Malik Zaire and threw a 40-yard touchdown pass to Will Fuller with 12 seconds left Saturday as the No. 9 Irish beat Virginia 34-27. EDITOR'S PICKS Breaking down DeShone Kizer'€™s game-winning throw Notre Dame had just lost its leader, but in a moment when the Irish most needed a big play, they'd found a quarterback worthy of the starting job. Backup QB leads Notre Dame to dramatic win over Virginia Notre Dame backup QB DeShone Kizer engineered a dramatic final drive, capped by a 39-yard touchdown throw to Will Fuller with 12 seconds left. The stunning victory was "bittersweet," Notre Dame coach Brian Kelly said. Zaire will miss the rest of the season with a fractured ankle, making it the second week in a row that a player expected to help carry the offense went down and his replacement stepped in and starred. "Now, Deshone has to run our football team and we feel good about it," Kelley said, even as he acknowledged that Kizer lacks experience. "He's got great weapons around him and we saw that tonight," Kelly said. The Fighting Irish (2-0) lost top running back Tarean Folston last week against Texas, and found a strong backup in C.J. Prosise, who ran for 155 yards, including a 24-yard touchdown, against Virginia. Notre Dame squandered a 26-14 lead and fell behind when Virginia (0-2) scored with 1:54 remaining. With Zaire out, Kizer came to the rescue on the final drive. He ran 4 yards for a first down on fourth-and-2 from the Notre Dame 28, and later found the speedy Fuller behind Maurice Canady. Fuller said he got Canady to bite on a double move, allowing him to run free. "When I beat him and I saw the ball in the air, it was like it was up there for a million years," Fuller said.

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. -- Notre Dame keeps winning games and losing players. Whether the ninth-ranked Fighting Irish can keep it up will depend on whether their replacements keep putting forth golden efforts. Quarterback DeShone Kizer came in for the injured Malik Zaire and threw a 40-yard touchdown pass to Will Fuller with 12 seconds left Saturday as the No. 9 Irish beat Virginia 34-27. EDITOR'S PICKS Breaking down DeShone Kizer'€™s game-winning throw Notre Dame had just lost its leader, but in a moment when the Irish most needed a big play, they'd found a quarterback worthy of the starting job. Backup QB leads Notre Dame to dramatic win over Virginia Notre Dame backup QB DeShone Kizer engineered a dramatic final drive, capped by a 39-yard touchdown throw to Will Fuller with 12 seconds left. The stunning victory was "bittersweet," Notre Dame coach Brian Kelly said. Zaire will miss the rest of the season with a fractured ankle, making it the second week in a row that a player expected to help carry the offense went down and his replacement stepped in and starred. "Now, Deshone has to run our football team and we feel good about it," Kelley said, even as he acknowledged that Kizer lacks experience. "He's got great weapons around him and we saw that tonight," Kelly said. The Fighting Irish (2-0) lost top running back Tarean Folston last week against Texas, and found a strong backup in C.J. Prosise, who ran for 155 yards, including a 24-yard touchdown, against Virginia. Notre Dame squandered a 26-14 lead and fell behind when Virginia (0-2) scored with 1:54 remaining. With Zaire out, Kizer came to the rescue on the final drive. He ran 4 yards for a first down on fourth-and-2 from the Notre Dame 28, and later found the speedy Fuller behind Maurice Canady. Fuller said he got Canady to bite on a double move, allowing him to run free. "When I beat him and I saw the ball in the air, it was like it was up there for a million years," Fuller said.

SOUTH BEND, Ind. -- Notre Dame punter Tyler Newsome pinned back Massachusetts, and returner C.J. Sanders got the sixth-ranked Fighting Irish going. After Newsome placed a 52-yard punt on the Massachusetts 1, the Fighting Irish defense held the Minutemen to a yard on three plays and Sanders answered with a 50-yard punt return that helped spark Notre Dame to the 62-27 victory Saturday. Sanders cut at the 35 to avoid two Minutemen and made another cut at the 10 before racing into the end zone with 3:21 left in the first half to give the Irish a 28-20 lead. "The special team work was outstanding," said Notre Dame coach Brian Kelly, pointing out Sanders especially. "He's a very shifty runner. He's got great vision. It was a big play. It gave us momentum, certainly." EDITOR'S PICKS Notre Dame runs over UMass after slow start, sets up Clemson showdown Rapid Reaction from Notre Dame's 62-27 victory over UMass, as the Fighting Irish overcame a slow start to set up a showdown at Clemson next week. Defensive lineman Sheldon Day agreed. "Just to see that little guy run, it definitely brought us a lot of excitement on the defense," he said. UMass safety Trey Dudley-Giles said it had the opposite effect for the Minutemen. "It just killed our momentum," he said. DeShone Kizer threw a 7-yard touchdown pass to Chris Brown with 6 seconds left in the first half to give the Irish a 35-20 halftime lead. C.J. Prosise, who rushed for 149 yards and two touchdowns, added a 16-yard scoring run and freshman Dexter Williams added a 14-yard TD run to break open the game. Marquis Young had an 83-yard touchdown run for the Minutemen, and Sekai Lindsay and Jamal Wilson added 1-yard TD runs and Shakur Nesmith added a 33-yard TD catch in the fourth quarter. Notre Dame improved to 4-0 for the second straight season, the third time in six seasons under coach Brian Kelly. Massachusetts fell to 0-3 for the fourth straight season since moving up to the FBS level. The

CLEMSON, S.C. -- Clemson coach Dabo Swinney learned plenty about his 12th-ranked Tigers on Saturday night, qualities he believes make them hard to beat. Deshaun Watson threw two touchdown passes, ran for a third score and 12th-ranked Clemson withstood No. 6 Notre Dame's second-half rally for a 24-22 victory. "This is what it's all about," Swinney said. "It ain't always perfect. I told them, `Listen, we give you scholarships, we give you stipends and meals, we give you nice uniforms and a place to live. I can't give you guts. I can't give you heart.' ... Tonight it was BYOG, bring your own guts. They brought some guts and some heart and they never quit until the last play." EDITOR'S PICKS Clemson makes its case to be part of the playoff discussion The Tigers held off the Irish 24-22 for a win that looks even better during a week of instability among top-10 teams. Clemson rides defense to knock off Notre Dame, give ACC marquee win With star QB Deshaun Watson unable to generate offense, Clemson's defense held Notre Dame's fierce rushing attack to 3.5 yards per carry. It took until almost the final play to secure the win, defensive tackle Carlos Watkins stopping Irish quarterback DeShone Kizer on what would've been a tying 2-point conversion with 7 seconds left. "It's was man versus man, heart versus heart. And he got there. I didn't lower my shoulder the way I should," said Kizer, who threw two touchdowns passes and had a scoring run in Notre Dame's second-half rally. The Irish (4-1) had four turnovers, all in the second half. Linebacker B.J. Goodson had an interception and a fumble recovery to choke off two Notre Dame chances in the last 7 minutes. Still, the Irish were a play away from overtime -- and keeping alive their undefeated season. "They say the luck of the Irish," Clemson defensive coordinator Brent Venables said. "We had some luck, too." Like kicker Ammon Lakip getting a helmet on the ball on the second-half kickoff, forcing C.

SOUTH BEND, Ind. -- Notre Dame running back C.J. Prosise made Navy pay for its turnovers. Prosise scored one play after linebacker Jaylon Smith recovered a fumble by Chris Swain on the Navy 7 and two plays after Devin Butler recovered a fumble by Dishan Romine at the 26-yard line on the opening kickoff of the second half. He finished with three rushing touchdowns as the 15th-ranked Fighting Irish beat the Midshipmen 41-24 on Saturday. EDITOR'S PICKS Notre Dame pulls away in second half to hand Navy first loss "Huge, huge," Notre Dame coach Brian Kelly said of the turnovers. "Those obviously meant a lot in this game." Navy had tied the score at 21-21 with 24 seconds left in the first half after 253-pound fullback Quentin Ezell gashed the Irish for touchdown runs of 45 and 22 yards. But Justin Yoon kicked a 52-yard field goal in the closing seconds of the first half and Prosise put the Irish (5-1) ahead by 10 points with a 22-yard run following the second fumble. The Midshipmen (4-1), who had won eight straight, had been tied for the lead in the nation with just one turnover before Saturday's game. "We had some penalties, some turnovers, some missed assignments, that normally we're pretty clean on those phases," Navy coach Ken Niumatalolo said. "Against a good team like Notre Dame, that spells disaster. That's what happened to us." Prosise, who was held to 50 yards on 15 carries in a loss a week earlier against Clemson, scored on runs of 7, 22 and 11 yards and finished with 129 yards rushing as the Irish amassed 459 yards total offense. "It felt great getting back out there and having some big holes again," Prosise said. "They weren't loading the box like last week, and we just had to be able to make some plays on the perimeter, too." Prosise joins Frank Lonergan in 1902 and Reggie Brooks in 1992 as the only Irish running backs to rush for three touchdowns twice in the same season. DeShone Kizer, who was 22 of 30 passing for 281 yards, inc

SOUTH BEND, Ind. -- Notre Dame showed the mental toughness against Southern California it was sorely lacking in an embarrassing 35-point loss last season. The No. 14 Fighting Irish rallied for 17 points in the fourth quarter after blowing a two-touchdown lead, and took the lead on Corey Robinson's diving catch with 9:06 left in a 41-31 victory Saturday night. "Our theme all week was the mental toughness that we wanted to exhibit today, it was the one question we wanted to answer," Notre Dame coach Brian Kelly said. "I didn't see anything on the sideline that resembled our guys not believing they were going to come back." EDITOR'S PICKS Notre Dame erupts in fourth quarter to escape with win over rival USC Notre Dame kept its College Football Playoff hopes alive after scoring 17 fourth-quarter points, erasing a seven-point USC lead. C.J. Prosise ran for 143 yards and two touchdowns, and DeShone Kizer threw two scoring passes, the second the 10-yarder to Robinson that made it 38-31. It was the first touchdown of the season for Robinson, who dropped several passes in the loss at Clemson. "I just had to step up when my number was called. Thank God I was able to step up for this team and contribute to our success," Robinson said. The Irish (6-1) also added a touchdown by former USC player Amir Carlisle on a blocked punt. Southern California played for the first time since firing coach Steve Sarkisian on Monday. USC coaches are now 0-7 in their first games against Notre Dame in South Bend with Clay Helton, who took over for Sarkisian, becoming the second straight interim coach to fall. Two years ago it was Ed Orgeron following the firing of Lane Kiffin. The Trojans have had four different coaches against the Irish the past four seasons. "We had great momentum going into the second half. And then, at the end of the day, mistakes hurt us, whether it was penalties, special teams, some missed tackles and some turnovers on offense," Helton said. "You c

PHILADELPHIA -- The biggest football game in Temple history was on the verge of turning into the Owls' greatest victory. DeShone Kizer refused to let Temple make history at Notre Dame's expense. Kizer hit Will Fuller with a 17-yard touchdown pass with 2:09 left in the game, KeiVarae Russell picked off a pass to end the last threat and No. 9 Notre Dame escaped with a 24-20 victory over No. 21 Temple on Saturday night. It was the third time this season Kizer has led Notre Dame (7-1) from behind in the fourth quarter, first against Virginia in his memorable debut and then against Southern California. EDITOR'S PICKS Will Fuller, KeiVarae Russell lift Notre Dame late in 24-20 win at Temple Rapid Reaction from Notre Dame's 24-20 victory over Temple, as KeiVarae Russell's late interception keeps the Fighting Irish in the Playoff hunt. "It all comes with experience. When you go out there and you do it once or twice, that's how it's going to end up being," said Kizer, the redshirt freshman who took over for the injured Malik Zaire at Virginia. "We know how to go about a fourth-quarter comeback now." The Owls (7-1) took a 20-17 lead with 4:45 left on a 36-yard field goal by Austin Jones. But Kizer came right back with a long scoring drive, capped by the TD to his star receiver who hails from Philadelphia to make it 24-20. "They were crowding me and DeShone just threw a perfect ball," said Fuller, who went to Roman Catholic High School. Then the Notre Dame defense stepped up. Temple's P.J. Walker went deep down the right side, but Russell cut underneath the throw and made a diving pick. Not until the very last play, when Kizer dropped the ball, picked it up and then threw it away to kill the clock, did the Irish get to celebrate. Kizer finished with 299 yards passing and a 79-yard touchdown run. "He got the game ball," Notre Dame coach Brian Kelly said. The Fighting Irish had chances to distance themselves from the Owls, but four red zone tri

PITTSBURGH -- Brian Kelly isn't ready to start politicking. The Notre Dame coach figures it's far too early to get caught up in the endless debate of "who's in, who's out" of the College Football Playoff. Still, considering the way the Irish's offense is humming at the moment, he might want to get a speech ready just in case. DeShone Kizer threw for five touchdowns and ran for another as Notre Dame (No. 5 CFP, No. 8 AP) bolstered its CFP resume with a relatively easy 42-30 win over Pitt. EDITOR'S PICKS DeShone Kizer has 6 total TDs as Notre Dame rolls at Pitt Notre Dame looked the part of a top-five team as quarterback DeShone Kizer helped the Irish take down Pitt on the road. Kizer completed 19 of 26 passes for 262 yards with no turnovers as the Irish (8-1) won their fourth straight. Will Fuller caught seven passes for 157 yards and three scores and Josh Adams ran for 147 yards and hauled in Kizer's final touchdown pass while filling in after senior C.J. Prosise left in the first quarter with a neck/shoulder/head injury and did not return. "Just another day at the office, honestly," Fuller said. "(Kizer) is going to throw the ball up there and I know it'll hit my hands." That's pretty much all it takes for Fuller to wind up in the end zone. His three scores gave him 12 on the season and 28 for his career, second in school history Michael Floyd's 37. "On the sidelines he's talking about `Get me the ball, I can score," Kelly said. "You can see the way he attacks the football out there and the way he runs, he's a guy that you want to get it to." Kizer certainly didn't waste any time, finding Fuller for a 47-yard strike on the game's third play. The two later hooked up for a 46-yard score late in the first half and a 14-yard touchdown in the third quarter to halt a surge by the Panthers (6-3). Notre Dame finished with 435 total yards even with Prosise sitting out the final 45 minutes after slamming into the ground following a 10-yard recept

SOUTH BEND, Ind. -- Notre Dame made the most of its limited opportunities. Wake Forest didn't. The Demon Deacons had 23 first downs to 15 for the Irish, 340 yards to 282 yards in total offense and had the ball for 11:36 longer than Notre Dame. The Irish (No. 4 CFP, No. 6 AP) won 28-7 anyway, getting a 98-yard touchdown run from Josh Adams, scoring twice on two trips into the red zone and adding another TD on a 28-yard interception return by Andrew Trumbetti. The Demon Deacons were 1-of-4 in the red zone. "Notre Dame is a very good football team. They don't need our help, and we gave them a lot of help tonight," Wake Forest coach Dave Clawson said. Adams started in place of Notre Dame leading rusher C.J. Prosise, who was held out after sustaining a concussion last week, though coach Brian Kelly said he could have played. Adams, fourth on the Irish depth chart in the preseason, ran for 141 yards to post his second straight 100-yard game and third of the season. He moved into fifth place for most rushing yards by a Notre Dame freshman with 553. EDITOR'S PICKS Notre Dame completes perfect home slate with win over Wake Forest Notre Dame prevailed in a sloppy game to finish the season perfect at home. After the Irish stopped Wake Forest on the 1-yard line in the second quarter, Adams had the longest scoring play from scrimmage in Notre Dame history. He took a handoff from DeShone Kizer, broke one tackle then stiff-armed defensive back Ryan Janvion and ran untouched the rest of the way up the right sideline for the 98-yard score. "Obviously, the run was one for the highlight reel: Physical, explosive, sheds off a tackler," Kelly said. "Obviously a big play where we're backed up, and just a terrific run." It was the longest running play in Notre Dame history, surpassing the 92-yard run by Bob Livingstone against USC in 1947. It's also the longest play from scrimmage ever for the Irish. The previous best was a 96-yard pass from Blair Kiel to Joe How

BOSTON -- Notre Dame made itself at home in Boston College territory. Taking over Fenway Park for a far-flung home game, the Fighting Irish (No. 4 CFP, No. 5 AP) spent most of it on the BC side of the field, overcoming five turnovers to beat the Eagles 19-16 on Saturday night. Three of the turnovers were inside the BC 5. EDITOR'S PICKS No. 4 Notre Dame survives five turnovers to beat Boston College 19-16 Notre Dame didn't do much to impress the College Football Playoff selection committee but did enough to beat Boston College at Fenway Park. Drawing Conclusions on Michigan State, Florida, Baylor and Notre Dame Our artist recaps Week 12 as the Spartans trip up Brutus, the Gators got dirty, the Bears trash the Cowboys and the Irish win ugly. "It's like leaving runners in scoring position," Notre Dame coach Brian Kelly said in an interview room ringed by Red Sox pennants. "There's only so many times you can do that. You can't go down there and not come away with points." The Irish (10-1) have won six in a row since a two-point loss to top-ranked Clemson. They will finish their season at Stanford (No. 11 CFP, No. 15 AP) on Saturday. "Got one more," Kelly said. "Got to win it." DeShone Kizer completed 20 of 38 passes for 320 yards, two touchdowns and three interceptions. Chris Brown caught six passes for 104 yards, and Amir Carlisle had seven catches for 97 yards. C.J. Prosise ran eight times for 54 yards to reach the 1,000-yard milestone before leaving the game with an ankle injury in the second quarter. BC quarterback Jeff Smith ran for 100 yards, breaking free for an 80-yard run to make it 19-9 with about 10 minutes to play. He also hit Charlie Callinan from 3 yards out to make it 19-16 with 54 seconds left. The Eagles (3-8) attempted an onside kick, but Irish safety Matthias Farley fell on the ball to send BC to its seventh straight loss. "We played a really good football team and we played a really good football team that knows ho