Tag: Malik Zaire

Former Notre Dame quarterback believes Irish aren’t following a football 101 rule

Is Malik correct?

It hasn’t been an easy week for [autotag]Notre Dame football[/autotag], as it continues to stew over Ohio State slipping away with a win this past Saturday.

An unwritten rule in football is you have 24 hours following a game to celebrate or lament, and former Irish quarterback [autotag]Malik Zaire[/autotag] believes Notre Dame isn’t following this rule.

He cites a quote from defensive coordinator [autotag]Al Golden[/autotag], when he was asked about the Buckeyes converting a third-and-19 and the defense he called. Zaire said “it’s a heavy loss when we still talking about it Wednesday of next week. Doesn’t sound like the 24hr rule is in effect.”

Fan can still be angry, but the team needs to move on. There is another task this week, No. 16 [autotag]Duke[/autotag]. The Irish don’t have much margin for error, so they can’t be distracted about what happened this past Saturday. The focus has to shift to the Blue Devils, even if they don’t want to.

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Scout’s view: Newest Notre Dame commit, 2025 quarterback Deuce Knight

The Irish are stacking impressive quarterback talent

[autotag]Notre Dame football[/autotag] scored a massive recruiting win on Monday morning, when 2025 Mississippi quarterback [autotag]Deuce Knight[/autotag] made his verbal commitment to the Irish.

The 6-foot, 4-inch and 195-pound lefty is the third commit of the class, the second on the offensive side of the ball joining running back Justin Thurman. Knight had plenty of elite-level offers, as the Irish beat out Georgia, Alabama, Oregon and others for his verbal.

[autotag]Malik Zaire[/autotag] is the last lefty Notre Dame quarterback that has played significant time and Knight it hoping to be the next. Find out below what traits he will bring with when he arrives in South Bend two years from now after watching some of his junior highlights and his full sophomore tape.

How Twitter reacted to Notre Dame-Clemson: Irish side

You’re happy, right?

It had been 40 years since an unranked Notre Dame team last defeated a top-five team. That came when the 1982 Irish upset Dan Marino and top-ranked Pittsburgh. Clemson wasn’t the top-ranked team entering Notre Dame Stadium in 2022, but the final outcome was no less impressive. The Irish beat the Tigers, 35-14, almost two years to the day of them beating this same program in the same location.

Irish fans in South Bend and beyond will be celebrating this one for a long time. If a national championship wasn’t in the cards, this was the next best thing. All reservations about [autotag]Marcus Freeman[/autotag] have gone out the window, at least for the moment. There no longer appears to be a limit on the possibilities with him at the helm in the years to come.

Here are some of the best reactions to the big win on Twitter, many of which came from program alumni:

Why Samuel M’Pemba moving official visit is good news for Notre Dame

So you’re telling me theres a chance?

Twitter spaces has become yet another outlet for college football fans to gather and has become a place where news tends to happen.  That was the case Tuesday night when the Irish Players Club hosted a Twitter spaces with former Notre Dame quarterback [autotag]Malik Zaire[/autotag] and five-star 2023 recruiting prospect [autotag]Samuel M’Pemba[/autotag].

M’Pemba is ranked as the 16th overall player in the 2023 recruiting class by 247Sports composite rankings which makes him a five-star talent.  Although listed as an athlete, he’d most likely play linebacker at Notre Dame, the same position he played in at IMG Academy’s spring football game recently.

M’Pemba announced on the Twitter spaces that he’ll be moving his official visit to Notre Dame from mid-June to November 5 when the Irish play host to Clemson.  His visit in June will now be of the unofficial capacity.

There is clearly a long way to go before M’Pemba makes a decision as he’ll have the pick of the litter seeing as the blue bloods like Alabama, Florida, Florida State, LSU, Miami, Michigan, Ohio State, Oklahoma, Oregon, Penn State, Texas, USC, and plenty of others have extended scholarship offers his way.

What it means is that although it’s nearly impossible to call Notre Dame a favorite for his talents, them pretty much assuring themselves a spot at the table still in November of his senior year is certainly a positive.

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Worst Notre Dame loss under Brian Kelly

What’s been the Irish’s worst showing under their current coach?

Brian Kelly is entering his 12th season as Notre Dame coach. He needs only four wins to pass Knute Rockne for the most in program history. Along the way, he has accumulated 39 losses. The worst came during the Irish’s annual meeting with USC in the 2014 regular-season finale.

The Irish entered the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum on a three-game losing streak, including their final two contests at Notre Dame Stadium. It didn’t help that the defense was ravaged by injuries. The Trojans didn’t care about any of that as they dominated early and never looked back in a 49-14 win.

USC jumped out to a 35-0 lead late in the second quarter. Malik Zaire, whom Kelly substituted for the struggling Everett Golson, ran for an 11-yard touchdown soon after to keep the goose egg off the Irish’s side of the scoreboard before halftime. Late in the third, Greg Bryant, Notre Dame’s leading rusher for 79 yards on seven carries, had a 1-yard touchdown run. By then, however, the Trojans not only had finished their scoring, but became the first team ever to throw six touchdown passes against the Irish.

Golson turned in his worst performance of the season, completing seven of 18 passes for 75 yards and one interception. He and Zaire particularly had a tough time with Trojans linebacker J.R. Tavai, who recorded three-and-a-half sacks and forced a lost fumble. It’s a miracle that the Irish only turned the ball over twice.

2014 had a happy ending for Notre Dame as a month later, it defeated LSU in the Music City Bowl, 31-28. Still, it had to be hard to forget that poor showing in Los Angeles. Perhaps using that game as motivation, the Irish have won four of the five meetings since. Hey, whatever gets you ready to play.

Notre Dame Almanac: Happy Anniversary Music City Bowl

LSU quarterback Anthony Jennings completed a then game-record 75 yard touchdown pass to wide receiver John Diarse.  Jennings other 13 pass attempts on the afternoon totaled just 76 more yards.  Joe Burrow was still a senior at Athens High School on this day.

I woke up this morning and began flipping channels only to come to ESPN-U.  I thought I was still in a haze when it said the 2014 Music City Bowl between Notre Dame and LSU was being shown.

If you’re a Notre Dame fan you remember the Irish pulling off the win to finish a 2014 season that began with so much positivity until one bad call in Tallahassee sent things spiraling out of control the second half of the season.

It did end on a high note however as the Irish earned their first win over an SEC team since beating Tennessee in 2005.

Do you remember how ridiculous that game was, though?

A young man named Leonard Fournette announcing his arrival by returning a kickoff 100 yards for a socre and setting the record for longest run in Music City Bowl history, an 89 yard touchdown run.  He’d finish with 264 total yards.

Notre Dame went back and forth between Everett Golson and Malik Zaire at quarterback as the two combined to throw for 186 yards and a touchdown while Zaire also helped play the ball-possession game in carrying 22 times for 96 yards.

Notre Dame ran the ball 51 times on the day, an almost exact 2:1 ratio as they attempted 26 passes.

CJ Prosise began his transformation to running back that afternoon as he had three carries (also had three carries all year coming in) for 75 yards, including a 50 yard scoring run.  A pretty nice first step for what wound up being a special 2015 for him.

LSU quarterback Anthony Jennings completed a then game-record 75 yard touchdown pass to wide receiver John Diarse.  Jennings other 13 pass attempts on the afternoon totaled just 76 more yards.  Joe Burrow was still a senior at Athens High School on this day.

And most importantly it all ended with Kyle Brindza hitting a 32 yard field goal as time expired to give Notre Dame (+8.5) the upset victory.

That was five years ago today, relive some of those fun memories by watching the highlights below:

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qp7jkgtWNVc&w=560&h=315]