Print Edition of the Irish Insider for Friday, September 23, 2016

Irish play evokes memories of 2014

Renee Griffin sports Writer

in the beginning, there was hope.

Hope that notre dame would finally break through in 2016 and reach the College Football Playoff, the promised land that had seemed at times so close and at times so far in the years since the national championship loss to alabama.

the preseason hype wasn’t limited to fans. irish head coach Brian Kelly said before the season that his primary goal was to qualify for the playoff, and the irish snagged the no. 10 ranking in the aP preseason top 25.

the 10-3 record of 2015 was nothing to sneeze at, after all. not crazy to expect year-to-year improvement, right?

Wrong, as was proven under the lights in austin in Week One and at notre dame stadium in Week three. this is not the same team as last year, and not in a good way. in hindsight, it was unlikely that defensive coordinator Brian vanGorder’s 2016 defense would even rival the 45th-ranked front of the previous season, considering it lost eight of its top-10 tacklers (Jaylon smith, Joe schmidt, elijah shumate, max redfield, Keivarae russell, romeo Okwara, sheldon day and matthias Farley).

the lack of stability on defense was underestimated, perhaps because, as Kelly himself said tuesday, his usual response to struggles on defense is to get his offense to score more points.

Clearly, the burden of making up for the defense’s deficiencies has been too large to bear this season. deshone Kizer may be improved from his first year as starter, but he was not given the chance to show it when Kelly elected to punt on fourth-and-seven, down by eight points, in the final minutes against the spartans. He was handicapped against texas, too, as a result of Kelly’s indecision at quarterback.

the departure of three of the top four receiving targets from 2015 –Will Fuller, Chris Brown and amir Carlisle – doesn’t help, either. the running game was supposed to be reliable, with senior tarean Folston taking his position back from graduated C.J. Prosise, and yet notre dame had 57 rushing yards on 25 carries on saturday. the spartans’ front is famously physical, true, but it also allowed 30 more yards than that to an FCs team.

three games into 2016, notre dame’s fall from grace — or, more literally, the fall from the top 10 of the aP poll to not being ranked at all — makes this team more similar to the irish squad of 2014 than to that of 2015.

the second half of 2014, that is. as a reminder, notre dame started 6-0 that year, ranked no. 5 in the

country, before traveling to no. 2 Florida state for a matchup with the highest of stakes. the irish lost on a controversial call.

Hopes of reaching the College Football Playoff were not entirely lost yet, especially with a win against nevada — excuse me, navy — the following week. then notre dame found itself down 31 points against no. 11 arizona state in the next game. everett Golson and the offense staged a comeback to pull within three points, but failed to finish; the 55-31 defeat tossed the irish out of the top 10.

twenty-one days later, notre dame ended the regular season with a mediocre 7-5 record after losing three straight to northwestern, Louisville and UsC. the defense gave up 44.5 points per game in that last stretch.

a few comparisons come to mind.

some remained hopeful after the ill-fated trip to texas to open the 2016 season, attributing the 5047 loss to the Longhorns’ offensive firepower and the irish indecision at quarterback.

notre dame still had a hypothetical, albeit distant, chance at the playoff. the 39-10 win over nevada in Week two indicated improvement.

then came the 36-28 loss to michigan state, which proved beyond all doubt that this team was not playoff-caliber. Whether the rest of the 2016 campaign will mimic the downward spiral of 2014 remains to be seen.

Contact Renee Griffin at rgriffi6@nd.edu

The opinions in this column are those of the author and not necessarily those of The Observer.

By ZACH KLONSINSKI a ssistant managing e ditor

every notre dame fan remembers the winning touchdown against virginia last season.

trailing by one at the Cavalier 39-yard line facing second-and-9 with just 19 seconds remaining, backup quarterback deshone Kizer rolled to his left and found a streaking Will Fuller edging behind the Cavalier secondary for a touchdown that saved the irish from what would have been a disastrous, early season loss.

a mid all the headlines from the victory — like Kizer’s sudden promotion from unknown to hero after malik Zaire broke his ankle late in the third quarter — one wouldn’t blame irish fans for missing one piece of news: thenjunior tight end durham smythe had torn his mCL and would miss the rest of the regular season.

nor will many fans remember that smythe made an important “play” on that torn mCL right before Kizer found Fuller for the final score.

smythe’s play was not a highlight-reel catch, however. nor was it a pivotal block.

it didn’t leave a lasting image like Kizer streaking down the field with his arms raised in celebration or break the internet like the heartbroken virginia student draped over the wall.

it was, however, an effort that demonstrates the grit and unquantifiable nature that makes tight end one of the most underappreciated positions in college football.

With 43 seconds remaining in the game, Kizer threw to his right on a screen to running back C.J. Prosise, who was tackled inbounds after picking up just a yard. smythe had lined up on the opposite side of the formation and kicked out farther to the left to block a Cavalier defender.

“Forty seconds left, we’re running that screen to the right. i go out and meet my guy in the hole, the alley player, the sam,” smythe said. “i’m trying to stay in front of him and all of a sudden i just feel someone full speed roll into the side of my leg.

“a nd to be honest i thought when it first happened ‘my leg is broken.’ it rolled on me, i snapped back kind of, i felt a couple pops. i thought, ‘Oh, this is going to be really bad.’ rolled over, saw that my leg was intact at least, facing the right direction.”

notre dame had only one timeout remaining, and in college football if an offensive player is injured and needs to receive medical attention with under two minutes remaining, his team has to use a timeout or let 10 seconds run off the game clock.

the irish could ill afford either option. a nd smythe knew it.

“it was kind of all in the heat of the moment, but then i realized there’s 30 seconds left in the game … i don’t want to lay here and get a 10-second run-off and lose the game because i am laying on the field,” smythe said. “so i roll over, kind of power limp off the field, jump onto the table, tell the trainers that my leg is in some trouble and then all of a sudden the crowd goes crazy.”

the very next play, Kizer found Fuller at the pylon.

“Luckily Will Fuller came through for us there,” smythe said. “at least we got the win, but personally definitely not one of my brighter moments.

“ … From a strictly pain side … there’s adrenaline running, we’re at the end of the game trying to make a crazy comeback so i’m focused on that, but that was an extremely painful couple seconds for me, and then the plane ride home.”

Being able to bear his fair share of pain shouldn’t come as a surprise though. For smythe, making the unquantifiable plays is just what comes with the territory at ‘tight end U.”

“it’s the resume that’s presented to you,” smythe said. “With the track record that we’ve had here … with me, growing up i watched [Kyle] rudolph, [tyler] eifert, [a nthony] Fasano. it goes back really far.

“ … [Playing tight end at notre dame] becomes a responsibility. i tell a lot of people it’s kind of a mix between a responsibility

and an honor because first and foremost you’re getting your name mentioned with all these guys who have done incredible things. But then it becomes a responsibility to keep the name ‘tight end U’ and uphold the production.”

For smythe, that production is hard to find on a stat sheet: in his career, he’s totaled just six receptions for 45 yards. two of his grabs have been for touchdowns though, including one last weekend in the loss to michigan state and one on a fake field goal earlier in the game against virginia last season.

While he came out of high school more involved in the pass game, smythe said he’s worked hard on both facets of being tight end in college football — catching the ball and blocking for the person with it.

“it’s about flipping the switch, especially at our position, because day-by-day we’ll be working with the offensive line for a portion of time with an emphasis in the run game or with the receivers with an emphasis in the pass game,” smythe said. “ … Over the years i’ve come to really appreciate the run game … and honestly if i had to say at this point they’re probably pretty even for me.”

smythe showed that ability against the spartans.

during notre dame’s second drive, Kizer rolled left and stared down spartan sophomore cornerback vayante Copeland. Copeland had to make a choice — stop Kizer’s running lane and leave sophomore receiver equanimeous st. Brown open behind him, or stick with st. Brown and let Kizer take off. Copeland chose the former, and Kizer lofted the ball over him to st. Brown, who raced down the sideline for 48 yards to the michigan state 28-yard line.

Copeland had to make that impossible choice because smythe was ahead of his quarterback, locked up with the spartan defender who was supposed to prevent Kizer from reaching the edge.

then in the fourth quarter

smythe ran a post to the middle of the end zone, initiating contact with then shaking loose from the physical spartan defender shadowing him. Kizer hit smythe on the numbers to bring the irish within eight points.

smythe said he paid a physical price for his other touchdown too, back against virginia. notre dame faked a field goal and Kizer — still the unknown backup quarterback and holder at that point — flipped the ball to smythe on a shovel pass. the tight end barreled his way into the end zone, landing hard on his shoulder.

“i had a shoulder sprain the week before [in the victory over texas], so i took some medication before to kind of numb it up a little bit,” smythe said. “Fell on that during the game and really dislodged the aC joint in my shoulder, so i was playing all game with a dead right arm.”

smythe had surgery on both his knee and shoulder that week, and he spent the rest of the regular season on notre dame’s injury report, included with the likes of quarterback malik Zaire, running back tarean Folston and defensive backs drue tranquill and shaun Crawford.

“i would never call it a blessing because everyone in there is out for an extended period of time, but i think it really help as individuals,” smythe said of rehabbing with so many others. “maybe we wouldn’t want five other guys in there like there was, but … we developed a relationship, all of us in there, just kind of pushing each other. We’d come in on days where we’re feeling extra sore and you look over and shaun Crawford is stretching his leg and he’s over there biting on a towel. … so it kind of became one of those relationships like if this guy can do it, i’m obviously going to do it too, which maybe not a blessing, but as individuals it all helped us recover faster.”

smythe returned in time to start for the irish in the Fiesta Bowl, making one reception for five yards. He started all three games he appeared in last season, catching one pass in each

game.

now a senior, smythe said his journey to “tight end U” wasn’t all that surprising in hindsight.

“i grew up a huge notre dame fan, randomly,” smythe said. “my dad and mom always preached to me from a really young age that you need to find the best mixture for you, but also the best mixture of academics and athletics.

“so i don’t know when this was, maybe sixth grade or before, but obviously i knew the top football programs so i googled the [Us news and World report college rankings]. Just went through looking for schools at the top of the list who also had great football programs and i came across notre dame at 13 or 14, and i checked them out more. a nd then i kind of just developed a crazy interest from there.”

Originally smythe committed to texas after then-head coach mack Brown came to his school. Growing up a Baylor fan — his father was an offensive lineman for the Bears and lettered on the school’s 1980 southwestern Conference championship team — smythe said he’d always hated the Longhorns but admitted the state’s flagship school dominated in the area.

“Back then, my junior or sophomore year, texas was — if you got a texas offer, especially in my area, texas was an hour away, you’re going to texas basically,” smythe said. “so i kind of jumped on that pretty quickly, was committed for a few months, but kind of realized toward the end of my recruiting process that notre dame was still there.

“notre dame is something that i’ve wanted to do since i was 10 years old. so i took a visit up here in January. there was three feet of snow on the ground, and i’d never seen snow like that at all before, but i fell in love. i fell in love with the people, the campus. it was everything i’d imagined in my head but even more.

“a nd i kind of just knew stepping foot on campus that this was the place for me.”

Contact Zach Klonsinski at zklonsin@nd.edu

HEA d

No TRE Da ME

Ir ISH pa SSInG

d e s hone Kizer has been one of the few consistently steady performers for the i rish. Head coach Brian Kelly has balked at the notion that d e s hone Kizer needs to carry the i rish for them to succeed, but he has accounted for 13 of the team’s 15 touchdowns through three games, including nine through the air. t he i rish also boast a trio of strong receivers in e quanimeous s t. Brown, torii Hunter Jr. and C.J. s anders. s t. Brown has stood out in particular thus far, leading notre d ame in receptions, yards and touchdowns at the receiver position.

d uke, on the other hand, has seen its secondary struggle as of late. most recently, the Blue d evils allowed northwestern quarterback Clayton t horson to throw for 320 yards and three touchdowns against them. Prior to that game, t horson had only surpassed 200 yards in one of his 15 career starts and had eight touchdown passes total over that span.

e DGe : notre Dame

Ir ISH rUSHInG

a lthough the i rish were held to just 57 yards on 25 carries in their loss to the s partans, the i rish had found success previously on the ground, surpassing 200 yards in each of their first two games. t he trio of Kizer, Josh a dams and tarean Folston have accounted for over 86 percent of the team’s production on the ground, with each of them having over 125 rushing yards on the year. a dditionally, Kizer has accounted for four of the team’s six rushing touchdowns this season.

t he Blue d evils, however, have failed to effectively slow opponents’ rushing attacks at times this season. most notably, d uke was gashed for 239 yards by Wake Forest two weeks ago, and d emon d eacon freshman running back Cade Carney found the end zone three times in his team’s victory. t hen, northwestern junior running back Justin Jackson ran for 98 yards in the Wildcats’ 24-13 win over the Blue d evils this past s aturday.

e DGe : notre Dame

Ir ISH oFFenSIV e coacHInG Offensive coordinator m ike s anford

the loss to michigan state sent notre dame to its first 1-2 start since 2010.

But it won’t be starting 1-3. there weren’t many positives in last saturday’s loss, but a game against a poor duke squad can be just the medicine the doctor ordered after a loss, just as was the case with nevada. the irish should find better success on the ground than the 57 yards they had last week, and deshone Kizer will be able to have his way with this duke secondary when needed after finding his groove late against the spartans. Oh, and the defense shouldn’t be challenged much, as duke has just 27 points total in its last two contests.

FINAL SCORE: notre dame 41, d uke 24

Just like they did against nevada following the loss at texas, the irish will bounce back against a mediocre team after saturday’s defeat. the notre dame defense is likely to look much better than it did last week (could it look worse?) and a solid run game will probably return to the offense that sorely needed it when the spartans came to town. deshone Kizer should shine. the Blue devils’ failures against Wake Forest and northwestern do not inspire confidence and surely make them seem incapable of knocking the irish down even further. notre dame is not a top team. it will not qualify for the College Football Playoff. But it will beat duke

and Kelly have had success calling the plays for the i rish offense this season, as notre d ame has averaged 38 points scored through its first three games of the year. t hat’s not to say the unit hasn’t had its share of challenges. i n s aturday’s loss, the i rish offense struggled to move the ball until late in the third quarter when Kelly and s anford began to dial up the vertical passing game to open up the defense.

On the other side of the football, d uke has largely struggled in its two contests against Power 5 opponents. Cutcliffe’s and defensive coordinator Jim Knowles’ defense has been beaten both on the ground and through the air in each of the losses. However, the scheme has been able to generate big plays for the Blue d evil defense, as d uke has 14 sacks and six turnovers forced in its three games thus far.

eDGe : notre Dame

IrISH SpecIaL teamS notre d ame has seen its special teams play improve as of late, particularly that of junior punter tyler newsome. newsome had his best game of the season s aturday, averaging over 50 net yards on his six punts, including a career-best effort of 71 yards. Justin Yoon has been largely consistent for the i rish, converting 14 of his 15 extra-point attempts and hitting two of his three field goals so far this year.

For d uke, senior receiver r yan s mith has made his presence felt in the return game, averaging over 13 yards per punt return.

e DGe : e V en

Ir ISH S cHe DUL e (1-2) sept. 4 @ Texas (50-47 L, 2OT) sept. 10 Nevada (39-10 W) sept. 17 Michigan State (36-28 L) sept. 24 Duke

Oct. 1 vs. Syracuse

Oct. 8 @ NC State

Oct. 15 Stanford

Oct. 29 Miami (Fla.)

nov. 5 vs. Navy

nov. 12 vs. Army

nov. 19 Virginia Tech

nov. 26 @ USC

Jones, edwards lead duke into matchup at nd

By ALEX CARSON a ssistant managing e ditor

redshirt freshman daniel Jones wasn’t supposed to be duke’s starting quarterback this season. But when redshirt senior and returning starter t homas sirk reinjured his achilles in late august, the Charlotte, north Carolina native was thrust into the starting role.

When Jones takes his team’s first snap saturday at notre dame stadium, though, he’ll be going against an irish secondary that’s in the same position. senior max redfield, who was dismissed from the team last month, was supposed to start at safety, not freshman devin studstill. Before injuries, followed by a suspension, senior devin Butler could have made a

good case for the starting spot at cornerback. now, after an injury to sophomore shaun Crawford, it’s sophomore nick Coleman and freshman Julian Love getting the playing time instead. a month ago, fans wouldn’t have been expecting Jones to throw Coleman’s way. But that’s where the Blue devils (1-2), and irish (1-2), are at.

irish head coach Brian Kelly

praised the Blue devils’ young quarterback during his tuesday press conference, saying Jones has been “as good as anyone in the country” when it comes to running an offense this year.

“We have film on him. He’s poised,” Kelly said. “i love his poise for a freshman. He has a really good command of the offense. He does not seem at all fazed when he’s back there.

“now, they’re in an open-ended offense where you’re exposed at times, and he does not blink back there. i like the kid. i think he shows a lot of poise, and he’s got some athletic ability.”

Blue devils head coach david Cutcliffe said he expects irish defensive coordinator Brian vanGorder to attack Jones, who’s thrown the ball 48 times in each of duke’s last two games — both losses, to Wake Forest and northwestern.

“He’s going to try to cause a lot of problems for daniel,” Cutcliffe said during his Wednesday teleconference. “We’ve got to manage him, manage the people around him and put our players in position to hopefully be successful a larger percentage of the time than what we’ve been.”

But while there’s a similarity to draw between the Blue devils passing game and the irish pass defense, it’s not so easy to find one when it comes to defensive pressure: duke has sacked opposing quarterbacks 14 times this year, coming in at third-best in the nation and top in the aCC. notre dame is yet to record one.

Perhaps the most interesting part of duke’s pass rush is the 5-foot-9, 180-pound devon edwards, who leads the Blue devils with three sacks this season. Cutcliffe, however, said racking up sacks isn’t the only uncharacteristic thing the redshirt senior defensive back has done in his athletic career.

“Well, i went and watched

devon practice basketball when he was in high school, and the thing that impressed me most, he was a 5-foot-9, 180-pound scoring machine, great shooter, but you know what he was, he was their leading rebounder,” Cutcliffe said. “He had a way to get the ball. He had a fierceness about getting to a ball that went up on the basket. He has the same fierceness when he comes after a quarterback.”

Kelly praised duke defensive coordinator Jim Knowles, complimenting the defensive tactics he employs in durham, north Carolina.

“He’s got a good scheme,” Kelly said. “t hey do a really good job of coaching their players. t hey do a nice job, and they’ve got some veteran players that have played a lot of football.”

edwards’ impact, though, doesn’t just lie on the defensive side of the ball. a s the 2016 season carries on, a storyline might present itself: Can edwards usurp C.J. spiller as the nC aa’s all-time kickoff return champion? spiller notched seven during his career at Clemson; edwards currently sits on six.

But will irish sophomore Justin Yoon give edwards the chance to take one to the house? When asked if notre dame will kick to edwards on saturday, Kelly was noncommittal.

“absolutely. a nd then maybe not,” the irish head coach said. But when discussing edwards, Cutcliffe was a little more concrete in his thoughts.

“With all of the things that he does for his team, i don’t know if there’s a bigger mv P anywhere,” Cutcliffe said. “You know how big a fan i am of devon’s. He slices, he ducks, he fakes, he cuts. He’s strong, pound for pound, unbelievably strong.”

Contact Alex Carson at acarson1@nd.edu

Jeter commits, ND stays attractive after losses

By MAREK MAZUREK sports e ditor

if there was a silver lining for notre dame this past weekend, it certainly wasn’t on the field. the irish were effectively eliminated from playoff contention by no. 8 michigan state.

despite the loss, however, notre dame had a strong weekend on the recruiting front, adding a verbal commitment from rivals.com four-star prospect donovan Jeter on monday.

Jeter is listed at 6-foot-5, 255 pounds and figures to play either defensive tackle or defensive end for the irish next season. Blue and Gold illustrated recruiting analyst Bryan driskell said Jeter could be an impact player for the irish front seven.

“He’s a really good fit for notre dame’s defense,” driskell said. “He’s a power player at 6-foot5 ... he benches as much as 285 [pounds]. He fits what notre dame’s looking for in a strongside end. He can play strong-side end, he can play three technique. He’s a guy that can defend the run, can handle himself setting the edge and he’s also got some ability to rush the quarterback. i think that’s really something they’re missing right now in their power players. Jeter has a chance to be an impact player, and as we know, notre dame needs more impact players along the defensive line.”

Jeter’s commitment following a loss should comfort irish fans, as it shows the program is still desirable despite not being in the playoff hunt. driskell said this is due to the fact that recruits are less affected by individual games than most fans.

“i think fans tend to make more out of how a team loses than players,” driskell said. “if notre dame goes 9-3 still season,

which is plausible ... it’s not going to affect [its] recruiting. the reality is, recruits tend to be more big picture and down the road than fans are. Fans live in the moment, rightfully so. Kids are like, ‘Well i’m not on that team. When i get there, we’re going to beat michigan state.’

“Kids who end up coming to notre dame, tend to have more a big picture view of what they’re looking for. … Unless they’re going 8-5 and getting their butt kicked by people, kids are still going to be interested.”

the commitment of Jeter also continues a recent trend for the irish of attracting recruits from western Pennsylvania. including Jeter, notre dame has six verbal commitments from western Pennsylvania in its 2017 and 2018 recruiting classes, and driskell said this is a concerted effort from recruiting coordinator mike elston.

“a couple things show me notre dame has made western Pennsylvania a priority,” driskell said. “it actually started before this year, but this is the first year it’s paying off. Pennsylvania as a whole — and western Pennsylvania in particular — used to be a tremendous pipeline back in the ’60s, ’70s and ’80s. … notre dame is trying to get back in there. recruiting coordinator mike elston took over western Pa as his region. You don’t send your recruiting coordinator into a new region unless you’re trying to say, ‘this is going to become a place where we really have to put a lot of emphasis,’ and mike elston has really done a great job there.”

notre dame hosted nearly 20 recruits on official visits in one of the biggest recruiting weekends of the year. this saturday against the Blue devils, the action will be less frantic, but driskell said one player to keep an eye on is 2018

tight end Zach Kuntz, a 4-star prospect and rivals.com’s no. 1 tight end.

“He’s arguably one of the top two or three tight ends on the board,” driskell said. “He’s a guy that [notre dame] would take right now in a heartbeat. He’s going to be on campus, [and] this is his second trip to campus — he

was also here for the Blue-Gold Game. He’s a kid that’s a big time player for them.

“as of now, that’s the only big name they’ve got coming up for duke. a nd with it being a smaller visit, they’re going to be able to spend a lot more time on really showing him some love and showing him that, ‘Hey, you’re a

guy we really to lead this class.’ it wouldn’t surprise me if during or after the visit you hear people like [notre dame commits] Phil Jurkovec and Bo Bauer talk about keeping that Pennsylvania pipeline going.”

Contact Marek Mazurek at mmazurek@nd.edu