Each year in college football, the opening weekend gives birth to a plethora of great overreactions based on the action that takes place. Based off of weekend one, it’s a wrap for the Houston Cougars, as they have locked up a spot in the college football playoffs after a remarkable win over the third-ranked Oklahoma Sooners. As for the Louisiana State Tigers, the season is finished before it even started (and head coach Les Miles might as well start cleaning out his office) after Louisiana State’s inexplicable loss to the unranked Wisconsin Badgers. Even play-by-play announcer Joe Tessitore, who called the game between the University of Texas Longhorns and the University of Notre Dame Fighting Irish, got beside himself in excitement when Texas quarterback Tyrone Swoopes scored the Longhorns’ game-winning touchdown and he proclaimed, “Texas is back folks!”
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All of these overreactions (and plenty of others) are bound to happen out of excitement for college football’s return, and they are all gladly welcomed to be debated by football fans everywhere. What we can agree is unlikely up for debate is that the Notre Dame quarterback battle is over, thanks to their junior quarterback DeShone Kizer. In fact, there’s likely a chance that the Ohio native has ushered himself into the still wide-open race for the coveted Heisman trophy.
For whatever reason, the battle for college football’s most sought-after trophy (next to the championship trophy of course) has essentially been narrowed to a three-man fight between quarterback Deshaun Watson of the Clemson Tigers and running backs Leonard Fournette (LSU) and Christian McCaffrey (Stanford Cardinal). However, a couple of high-profile stars made their case for being worthy, with Kizer being one of those. He passes the eye test with phenomenal size at 6 feet, 4 inches tall and weighing 230 pounds. He has tremendous accuracy, arm strength and pocket presence, and while he does not take off very often he does have exceptional speed as a runner. The trait of his that every football coach (pro or college-level) would die for is his calmness and poise; he does not get rattled in big moments.
In a hostile road environment in Austin, Texas (where football is probably right behind Christianity as the most important necessity), the junior quarterback put up one incredible effort; he threw for 215 yards, completed 62.5 percent of his passes, tossed five incredible touchdowns and rushed for one more (it was all in a losing effort, however, as the Longhorns defeated Notre Dame, 50-47, in double overtime). As impressive as that was, it was even more remarkable given all the obstacles Kizer was up against.
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DeShone was facing more than a hungry, talented Longhorns team looking for revenge after the 38-3 throttling that the Irish delivered to them in South Bend, Indiana a season ago. Imagine that you are splitting time at quarterback with the former head man, Malik Zaire, because your coach hasn’t picked a clear number one guy. Imagine that in the second half, you were trailing Texas 31-14, as you entered the fourth quarter. Imagine that you wind up losing your team’s most dangerous and most proven weapon, wide receiver Torii Hunter, Jr., to a concussion after a bone-rattling hit he sustained near the third quarter’s end. Can you even begin to understand the kind of immense pressure this young man was under?
Despite all of these things, he persevered; he never got shaken, he never made excuses of any kind, but instead he completed a fabulous comeback and showed the country what he is capable of (It’s arguable after watching him play that had coach Brian Kelly stuck with him from the beginning, Notre Dame probably would have walked out od Austin with a “W” in the win column).
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This is nothing new for Kizer, and it should not have been for any of us either. After all, he showed us he could be this kind of player in 2015, when he took over the starting job after Zaire broke his foot against the Virginia Cavaliers and was lost for the year.
Kizer went on to throw for 2,884 yards and was responsible for 31 touchdowns (21 passing and 10 rushing). He had some incredible performances against some of the nation’s top squads like Clemson, Stanford and the hated rival Southern California Trojans. Even against squads like the surpringly good Temple Owls, and when he stepped in against Virginia, Kizer always delivered when his number was called upon, and while games at Clemson and at Stanford did not go Notre Dame’s way, the Fighting Irish were always in position to win thanks to his late-game heroics.
It is only the first game of the season; we do not know what Notre Dame (or Texas to be honest) will look like going forward. However, if Kizer has become the top man, and given his previous body of work, it’s not crazy to believe he has a realistic chance of bringing a Heisman trophy to South Bend for the first time since the 1980s.
