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A Decisive Comeback

When Notre Dame junior linebacker Nyles Morgan brought down Miami junior quarterback Brad Kaaya on the game’s final play to seal a 30-27 Irish win, it meant one thing to head coach Brian Kelly.

“It just meant that we’re not going to have to go through this again,” Kelly said.

The seventh-year coach was referring to the repeated questions about the morale of the team and the direction of the program during a disappointing year for what was a preseason top-10 team.

While most of Notre Dame’s victory over a sinking Miami team was far from pretty, the Irish were able to stop a two-game losing streak of their own and a seven-game skid in games decided by one possession.

The win moved Notre Dame’s record to 3-5, keeping its bowl hopes alive.

“I feel like that whole stadium’s off my back. I’ll tell you that,” junior quarterback DeShone Kizer said.

It took some lucky bounces, a gutsy effort by Kizer and a dominant effort by fifth-year senior defensive tackle Jarron Jones to oust the Hurricanes. And while the contest ended in Notre Dame’s favor, the game did not appear it would for most of the second half.

Notre Dame led 20-0, but like many times this season, it let the opposition come back. Miami mounted a major comeback and took a 27-20 lead with 6:49 remaining in the fourth quarter.

The go-ahead score came on a muffed punt return by sophomore wide receiver C.J. Sanders, which was recovered in the end zone by Miami.

But unlike previous games this year, Notre Dame didn’t flinch when things went wrong. Kizer led Notre Dame on a four-play, 75-yard touchdown drive to tie the game with 5:53 left, capped with a 41-yard scoring run by sophomore running back Josh Adams.

Kizer finished the game 25-of-38 passing for 263 yards with two touchdowns. He also ran eight times for 31 yards.

“I am really, really pleased with some of the play within the play,” Kelly said of Kizer. “For me, my eye is focused on rhythm, timing, getting the ball out of your hand, and he was the best since he’s been here in getting the ball out of his hands.”

With the game tied, Notre Dame forced a Miami punt and used a 23-yard return by sophomore wide receiver Chris Finke to get into scoring position. Facing a third-and-three from the 7-yard line, Kizer found senior tight end Durham Smythe for a short gain. Smythe, who had gained enough for the first down, dove for the end zone and fumbled on a hit by Miami sophomore linebacker Charles Perry.

Several attempts by Miami to recover were unsuccessful, and ultimately it was Kizer who came out with the ball. Four plays later, sophomore kicker Justin Yoon hit a 23-yard field goal to give the Irish the lead with 30 seconds left.

Miami’s final drive went just 16 yards and ended when time expired after Morgan sacked Kaaya for a six-yard loss on third-and-two near midfield, preserving an improbable victory for the Irish.

“I just missed the feeling of winning,” Kizer said. “It was somewhere we want to be for the rest of the season.”

Notre Dame held Miami (4-4) to 306 yards and Kaaya to just 26-of-42 passing. The Hurricanes were able to run for just 18 total yards on 35 carries (though lost yardage via sacks counts toward that total).

“It was a complete effort from a defensive standpoint,” Kelly said. “There are things we can do better, there’s no question, but I thought the run defense was solid. We got our hands on balls and pass break-ups and deflections. And we pressured the quarterback. A lot of good things happened out there today defensively.”

Jones was a huge part of the Irish defensive effort. He finished with seven tackles, six tackles for loss and a sack. Kelly awarded the Rochester, N.Y., native the game ball for his effort.

Morgan also had a strong defensive game, tallying nine tackles, three tackles for loss and two sacks. Junior safety Drue Tranquill also finished with nine tackles.

Overall, Notre Dame finished with five sacks, 12 tackles for loss, a first-quarter interception by senior cornerback Cole Luke that set up a touchdown and eight passes broken up.

“We do sack the quarterback here at Notre Dame,” Kelly said. “If you want to go direct snap and drop back, we can get to you.

“Now, if you just catch it and throw it, it’s hard to get to you.”

Notre Dame built its lead in the first half through the air. Kizer found senior wide receiver Torii Hunter Jr. for a five-yard touchdown on the game’s first drive to take a 7-0 lead. Yoon hit a 37-yard field goal on its second possession to make it 10-0. On Notre Dame’s third drive, Kizer found sophomore wide receiver Equanimeous St. Brown for a 14-yard touchdown, boosting the lead to 17-0 out of the gate.

First-year Miami head coach Mark Richt said it didn’t take a dramatic halftime speech to turn the game around.

“The coaching staff did a good job of painting a picture of what could happen,” Richt said. “Just fight. See what happens. We knew if we would fight and execute it, we’d have a chance to get back in this thing, which we did.

“We did more than that, quite frankly.”

But in the end, it was Notre Dame making a few plays, something the Irish had failed to do during close losses this season.

It was a matter of being decisive.

“Our whole football team had been battling at times being indecisive in certain areas, whether we were indecisive at the quarterback position, whether we were indecisive as a play caller, whether we were indecisive at the cornerback position, indecisiveness kind of put us where we are today,” Kelly said.

“The word that we were using was let’s be decisive in everything that we do.

“There’s still some indecisiveness that is lingering. It’s slowly leaving, and the opposite of that is being decisive and confident in what we’re doing. And we have to be more confident. We’ve got really good players that care a lot, that have a lot of pride in what they do every single day. I just have to reinforce with those guys to be more decisive.

“They’re coming from the other end of that, being indecisive. They’re getting closer to being decisive.”

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