Career High Passing Yards Not A Good Thing At Notre Dame

We interrupt the emphasized news on Notre Dame’s firing of defensive coordinator Brian VanGorder and how seventh-year head coach Brian Kelly and his entire staff suddenly find themselves on the hot seat to bring you this bulletin.

For the second week in a row, junior quarterback DeShone Kizer passed for a career high yardage total at Notre Dame. Alas, the Fighting Irish also lost both contests, 36-28 to Michigan State on Sept. 17 to Michigan State and then 38-35 to Duke this past weekend to drop to 1-3.

While Kizer’s career passing marks might be viewed as a “positive” on the surface, it’s usually been a negative when the Notre Dame quarterback is setting these kind of standards.

One, a lot of passing yardage means you usually are in constant catch-up mode — like Notre Dame was when it fell behind Michigan State, 36-7. Kizer finished with 344 yards passing while the Irish managed just 57 yards on the ground.

Two, it means your ground attack is either relatively dormant or had to be scrapped. It wasn’t as bad against Duke as it was versus the Spartans, but the Irish managed a modest 153 yards on the ground against one of the lighter opponents on their slate.

Kizer passed for 381 yards by completing 22 of his 37 passes, but he missed on numerous opportunities, threw the interception late that set up Duke’s winning score and was not at his sharpest overall.

“Below standard,” said Kelly of his quarterback’s performance. “It’s not acceptable, his play.”

For two weeks in a row now, Kizer is the 15th Notre Dame regular starting quarterback — that we know of since 1955 — whose career high passing yardage so far occurred in a loss. Here are the other 14 to our knowledge:

Paul Hornung 283 (1955 USC) — The Trojans won, 42-20. Irish receiver Jim Morse, who funded Notre Dame’s current FieldTurf, averaged an NCAA single game record 41.6 yards by totaling 208 yards on five grabs.

George Izo 326 (1958 vs. Pitt) — The No. 2 overall pick in the 1960 NFL Draft came off the bench to throw for the most yards in an NCAA game in several years, but Notre Dame came up short in a 29-26 loss.

Terry Hanratty 366 (1967 vs. Purdue) —His 63 pass attempts (29 completions) are still a single game school record, but the Irish fell 28-21 in West Lafayette.

Joe Theismann 526 (1970 vs. USC) — The 9-0 Irish fell behind 21-7 and 38-14 in a monsoon, so Theismann had to keep flinging it, finishing 33 of 58 for 526 yards (the school record). It also came with four interceptions and a lost fumble in his own end zone.

Joe Montana 358 (1978 USC) — Trailing 24-6 with 12 minutes left, Montana put on a sizzling fourth quarter against the co-national champs by completing 11 of 15 for 196 yards in that quarter alone to take a 25-24 lead with 46 seconds left before a controversial call enabled USC to pull out a 27-25 win.

Blair Kiel 285 (1983 Air Force) — In his final home game, the senior replaced struggling freshman Steve Beuerlein and guided the Irish to a 22-10 lead before the Falcons rallied to a 23-22 win. Notre Dame had a 31-yard field goal blocked on its final play.

Steve Beuerlein 311 (1986 Penn State) — Like Kiel, this was Beuerlein’s final home game, and he was magnificent against that year’s national champs before the Nittany Lions made a late goal-line stand to win, 24-19.

Kevin McDougal 261 (1993 Boston College) — Speaking of final home games … McDougal and the 10-0 and No. 1 Irish rallied from a 38-17 fourth quarter deficit to take a 39-38 lead before the Eagles kicked a field goal as time expired. (It has never been quite the same since then.)

Ron Powlus 293 (1997 Purdue) — The fifth-year senior saw an 11-game winning streak against the Boilermakers end, 28-17. Notre Dame’s Bob Davie and Purdue’s Joe Tiller were both first-year head coaches at their respective schools.

Jarious Jackson 317 (1999 Pitt) — Another fifth-year senior set numerous school records during this 5-7 season, but this 37-27 loss was part of a four-game losing streak to end the season.

Brady Quinn 487 (2005 Michigan State) — Like McDougal in 1993, Quinn rallied Notre Dame from a 38-17 deficit, but the Irish ending up losing 44-41 in overtime.

Jimmy Clausen 452 (2009 Navy) — The beginning of the end for fifth-year head coach Charlie Weis. Notre Dame was 6-2, but this 23-21 loss to the Midshipmen began a four-game losing streak to end the season.

Dayne Crist 369 (2010 Michigan State) — Just like five years earlier with Quinn, Notre Dame lost in overtime to the Spartans, 34-31, this time on a fake field goal play known as “Little Giants.”

Everett Golson 446 (2014 Arizona State) — Like five years earlier with Weis, this 55-31 loss began a four-game losing streak for the Irish. Notre Dame trailed 34-3 before closing to within 34-31 at one point.

And now, back to our regularly scheduled programming on Kelly and his future.

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