DeShone Kizer By Quarter

A major reason for Notre Dame’s issues in the second half against Virginia Tech was the struggling passing game.

Though Irish head coach Brian Kelly said Sunday that in hindsight he should’ve called more passing plays for junior quarterback DeShone Kizer, the fourth-quarter comeback by the Hokies was sparked by four three-and-out drives by the Notre Dame offense.

Kizer was just 3-of-15 passing in the second half, a miserable stat line that came on the heels of a 13-of-18 performance in the first half. Notre Dame was plagued by poor blitz pickups and drops by the receivers.

The 6-4½, 230-pound NFL prospect explained the second-half struggles after the game.

“Their defensive coordinator [Bud Foster] is among the best of them and they made a couple adjustments in the second half that made our game plan become, it wasn’t unsuccessful,” Kizer said. “There was a couple situations in which the balls that we expected to be wide open were going to be contested. And as quarterback, I have to make sure that those balls are in a position for our guys to catch it.

“And as far as running the ball myself, I have to make a couple better reads in those situations when they do make their adjustment.”

Kizer has not found much success in the second half of games this year. In the first half of Notre Dame’s 11 games, he’s completed 65.2 percent of his 184 attempts. In the second half, he’s completed just 51.7 percent of his 143 attempts.

In the fourth quarter he’s been especially bad, hitting on just 49.4 percent of his 77 passes with three touchdowns and one interception. In 2015, his first season as the starter, Kizer completed 65.9 percent of his fourth-quarter attempts with seven touchdowns and one interception.

Overall this season, Kizer’s completion percentage is down (62.9 to 59.3), though he’s already thrown 24 touchdowns (compared to 21 last season).

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