Brian Kelly Talks Quarterback Plan Against Texas

Brian Kelly, like most people analyzing Notre Dame’s season opener against Texas, realizes that all eyes will be on the Irish quarterback situation.

The seventh-year Notre Dame head coach said it’s important to not forget that a lot of other things could determine the outcome of Sunday’s game in Austin, Texas.

However, the rotation of junior DeShone Kizer and senior Malik Zaire — and how the two quarterbacks handle that dynamic — will likely have more impact on the final result than any other factor.

Kelly, who on Aug. 17 first stated publicly that both quarterbacks will play against the Longhorns, said he has not determined who the starter will be Sunday. That decision, he said, may be something the Irish discuss in the locker room pregame.

“It’s not really an issue for us right now. It’s not something that we contemplate,” Kelly said.

The rotation of the quarterbacks will go by feeling, Kelly said, not a hard-and-fast set of rules. The biggest determining factor will be how the Longhorns defend the Irish.

“We’re mostly focusing on what Texas wants to do and how we counter with our two quarterbacks and how we think they can effectively run our offense,” Kelly said. “There will probably be times where, ‘Man, that probably doesn’t feel good for his flow or tempo. That probably doesn’t work best for him.’

“What we’re trying to counter is the game within the game, and that is how Texas is trying to defend what we’re doing offensively. We’re going to run the quarterbacks as we see how the defense is playing us.

“Flow is important, rhythm is important, but if we get into a particular field zone that I think another quarterback will be more effective based on what Texas is doing, I may have to supersede the hot quarterback for the right person at the right time.”

Whether that’s the right approach will be determined on Sunday night. And though both quarterbacks will have to adjust to a new routine leading up to the game, Kelly said he’s not worried about Kizer and Zaire’s preparation.

Kelly also said that the two quarterbacks still don’t like the plan to split reps, but “they’ll do whatever is necessary to win and find a way to win the game.”

“Once they go through pregame, kick the ball off, we’re on the sideline and the game starts, they’ll be fine,” Kelly said. “When all the press conferences are over and we’re done talking about it, they’ll be fine.

“Leading up to it, they won’t be fine. When you guys get them [at interviews Wednesday], they won’t be fine with it. It’s just the nature of it — it’s not an ideal situation for either one of them. It’s best for our team that they both play.”

Kelly said he’s not sure how long the two-QB system will be in effect — “We’ll see how it plays out,” he said — but that it’ll depend on the performance against Texas.

“If they both play dynamically and they feed off of each other, my ideal situation would be — I’m playing them both because they’re both playmakers,” Kelly said. “If we can find a way that they both can feed off each other, help our offense to be the productive offense that we want it to be, I’d love to see them both play.

“Nobody seems to think that that can happen, but we’re going to give it a shot.”

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