Texas Rallies To Defeat Notre Dame in Double Overtime, 50-47

AUSTIN, Texas — For a while it looked like the largest Notre Dame comeback victory in more than 30 years.

When the contest was over, a 50-47 double-overtime loss to the Texas Longhorns stung just like the other 23 defeats in head coach Brian Kelly’s seven years with the Irish.

“There are no moral victories. Losing is losing,” Kelly said. “We worked too hard, we sacrificed too much to feel good in any way about losing a football game.”

Imposing Texas senior backup quarterback Tyrone Swoopes — the same player that finished just 7-of-22 passing for 93 yards against the Irish in 2015 — ran for a six-yard touchdown in the second overtime period to lift Texas to a dramatic win over the 10th-ranked Notre Dame, capping a wild back-and-forth evening at Darryl K. Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium.

Not even five passing touchdowns from Notre Dame junior quarterback DeShone Kizer could lift the Irish in front of a Texas-record crowd of 102,315.

Kizer split time with senior Malik Zaire in the first half, a rotation Kelly abandoned after halftime while Notre Dame gained steam. Trailing 31-14 in the third quarter, the Irish scored touchdowns on three of their next four possession to take a 35-31 lead.

“Everybody just figured out that it’s not a big deal that we’re playing down here,” senior left tackle Mike McGlinchey said. “It’s obviously a huge game and everything like that, but once you realize that it’s just a football game, that’s when it gets easier to start playing football.”

The Longhorns responded, and with 3:29 remaining in the game, junior running back D’Onta Foreman ran for a 19-yard touchdown to give Texas a 37-35 lead. The extra point was blocked by Irish fifth-year senior defensive tackle Jarron Jones and returned for two points by sophomore cornerback Shaun Crawford to tie the game at 37-37.

In the first overtime, Texas had possession first and Swoopes scored on a three-yard run to make it 44-37. It took only one play and a Justin Yoon extra point for Notre Dame to tie the contest, with sophomore slot receiver C.J. Sanders taking a middle screen from Kizer and navigating through the defense for a 25-yard score.

Notre Dame took a 47-44 lead in the second overtime on a 39-yard Yoon field goal, but the Longhorns answered five plays later, keeping it on the ground with Swoopes on the final three plays, highlighted by an 11-yard run to the Irish 5-yard line in which he ran through several defenders.

“Get Swoopes in there and let’s run behind him,” Texas head coach Charlie Strong said. “You see that one run; he ran over two guys.”

Texas’ revived offense was on display with true freshman quarterback Shane Buechele. After tallying just 163 yards in a 38-3 loss to the Irish last season, the Longhorns outgained Notre Dame 517-444, including a 237-206 advantage on the ground.

Senior running back Tarean Folston ran for 88 yards on 18 carries for the Irish, while sophomore running back Josh Adams had 11 carries for 43 yards.

Buechele completed 16 of 26 passes for 280 yards with two touchdowns, and also had a rushing score. But when the Longhorns were faced with critical short-yardage plays late in the game, Swoopes was a wrecking ball Notre Dame couldn’t stop.

“Swoopes is obviously very difficult to tackle. He’s a big physical player,” Kelly said. “Clearly we were not in some positions to make some tackles. When we were, they ran through some tackles as well.”

Zaire played three series for Notre Dame and was largely ineffective, finishing 2-of-5 passing for 23 yards and carrying three times for no yards.

Texas took its largest lead of the game at 31-14 on a field goal with 9:14 left in the third quarter. The Longhorns scored the opening 10 points of the second half, including a 72-yard touchdown pass from Buechele to sophomore wide receiver John Burt.

Even faced with a daunting hole, Notre Dame fought back.

“I’m proud of the resiliency they showed on the road down 17 points in the second half,” Kelly said. “That’s something that we can really build on.”

Kizer (29-yard run), Torii Hunter Jr. (five-yard catch) and Adams (17-yard reception) did the scoring in the Irish comeback, which was also sparked by a Crawford interception.

“Anytime you come out here and compete as hard as we do and not come out with a victory is kind of a tough time,” said Kizer, who completed 15 of 24 passes for 215 yards with five scores and no interceptions, while also rushing for 77 yards and a touchdown. “Obviously this is a great team. We put a lot of heart out there. To come back from the deficit that we did in the second half is a plus, but to come up short really hurts.”

Notre Dame opened the game with a 78-yard scoring drive with Kizer at quarterback, capped by a 13-yard touchdown catch by sophomore Equanimeous St. Brown to make it 7-0 with 12:28 left in the first quarter.

Texas responded with a 75-yard scoring drive of its own. Buechele found junior wide receiver Armanti Foreman for a 19-yard touchdown to tie the game at 7-7 with 9:30 remaining in the first quarter. Foreman, falling to the ground in front of the Notre Dame section of fans, hauled in the pass under tight coverage from senior cornerback Cole Luke.

Notre Dame was ineffective on its next three drives, and with 12:26 left in the first half, Buechele and Swoopes led a 16-play, 88-yard touchdown drive to take a 14-7 lead. Buechele finished the drive with a one-yard touchdown run.

The lead didn’t last long. With Kizer at quarterback, the Irish responded with a 75-yard scoring drive. St. Brown caught his second touchdown of the game, a 30-yard reception up the seam while tumbling into the end zone to make it 14-14 with 3:40 remaining in the half. St. Brown finished with five catches for 75 yards.

Notre Dame’s defense, though, could not get Texas off the field. Sparked by a 68-yard connection from Buechele to former quarterback Jerrod Heard, Texas took a 21-14 lead with 1:12 left in the half on a Swoopes one-yard touchdown run.

Kelly took some of the blame for the team-wide issues.

“We have to coach better. We’ve got to be better as coaches,” Kelly said. “It starts with me and our staff coaching better and then our players have to do their job.

“We do that, and we’ve got some really key ingredients to this football team that as a head coach you really want.”