Longhorns Fall In Opener at No. 11 Notre Dame

By Steve Habel/Senior Editor

SOUTH BEND, Indiana — The only good thing about young and inexperienced football players is that they eventually get older and learn from their mistakes. That will have to be the future on which Texas hangs its hat after it was dismantled and dominated in every phase of the game in a 38-3 loss Saturday at 11th-ranked Notre Dame that was even more lopsided that the score indicates.

It was the first loss in a season-opener for Texas since a 23-20 defeat against North Carolina State in 1999.

For the youthful Longhorns, who started seven freshmen (five of them right out of high school) and 14 underclassmen among their top 24 players, the defeat was a lesson learned about how much more they need to work to gain purpose against the nation’s upper-tier teams.

But it has to get better than this, doesn’t it?

Notre Dame controlled [s2If current_user_can(access_s2member_level2)]the line of scrimmage on both offense and defense and took the Longhorns completely out of their game from the opening possession. The Fighting Irish’s offense — with junior quarterback Malik Zaire running the attack with precision and confidence — racked up 527 yards despite all but shutting things down with 11 minutes left.

Texas, meanwhile, managed only 163 total yards and had just one big play, a 48-yard pass from junior quarterback Tyrone Swoopes to true freshman John Burt early in the third quarter. That deep completion advanced the Longhorns to the Notre Dame 23-yard line and allowed for their only points of the game, a 41-yard field goal by Nick Rose.

“We weren’t able to establish the run enough to allow our line to protect Swoopes or to control their defensive line,” Texas coach Charlie Strong said. “We knew we had to win the game at the line of scrimmage and we didn’t.

“We are just a better football team than what we showed. We’ve just got to keep believing in it and our players have to keep believing in it because we can’t go out and not execute.”

Is Notre Dame really this good or was Texas just really bad?

Well, the Irish did have 19 starters back from a team that went 8-5 in 2014 and beat LSU in the Music City Bowl, and they did have a dangerous dual-treat quarterback — the kind that often seems to give the Longhorns trouble — in Zaire, who hit on 19 of 22 (86.4 percent) of his passes for 313 yards and three touchdowns.

And Texas did have two true freshmen starting in the offensive line, a group that was no match for the experienced Notre Dame defensive front.

“Singularly the biggest factor in the game is that Texas had a difficult time blocking our defensive front line,” Notre Dame coach Brian Kelly said. “You could tell that it was going to be difficult for Texas to run the football because we were constantly in the backfield.”

Notre Dame struck first at the 6:29 mark of the opening quarter on a 16-yard touchdown pass from Zaire to Will Fuller at the end of 55-yard drive. It was the first punch in the mouth for the young ‘Horns, but it wouldn’t be the last.

The Fighting Irish’s own true freshman, running back Josh Adams, rumbled home from 14 yards out to build Notre Dame’s lead to 14-0 with 1:02 remaining in the first quarter on a play that capped a nine-play, 95-yard drive.

Notre Dame added to its advantage in the waning minutes of the second quarter on a 38-yard field goal from Nick Yoon (another true freshman). Ross then missed from 52 yards on the final play of the half — after making two from that distance that were nullified by last-second timeouts from Kelly, allowing the Irish to take a 17-0 lead to halftime.

Texas had six possessions in the first half, none lasting longer than 2 minutes, 31 seconds. The Irish gained 230 yards in the first 30 minutes to the Longhorns’ 75 and had a 14-4 edge in first downs.

“The offense is new to all of us,” Swoopes said. “We just have to work more to find our rhythm and execute. We’ve learned a lot since last year— now we just have to find a way to bring it to the games.”

The deep Swoopes-to-Burt hookup and Rose’s subsequent field goal gave Texas fans a little hope that was quickly squashed by Zaire’s 66-yard touchdown pass to Fuller over Texas senior cornerback Duke Thomas, moving the Irish lead to 24-3 at the 5:50 mark of the third quarter.

Adams later raced untouched for 25 yards and his second touchdown of the game, and Zaire wrapped up Notre Dame’s opening-night package with a final six-yard scoring pass to Chris Brown three minutes into the fourth quarter.

“It’s a disappointing and surprising way to open the season, but we will build from this and make adjustments and get better,” Texas sophomore defensive end Naashon Hughes said. “Notre Dame was good, but we didn’t make the plays we needed to to win. We know the mistakes we made. It’s up to us to take charge and find the answers.”

Texas opens its home schedule Sept. 12 against Rice, a 56-16 winner Saturday against Wagner. Kickoff at Darrell K Royal Stadium is set for 7 p.m.

[/s2If] [s2If !current_user_can(access_s2member_level2)] [article-offer] [/s2If]