Notre Dame Football: All About The Yoon
SOUTH BEND — It was a rivalry renewed Saturday afternoon as the Miami Hurricanes took the field at Notre Dame Stadium for the first time since 1990. The Fighting Irish watched an early lead disappear, but before things became “All about the ‘U'”, the game ended up being all about the Yoon. Notre Dame’s sophomore kicker Justin Yoon hit a game-winning field goal in the final minute of the game to lift the Irish to a 30-27 victory.
Notre Dame jumped out to a 20-0 lead in the first half but Miami would claw back to tie things up 20-20 by the 12:30 mark in the fourth quarter. Later in the quarter the Notre Dame defense finally settled back in, forcing a Hurricane punt. Irish returner C.J Sanders mishandled the punt after directing teammates to clear the area. The ball bounced off of Sanders’ facemask inside the five-yard line and was recovered in the end zone by Michael Jackson for a Miami touchdown. The Canes had score 27 unanswered points and led by seven with 6:49 to play.
That gaffe on special teams was apparently the wake-up call the Irish needed. On the ensuing drive Notre Dame came back with a fast tempo and confidence in moving the ball. Josh Adams capped the drive with a 41-yard touchdown run to knot things up 27-27. A stout defensive effort got Note Dame the ball back and the Irish drove down to set Yoon up for the game-winner with just 30 seconds to play.
The Jekyll and Hyde performance from the Irish was bookended by stellar play to start and finish the game. Notre Dame’s defense held Miami to just 18 rushing yards on the day. Jarron Jones recorded six tackles for loss in the game, the most by an FBS player this season. Miami totaled 306 on offense while Notre Dame produced 411 yards.
“Dominant effort against a Power Five football team that was nationally ranked a few weeks ago,” said Notre Dame head coach Brian Kelly. “I think that’s about as good a performance that we’ve had in a while here. Jarron was outstanding. He was awarded the game ball.
“What I think stands out to me more than anything else is when your senior is playing his best ball. That says a lot about how he feels about coming to work every day, getting better, regardless of the record. I think that’s a real positive for our program and for him individually. He was a beast today out there.”
Offensively the Irish were led by Adams, who totaled 94 yards on the ground and averaged 7.8 yards per carry. In addition to the big scoring run, Adams was instrumental on the final offensive drive for the Irish as well, pickig up big gains to help milk the clock.
DeShone Kizer threw for 263 yards and two scores. The junior also ran for 31 yards. Torii Hunter Jr. and Equanimeous St. Brown had the two receiving scores for the Irish.
“Coach Kelly challenged me this week,” Kizer explained. “He told me we’re going to throw the ball around. We’re going to use as much quick plays as we possibly could to get ahead of the sticks, and we did. He said, hey, look, we don’t need to you go out and make crazy plays. These are all simple things. The only way is to have the mental toughness and the discipline to make the throws every time you need to.
Obviously, the second to last drive, I lost that. Coach Kelly came over and challenged me again. He said, I told you, those are the plays we have to make to win this game. Go out there the last drive and make those same plays, and that’s what leads us to victory.”
Kizer made a huge play on the team’s final offensive drive as he recovered a fumble inside the Miami five-yard line to preserve possession for the Irish. That gutsy effort is one that will stick with Kizer for a while.
“Yeah, it’s a lot down there,” Kizer said when asked about mental toughness in his decision to go to the bottom of the pile for the ball. “I feel like there’s only white jerseys all around me. That’s probably my favorite play of the season, going down there and doing what it takes to win for my team. There’s big guys down in there, but for a quarterback to be down in there, it’s awesome to come up big.”
Kizer could be seen and heard on the field after the victory telling teammates, “Finally!” The win snaps a two-game skid for the Irish and is something that Kizer and Notre Dame hope to use as a turning point moving forward.
“To take this, and a lot of this will be our motivation,” Kizer began. “You forget what it’s like to get out there and take the victory. You start taking the small things for granted. Now, having the setback we had in the first half, we learned not to take the small things for granted. Now having the “W,” it will allow us to get back to winning the way we need to.”
Miami was led offensively by Brad Kaaya’s 288 yards and one score threw the air. David Njoku had the receiving score for the Hurricanes. Mark Walton had Miami’s lone rushing score on the day.
Notre Dame improves to 3-5 on the season and will play rival Navy in Jacksonville next week. The No. 22 ranked Midshipmen were upset by South Florida 52-45 Saturday. Miami has now dropped its fourth game in a row and stands at 4-4 on the season. The Hurricanes host Pitt next weekend. Notre Dame now holds an 18-7-1 advantage over the Hurricanes in the all-time series between the two storied programs.