College Football Stories

Hook ’em. Play like a champion. Burnt orange. Golden domes. Two of the all-time winningest programs in college football played an absolute banger of a game on September 4th, 2016, in Austin, Texas. Brian Kelly and the tenth-ranked Notre Dame Fighting Irish rolled into town as four point favorites over Charlie Strong’s Texas Longhorns. This game lived up to the hype surrounding it, and then some.

Texas

Texas came into 2016 with hopes of rebounding from a poor finish in the previous season. The Longhorns went 5-7 and missed a bowl game for the first time since 2010. One of the seven losses was a 38-3 beatdown from the Irish in South Bend, Indiana. Texas named true freshman Shane Buechele the starting quarterback over the incumbent, senior Tyrone Swoopes. Running back D’Onta Foreman and wide receiver John Burt returned as Buechele’s weapons. Third-string QB Jerrod Heard switched positions to wide receiver prior to fall camp.

On defense, the Longhorns returned linebacker Malik Jefferson, a reigning freshman All-American. Much of this Texas defense was made up of talented but relatively inexperienced players. Defensive backs Holton Hill, Kris Boyd, and DeShon Elliott were all in their sophomore seasons in defensive coordinator Vance Bedford’s scheme. Nose tackle Poona Ford was a 300-pounder hoping to plug up the middle of the defensive line. Edge rusher Charles Omenihu was a 6-foot-5-inch, 280-pound sophomore waiting to be unleashed on opposing quarterbacks.

Notre Dame

Kelly’s squad was trying to build off a successful 2015 campaign that saw the Irish finish 10-3 with a Fiesta Bowl appearance against Ohio State. Notre Dame’s two regular season losses were to top-12 ranked teams by a combined four points. They finished ranked No. 11 in the final AP Poll.

The Irish had a quarterback competition that lasted right up until kickoff of the Texas game. Junior DeShone Kizer and senior Malik Zaire would battle all fall camp, with Kizer ultimately getting the nod against the Longhorns. C.J. Sanders and Equanimeous St. Brown led a talented receiver room that included the son of an outstanding American League center fielder. The Irish also returned formidable running backs Josh Adams and Tarean Folston.

Defensively, Isaac Rochell, Jarron Jones, and Jerry Tillery were expected to hold down the defensive front. Linebackers Nyles Morgan and James Onwualu would be tabbed to replace the production of Jaylon Smith, who was drafted in the second round of the 2016 NFL Draft by the Dallas Cowboys. The secondary was led by senior and third-year starting cornerback Cole Luke.

First Quarter

Texas kicked off to the Irish to start the game in front of 102,000 fans at Darrell K. Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium. ESPN’s Joe Tessitore and Todd Blackledge were on the call. On the second play of the Irish drive, Folston hit the first of many explosive plays to come as he took Kizer’s read option handoff 54-yards down inside the Texas 25-yard line. Three plays later, Folston converted a third-down after a five-yard carry to the Texas 13-yard line. From there, Kizer found St. Brown in the corner of the end zone for the game’s first score. Kizer put the ball where only the 6-foot-5-inch St. Brown could reach it. The Irish led 7-0 at the 12:28 mark in the first quarter.

The Longhorns first drive started quickly. Texas was operating at a very fast tempo under first-year offensive coordinator Sterlin Gilbert. Foreman broke off two quick runs to get Texas to the 44-yard line. Buechele’s first career pass was a completion to WR John Burt for a gain of 13-yards. He found Burt later on the drive to convert a third-and-two to the Irish 35-yard line. Foreman converted a fourth-and-one with a two-yard rush to the Notre Dame 19-yard line. On the next play, Texas got on the score board with a 19-yard touchdown pass from Buechele to D’Onta’s twin brother, WR Armanti Foreman. We had a 7-7 ball game with 9:30 to play in the first quarter.

Second Quarter

The remainder of the first quarter did not involve many fireworks. Each team had two possessions and could not move the chains. The Irish were on the move early in the second period after starting the drive at their own 13-yard line. Zaire came in at quarterback to replace Kizer for a spell. Folston and Adams split carries on the drive. Zaire found Adams for 15-yards and a first down on third-and-seven. The Irish marched 41-yards in 11 plays to make it just past midfield before a penalty killed the drive. Notre Dame’s Tyler Newsome pinned the Longhorns at their own 12-yard line with a timely punt.

Swoopes came in at quarterback for the Longhorns at the 12-minute mark in the second quarter. The 6-foot-4-inch, 240-pound senior carried the ball five times for 30-yards on the drive. Foreman also had five rushes on the possession, gaining 22 yards. Buechele came back out later in the drive and hit WR Jake Oliver for completions of 21- and 10-yards. Buechele put the Horns up 14-7 after a QB sneak for a touchdown with just over seven minutes remaining in the half.

The Irish would answer after Kizer returned at QB on Notre Dame’s next drive. He found WR Torii Hunter, Jr. on first down for a gain of 19-yards. Later, on third-and-13 from their own 41, he completed a 15-yard pass to St. Brown. After a 13-yard QB draw to get down to the Texas 30-yard line, Kizer found St. Brown again for a score. St. Brown caught Kizer’s pass near the 10-yard line, and after bouncing off a would-be tackler, used his right hand to quasi-cartwheel himself into the end zone. With under four minutes to play in the first half, the Irish and Horns were tied at 14.

The first half fireworks were not done, as the Longhorns re-captured the lead after an 7-play, 80-yard drive. Buechele found quarterback-converted-wide receiver Jerrod Heard for a gain of 68-yards to get the ball inside the Irish 1-yard line. Swoopes found the end zone three plays later on a QB keeper and Texas led 21-14 with more than a minute remaining until halftime. The Irish couldn’t do anything on their next drive and went into the locker room trailing by a touchdown.

The first half numbers showed us exactly what our eyes had witnessed: both offenses were executing efficiently. Texas had 248 total yards, Notre Dame had 238. Each team had 12 first downs, no turnovers, no back breaking penalties, no special teams gaffes; everything looked to be running smoothly. Certainly nothing weird would happen in the second half, right?

Third Quarter

Texas electrified the DKR crowd as Buechele found Burt for a 72-yard touchdown pass on the second play of the third quarter. The Longhorns led 28-14 in the blink of an eye after Burt smoked Irish CB Nick Coleman off the line of scrimmage. Things appeared to be falling apart for Kelly’s Irish team as Zaire took the field at signal caller on the ensuing possession. Zaire took a big sack on third-down before Notre Dame punted the ball back to Texas with 12:15 remaining in the third quarter.

Texas held onto the ball for three minutes, and aided by three defensive penalties from Notre Dame, moved all the way inside the Irish 10-yard line. Buechele missed Oliver on a third-down pass into the end zone, and Texas settled for a Trent Domingue 25-yard field goal. The Horns led 31-14 with 9:14 left in the third period.

The Irish responded with a quick, 4-play, 61-yard touchdown drive. Kizer started off the possession with a 5-yard rush on the read option. Adams gained ten yards of his own on the ground. Kizer’s favorite target St. Brown picked up 17-yards on an inside post route. Kizer took it in himself on the next play, a 29-yard run on the option keeper. The Irish were still in this game after cutting the Longhorn lead to 10 with under eight minutes left to play in the quarter.

Texas started to implode on the ensuing kickoff. A personal foul call backed the Longhorns up to their own 10-yard line. After two minimal rushes from Swoopes, Texas made the game’s first major error. Buechele’s pass intended for WR Jacorey Warrick was tipped and intercepted by Irish CB Shaun Crawford, who returned the ball to the Texas 6-yard line. Three plays later, Kizer found Hunter, Jr. for a touchdown. The Longhorns led 31-28 with under five to play in the third.

Buechele and the Horns went three-and-out on their next drive. Texas punter Michael Dickson flipped the field with a 40-yard punt, and the Irish took over from their own 27-yard line. Kizer found Folston and Sanders for completions of 17- and 24-yards, respectively. Kizer added 12 yards rushing on the drive to get the Irish down to the red zone. On second-and-eight from the 15-yard line, a completion to Hunter, Jr. was wiped out due to an offensive holding call on Sanders.

The next two Irish plays were almost touchdowns. Hunter, Jr.’s throwback pass to Kizer near the corner of the end zone was just out of reach. On the next play, Kizer’s pass to Hunter, Jr. in the end zone was dropped after Longhorns’ safety DeShon Elliott dislodged the ball on a vicious but clean hit. The Texas defense stiffened and forced a 36-yard Justin Yoon field goal attempt. The Longhorns blocked the kick, and took over at their own 20-yard line with less than a minute left in the third period.

Fourth Quarter

A false start on second-and-one put Texas’ offense behind schedule. They couldn’t recover and went three-and-out for the second straight drive. Dickson bombed a 58-yard punt, but Sanders returned the kick 40-yards to the Longhorns’ 28-yard line. Notre Dame regained the lead after the 7-play drive culminated with a beautiful 17-yard touchdown pass to Adams on a wheel route. The Irish were up 35-31 under 11 minutes to play in the fourth quarter.

The two teams traded punts on each of their next drives. Then, starting at the five-minute mark in the fourth period, things got weird. Texas’ drive went 8-plays and 68-yards in under two minutes. Buechele completed three passes for 27 yards, and D’Onta Foreman gained 30 more on the ground. Foreman’s 19-yard touchdown run took the lead for the Longhorns with 3:29 left in regulation. On the ensuing point-after attempt, Domingue’s try was blocked by Notre Dame, picked up by Irish defensive back Shaun Crawford, and returned for two points. In one of the stranger ways imaginable, the score was tied 37-37 with under three and a half minutes to go.

Overtime

The last meaningful drives for each team ended with punts. We had free football in Austin! Texas went on offense first in extra time. Buechele found Warrick for a gain of 20-yards to the 5-yard line. Three plays later, Texas found the end zone running the read option in the “18-wheeler” package with Swoopes at QB. Domingue’s kick was true and the Horns led 44-37.

The Irish responded quickly after Kizer found Sanders for a touchdown on a well-designed wide receiver screen. The score was tied at 44 after the first overtime. In the second OT, Notre Dame was unable to convert a first down and Yoon was brought on to kick a field goal. Texas took over needing a field goal to extend the game or a touchdown to win it.

Foreman and Buechele traded carries on the first two plays of the drive to set up a third-and-one from the 16-yard line. Enter the 18-wheeler Swoopes. The big body signal-caller gained 10-yards to get down to the 6-yard line, doling out some punishment to defenders along the way. Two plays later, Swoopes won the game for the Longhorns after diving into the end zone for the score. Texas was *BACK.

*They were, in fact, not back. But we’ll get to that.

Final stats looked like this: 517 total yards for Texas, 444 for Notre Dame. Each team ran for over 200 yards, each team was close to a 50% conversion rate on third and fourth downs, and there was only one combined turnover. After a relatively clean first half, penalties started showing up for both teams late in this game. Texas finished with 11 flags for 104 yards, while the Irish had 8 infractions of their own. The gaffes on special teams (big punt return by Notre Dame, blocked kicks, etc.) contributed to the madness that ensued in the second half. Kizer threw five touchdown passes, while Buechele exceeded expectations in his first collegiate start.

Aftermath

The game delivered an all-timer between two of the bluest blue bloods in college football. Most fans thought that it was a sign of good things to come from both teams that season. We were all so, so wrong. The Irish finished 4-8, their worst record since 2007. Notre Dame went 2-4 at home, including losses to Duke and Stanford. Kizer threw 26 passes in a 10-3 loss to the NC State Wolfpack in a literal hurricane. The only bright spot of the year for the Irish was defeating Miami at home in late October. They followed that up by losing an annual rivalry game to Navy for only the fourth time since 1963.

Texas climbed to No. 11 in the AP Poll after their signature win over Notre Dame. After taking down UTEP at home in Week 2, the Longhorns lost three in a row, including a 45-40 loss to arch rival Oklahoma in the Red River Shootout. After getting to 5-4 heading into Veterans Day Weekend, Texas lost their remaining three games to miss out a bowl appearance for the second year in a row. Included in that streak was Texas’ first loss to the Kansas Jayhawks since prior to World War II. Charlie Strong was fired at the season’s end after three failed seasons in Austin.

Brian Kelly kept his job at Notre Dame and eventually turned the Irish into a consistent winner for the remainder of his time there. Kelly’s Irish team went 54-10 from 2017 to 2021, with two appearances in the CFP. Texas hired Tom Herman away from the Houston Cougars after firing Strong. Herman went 32-18 in four seasons with the Longhorns, including a 1-4 record against Oklahoma and zero conference championships or CFP appearances.