NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Before Notre Dame’s offense started its final possession with 5:41 left in Tuesday’s Music City Bowl, coach Brian Kelly gathered the team around him on the sideline.
“I told them, ‘We can’t give the ball back to them. We might lose.’ We have to get it done right now.”
And the Fighting Irish did it, methodically marching 71 yards on 14 plays to set up place-kicker Kyle Brindza for the winning 32-yard field goal that toppled No. 22 LSU 31-28.
Both Notre Dame quarterbacks — newly minted starter Malik Zaire and backup Everett Golson — came up with clutch plays on the drive. Golson completed 4 of 5 passes for 50 yards and Zaire rushed for 8 yards and a first down to the Tigers’ 14 with 42 seconds left.
One play and three timeouts later, the last two by LSU, Brindza calmly drilled the kick. That enabled the Fighting Irish to author a stirring finish to a seesaw season that hinted at a national championship until they went 1-5 in their last six games.
“When you work at something, you need to see the benefits of it,” Kelly said. “These guys have been working hard but not seeing the wins. Now they see the benefits of their work and that will help us going into 2015.”
Golson became a Heisman Trophy contender in the Fighting Irish’s 6-0 start and came within an offensive pass interference call of a dramatic last-second win at defending national champion Florida State on Oct. 25.
But Golson’s play fell off drastically down the stretch as he committed numerous turnovers. Kelly finally decided to start Zaire, a 6-foot, 210-pound sophomore, on Monday.
Zaire validated his coach’s choice with an excellent game. The left-hander threw for 96 yards and a touchdown on 12-of-15 passing while rushing for 96 yards and another score on 22 carries.
Most important, Zaire and Golson played a turnover-free game, allowing Notre Dame (8-5) to hog the ball for 37 minutes and gain 449 yards against the Tigers’ defense.
“We didn’t stop Notre Dame much in the first half at all,” LSU coach Les Miles said. “I thought they played very, very hard and they beat a good football team here today. We did the things offensively we should have done.”
Tigers freshman running back Leonard Fournette was superb, rushing for 143 yards and two touchdowns on just 11 carries. Fournette scored on an 8-yard run with five seconds left in the first quarter to tie the score at 7, then gave LSU its only lead in the third quarter with an untouched 89-yard run up the middle.
Fournette sandwiched those scores with a breathtaking 100-yard kickoff return with 10:52 left in the second quarter, requiring just 12 seconds to cover the distance.
“We didn’t want number 7 to touch the ball again,” Kelly said of his team’s last drive, “because if he had, we might have lost.”
But it was a score the Tigers (8-5) didn’t get that had Miles more than a little miffed after the game.
Holder Brad Kragthorpe appeared to break the goal line’s plane as he tried to score on a fake field goal run from the Fighting Irish 2 with five seconds left in the first half. Kragthorpe was ruled down at the 1 by Pac-12 officials, and the play was quickly sent upstairs for review.
However, replay official Dan Hill opted not to overturn the call, allowing Notre Dame to take a controversial 21-14 lead to halftime.
“The guy who carried the ball said he absolutely scored,” Miles said. “Kids will be kids, but this guy’s going to tell the truth. He’s going to tell it to you straight.”
LSU quarterback Anthony Jennings was 7 of 14 for 151 yards. His best moment came to start the second half as he found freshman wide receiver John Diarse open down the middle for a game-tying 75-yard touchdown pass.
But that play and Fournette’s brilliance weren’t enough to overcome the Fighting Irish’s two quarterbacks.
“I tried to use them for plays where I thought they had the best chance to execute,” Kelly said. “Zaire was our runner and Golson was our passer. We didn’t have a turnover, we were tough and smart. That’s how we need to play.”
NOTES: Notre Dame WR Will Fuller tied a school record with his 15th touchdown catch of the season in the first quarter. … LSU RB Leonard Fournette’s 100-yard kickoff return score in the second quarter was the first in the Music City Bowl since West Virginia’s Sean Terry went 99 yards against Ole Miss in 2000. … At one point in the first half, the Fighting Irish owned a 19:31-4:17 advantage in time of possession.