As I stood cheering on my Fighting Irish at their night opener against Texas, I had high aspirations not only for the team in 2016 but especially for our young, determined quarterback Malik Zaire. While the Texas game was just the second time Malik Zaire had started a game for the Irish, the future had looked bright as he saw a majority of the playing time over Everett Golson in the Music City Bowl where the Irish beat the LSU Tigers 31-28 with a dramatic winning field goal off the leg of Kyle Brindza.
Against Texas Zaire and the Notre Dame offense put up 38 points on a Texas defense that would hold Oklahoma to only 17 points a month later.