CHARLOTTESVILLE — DeShone Kizer replaced the injured Malik Zaire and threw a 40-yard touchdown pass to Will Fuller with 12 seconds left on Saturday as No. 9 Notre Dame defeated Virginia, 34-27.
The last-minute victory was tempered when Notre Dame coach Brian Kelly said after the game that Zaire would be out for the season with a broken right ankle.
The injury happened a week after the Fighting Irish (2-0) lost their top running back, Tarean Folston, although they found a strong backup in C.J. Prosise.
Notre Dame lost the lead when Virginia scored with 1:54 remaining. With Zaire out, Virginia (0-2) had rallied, but Kizer rescued his team on the final drive.
He ran four yards for a first down on fourth-and-2 from the Notre Dame 28-yard line, and later found Fuller speeding behind Maurice Canady down the left sideline for the winning touchdown.
The game drew more than 58,000 to Scott Stadium, many of them in Fighting Irish green, and when the final gun sounded, the team gathered on the field for an impromptu celebration to the delight of the crowd.
Those same fans had been silenced only minutes before as Matt Johns completed a 34-yard pass on third-and-15 to put the ball at the Fighting Irish’s 1-yard line, and then Albert Reid took it in on the next play to give Virginia a 27-26 lead.
Johns threw for two touchdowns and ran for a third for Virginia, taking back momentum after Notre Dame opened a 26-14 lead. The Fighting Irish were seemingly one more score from putting the game away and sending fans for the exits, but instead, Johns led a six-play drive that ended with his four-yard touchdown run.
Notre Dame started to take control in the third quarter, after Virginia drove to the Fighting Irish’ 15-yard line and wound up settling for a 43-yard field goal try that missed. Following an exchange of punts, Zaire sent Will Fuller streaking down the right side and hit him with a perfectly thrown pass, a 59-yard touchdown that put Notre Dame back ahead, 19-14.
The lead increased to 26-14 after a three-play, 45-yard drive capped by Prosise’s 24-yard run, but the Fighting Irish lost Zaire when he appeared to roll the ankle on a designed run that gained just three yards. Zaire was helped off the field and later taken to the locker room on a cart, and Kizer went the rest of the way.
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