Throwback Thursday: Notre Dame Fighting Irish VS Texas Longhorns 2015

Welcome to another Throwback Thursday on OFD. Friends, sometimes a throwback game ain’t that old of a game. Some are just a seriously fun win, and this week we have one that was a legit party from start to finish.

2015: Notre Dame Fighting Irish 38, Texas Longhorns 3

Matt Cashore-USA TODAY Sports

It was the season opener for both teams and while the Longhorns were coming off of a blowout loss in the Texas Bowl to the Arkansas Razorbacks, the Irish finished their 2014 season with that exciting Music City Bowl win over the LSU Tigers.

No one had any delusions of Texas’s level of play, and the 11th ranked Irish were double digit favorites. A few notes...

• Malik Zaire was a magnificent magician at quarterback. He was 19-22 for 313 yards and 3 TD’s while his counterpart for Texas, Tyrone Swoopes, was 7-22 for 93 yards.
• Taurean Folston’s unfortunate injury early in the game allowed for the rise of C.J. Prosise and freshman Josh Adams.
• Adams scored the first TD of his career on his first carry, and then he added a second TD later on.
• Will Fuller burning dudes deep.
• Jaylon Smith Murder Train.
• Notre Dame’s all-time leading scorer got the first points of his career.
• Tyler Newsome KICKOFF.
• Praise for Brian VanGorder OH MY GOD.

It’s as I said before — it was a fun game. It’s easy to remember everyone’s excitement about Zaire, and the weird tragedy of his injury the following week against the Virginia Cavaliers. It was a whirlwind of emotion to start a season that was most likely Brian Kelly’s best ever team at Notre Dame.

The Irish weren’t two plays away from the playoffs in 2015, they were a warm body in place of BVG from the playoffs. But... I digress. Enjoy the game and remember that awesome feeling.