Notre Dame Football Suffers Loss of Malik Zaire in Comeback Victory Over Virginia

The Notre Dame Fighting Irish scored a touchdown with 0:12 left in the fourth quarter to avoid an upset at the hands of the Virginia Cavaliers. Quarterback DeShone Kizer threw a 39-yard touchdown pass to wide receiver Will Fuller with the Irish down 27-26, then Kizer hit Torii Hunter Jr. (yes his father is the baseball player) for the ensuing two-point conversion to allow the team to escape Charlottesville with a 34-27 victory.

Everything sounds great for the Irish. The team withstood a great effort from a game Cavaliers team and found a way to win to stay undefeated and keep their playoff hopes alive. South Bend should’ve been excited with the comeback victory that saved their season, but that wasn’t exactly the case because of this:

Here’s the injury that’s taken Malik Zaire to the locker room. It’s his right ankle and it does not bend correctly. pic.twitter.com/wZK3l6QEW1

— Dr. Saturday (@YahooDrSaturday) September 12, 2015

Starting quarterback Malik Zaire suffered a broken right ankle on that play and will miss the rest of the season according to head coach Brian Kelly. Zaire had Notre Dame fans thinking College Football Playoffs this season after Kelly named him the starting quarterback over Everett Golson in the spring. Golson then transferred to Florida State which leaves the Irish to rely on the sophomore Kizer for the rest of the way.

So while the Irish showed great fight and mettle to comeback and beat the Cavaliers on Saturday, the team still suffered a loss that will likely end any hopes of reaching the College Football Playoffs in 2015.

Jason Fletcher is a Senior Writer for www.RantSports.com. Follow him on Twitter @JasonFletcher25, “Like” him on Facebook, or add him to your network on Google+.