Sunday, September 4, 2016 07:30 PM (ET)

Swoopes, Longhorns slip past Irish in 2nd OT

The Sports Xchange
Sep 5, 2016

AUSTIN, Texas -- Backup quarterback Tyrone Swoopes scored on a 6-yard keeper in the second overtime to propel Texas past 10th-ranked Notre Dame 50-47 Sunday night before a stadium-record crowd of 102,315 at Darrell K. Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium.

Swoopes scored on a 3-yard keeper on the first possession of overtime, and Notre Dame immediately answered with a 25-yard touchdown pass from DeShone Kizer to C.J. Sanders to send the game to a second overtime.

After Justin Yoon gave the Fighting Irish a 47-44 lead with a 39-yard field goal on Notre Dame's next possession, Texas took over and marched to the winning touchdown, with Swoopes doing the majority of the damage.

Notre Dame roared from behind in the final quarter and a half behind Kizer's five touchdown passes. The Irish (0-1) sent the game into overtime when Jarron Jones blocked Texas' Trent Domingue's extra-point kick attempt after a 19-yard touchdown run by D'Onta Foreman and it was returned 88 yards for a two points by Shaun Crawford.

Kizer completed 15 of 24 passes for 215 yards and rushed for 77 yards and a touchdown. He was at his best when the Fighting Irish handed him the reins to their offense after splitting time with Malik Zaire (2-for-5, 23 yards) through the first series of the third quarter.

Longhorns receiver John Burt had six catches for 111 yards and a touchdown. D'Onta Foreman ran for 131 yards and a touchdown on 24 carries.

Irish running back Tarean Folston gained 88 yards on 18 carries.

Notre Dame opened the game with Kizer at quarterback, and he drove the Fighting Irish 78 yards in six plays to a 13-yard touchdown pass to Equanimeous St. Brown and a 7-0 lead.

True freshman Shane Buechele got the starting quarterback nod for Texas and showed no signs of nerves in his first game at the collegiate level. He wound up 16-for-26 for 280 yards with two touchdowns and one interception. His 19-yard touchdown pass to Armanti Foreman at the end of the Longhorns' initial possession capped an 11-play, 75-yard march and tied the score at 7.

Texas took its first lead at 14-7 with 5:13 to play in the first half when Buechele lunged across the goal line from 1 yard at the end of a 16-play, 88-yard drive.

The Fighting Irish answered with Kizer's second scoring hookup to St. Brown, this time a 30-yard rocket down the left seam that tied the score at 14 with 3:29 to play in the half.

Texas went deep to grab the lead at intermission as Buechele found Jerrod Heard, who started 10 games at quarterback for the Longhorns last season, in stride for a 68-yard gain to the Notre Dame 1. Swoopes scooted around right end three snaps later to put the Longhorns up 21-14.

NOTES: Shane Buechele's father, former major league third baseman Steve Buechele, was given the day off from his day job as bench coach of the Texas Rangers to come and see his son run out on the field as the starting quarterback for the Longhorns. ... The Fighting Irish had their own starting quarterback question and settled for a platoon of every other series for Kizer and Zaire. That platoon held until Notre Dame's final possession of the first half. ... Former Texas basketball stars Tristan Thompson and Kevin Durant were recognized by the home crowd for their NBA championship and gold medal in the Rio Summer Olympics, respectively.
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