Malik Zaire was arguably his team's best player, a quarterback from Southwest Ohio and the leader of one of college football's most storied programs.
Fresh off a sophomore season in which he'd taken the reins of Notre Dame's offense midway through without looking back, Zaire blossomed into the starter at the position for the Fighting Irish. Then, the second week of the 2015 season, Zaire laid on the turf writhing in pain with an injury.
He suffered a fractured ankle in Notre Dame's eventual 34-27 win at Virginia, lost for the year.
Brian Kelly had lost his starting quarterback before his team had even made it out of September, a team that was supposed to compete for a national championship. Notre Dame's head coach called the win at Virginia "bittersweet," because of the price it came at with losing a budding star in Zaire.
Sound familiar?
Ohio State lost star quarterback Braxton Miller less than two weeks before its season opener in 2014 to a second shoulder surgery in eight months. Another quarterback from Southwest Ohio—Miller is from Huber Heights—the two-time Big Ten Player of the Year turned over the keys to redshirt sophomore J.T. Barrett. Barrett endured a loss to Virginia Tech in the home opener that year but then steadily improved under Urban Meyer and Tom Herman to put together one of the best statistical seasons in Ohio State history.
Then, Barrett got hurt in the regular season finale against Michigan, fracturing his ankle in a similar way as Zaire would 10 months later. Barrett and Ohio State turned to Cardale Jones that day against the Wolverines, who handed the ball off to Ezekiel Elliott to put the finishing touches on the win.
A week later, Jones had to step up and deliver in the Big Ten Championship Game against Wisconsin. He did, then had to do it again in the Sugar Bowl against No. 1 Alabama. He did then, too, in addition to the national title game against No. 2 Oregon.
The Buckeyes kept winning big even after losing not one, but two quarterbacks. Watching that happen on the way to a national championship in 2014, Kelly admitted he and his staff tried to instill the same kind of confidence in Zaire's backup, sophomore DeShone Kizer, to keep the wins coming.
"Urban had a similar situation last year," Kelly said Dec. 6 after it was announced the No. 7 Buckeyes would play the No. 8 Irish in the Fiesta Bowl. "We kind of stole a little bit of what they did last year: not making any excuses, just going and playing."
Kizer led the Irish to a victory against the Cavaliers that day in Charlottesville, and then eight more wins this season. He only lost twice, to No. 1 Clemson in a monsoon and No. 6 Stanford on a last-second field goal. Both losses came by two points apiece.
"I think it's one of those things that as coaches you hope that you've recruited well and prepared your backup quarterback to go in there," Kelly said. "But you never really know until they get the opportunity."
That also sounds familiar. Meyer expresses similar sentiments all the time when his players suffer injuries. Last season after both Miller and then Barrett went down, he spoke often about how quarterbacks are only as good as those players around them.
"The quarterback is an important cog," Meyer said in August 2014. "But that's exactly what it is – a cog. It's not the team."
Barrett's injury sidelined him after a historic season.
That's the similar sentiment Kelly looked to instill in his guys—especially Kizer— after turning to him following Zaire's injury.
"We knew DeShone's makeup, the kind of kid he was, the character he had," Kelly said. "He went in, made a lot of plays, gained confidence. As his confidence grew, we were able to add more to his plate. Really proud of the way he handled himself."
Kizer threw for 2,596 yards and 19 touchdowns against just nine interceptions in 2015. He also ran for 499 yards and nine touchdowns. Not quite the same numbers as Barrett last season (2,834 passing yards, 34 touchdowns, 10 interceptions, 938 rushing yards, 11 scores), but in a similar realm.
Kizer stepped up in 2015, just like Barrett and later Jones did for the Buckeyes in 2014. And that's who Ohio State will face New Year's Day at 1 p.m.
"The kids really responded to that, in particular DeShone did and was able to lead our football team to some big wins," Kelly said.
