Redshirt senior quarterback Taylor Kelly celebrates with redshirt senior left tackle Jamil Douglas after Kelly scored a touchdown against Notre Dame, Saturday, Nov. 8, 2014 at Sun Devil Stadium in Tempe. The Sun Devils beat the Fighting Irish 55-31. (Photo by Ben Moffat)With seconds left on the clock, ASU football was up three scores and had the ball inside the Notre Dame 10. The Sun Devils ran the ball three times, allowing the clock to tick down. On fourth down, ASU could have kicked a field goal. It could have handed the ball to junior D.J. Foster or freshman Demario Richard again.
Instead, the Sun Devils let their redshirt senior quarterback put a cherry on top of his welcome back to form sundae.
Taylor Kelly faked the handoff to Foster, which in turn faked out all 11 Fighting Irish defenders, and Kelly took off for the end zone, pointing the ball toward the sky. The two-yard touchdown run capped off a classic Taylor Kelly game.
The Sun Devils' leader threw for 224 yards and three touchdowns on 17-of-28 passing. He also presented a much-needed threat on the ground. Although he only accounted for 18 yards, Kelly kept the Irish defense on its feet on read options.
That opened up running lanes for Foster and Richard, who finished with 170 combined yards.
Kelly hadn't been himself in his first two games back from a right foot injury. In his return against Washington, Kelly was affected by the wind and rain, and wasn't able to reestablish his chemistry with redshirt junior receiver Jaelen Strong. Against Utah, Kelly led ASU's offense to just 19 points.
"Those first two games," Kelly said, "getting the timing down in your head with the rush and different routes (was difficult)."
The stat sheet doesn't look tremendously better against Notre Dame than it did since his return.
Kelly averaged 192.5 passing yards in the two previews games and he only topped that by 31.5 yards on Saturday. He's thrown an interception in three straight games after not throwing any before getting hurt. He's averaged 31 rushing yards since his return and he actually had 13 yards less than that average against Notre Dame.
But something was different. The Sun Devils were able to move the ball consistently. Kelly could have kept the ball or handed it off on multiple occasions, and the play still would have been positive.
Despite missing his receivers deep on a couple plays, Kelly looked to be in rhythm with his receivers. He even connected on two 40-plus yard passes.
"I did a great job in practice this week in individuals working on my timing with my feet, speeding that up," Kelly said. "That helped me a lot sitting in the pocket and trusting my eyes."
The Sun Devils are more than just Taylor Kelly. They're more than just Taylor Kelly and Jaelen Strong. That's what has gotten them to 8-1. Kelly didn't play during the most crucial three-game stretch of the season, and ASU went 2-1. That's been the message from the team, and it holds true.
Still, there's no question ASU is better with a healthy, confident Kelly than a hobbled and humbled one. Saturday's performance bodes well for the remaining three (or four, five or six) games.
Reach the reporter at ewebeck@asu.edu or follow him on Twitter @EvanWebeck
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