It might be overstating things, it might not, but it sure felt like Howard Cross saved what was left of Notre Dame’s season when he tipped a pass that Marist Liufau intercepted, sparking Notre Dame to finish a 41-24 victory over Syracuse. The win put a 7-5 season, which would’ve felt like a disaster 3 months ago but doesn’t seem so bad now, firmly on the table.
It was a game that ND was utterly dominating but, per usual, not putting away when Syracuse’s starting QB Garrett Shrader, already banged up, left the game, allowing the Orange to pluck the electrifying backup QB that everyone but Notre Dame seems to have off the bench and make things interesting. The Cuse had a 24-7 lead down to 24-17 when Cross made the game-changing play.
After that, ND finished things off the way they began – grinding the Orange into dust up front. The Irish picked up their second away-from-home ranked win, which is interesting because they still have yet to play a good game at their actual home. (I was at the UNLV game so you were spared an instant reaction that day. I would’ve had thoughts.)
Some quick thoughts on a nice win:
Audric Estime is back in the circle of trust
It was a bit of a scare to see Estime develop fumblitis this season, but equally nice to see him be put right back out there to start today’s game. And he displayed what makes him such a valuable piece to this Irish attack all day, going for 123 yards on 20 carries. The Orange defense wanted nothing to do with him at any point, and for good reason.
Audric Estime is now this man’s father pic.twitter.com/V6td15Pix4
— ivan (@ivancanfield) October 29, 2022
Logan Diggs had a fair day himself, gaining 85 yards, but Estime is this backfield’s best big-play threat (IMO) and it’s important he’s on the field a lot. Applause to the coaching staff for trusting him and Estime for proving them right.
The defense (and special teams) was outstanding
Amazing what can happen when the ball bounces your way once in a while!
I speak rhetorically, of course, because Notre Dame’s fumble luck continues to belong in the theater of the absurd; I think they have one fumble recovery all season, offense or defense, which is just the fluke to end all flukes. The muffed punt Syracuse somehow landed on even though two Irish were on the ball with their knees on the ground basically summed it up.
But Brandon Joseph got things started with a first-play pick-6, a massive swing in a game ND knew it needed big plays from non-offensive sources. Cross’ play was already discussed. The fourth-down stop that set up the Irish to go down the field before halftime was another huge moment. To give up 17* points and force 3* turnovers against Syracuse is a win under any circumstances.
(* An interception being waved off for an offsides being called on the same guy that was offsides for Cal on Sept. 17, followed by the replay official deciding it’s fine to step out of bounds before you catch the ball if you’re wearing an orange helmet, means that TD doesn’t count. Agreed? Agreed.)
And Brian Mason. My goodness. No one usually cares who the special teams coordinator is, but he has transformed that unit. ND has five (!!) punt blocks this season, actually gets a few yards in the punt return game once in a while, and – knock on wood – has been consistently quite good on both punt and kick coverage. They’re the best unit on the field for the Irish, and frankly it might not be close.
Notre Dame has a QB problem
It couldn’t be all sunshine and rainbows. Even when ND earns its highest-ranked road win since the 2012 Oklahoma game.
Look, you know it, I know it, and I suspect the Notre Dame coaches know it too, not that they’d ever say so. But Drew Pyne is not a good quarterback. He was – apart from a very good drive right before halftime that gave the Irish a then-comfortable lead – quite bad again. The stat line: 9/19, 116 yards, 1 TD, 1 INT. The second-half stat line: 1/5, 11 yards.
Freeman reiterated that he’s fine with whatever offense results in 41 points, but you can’t count on a pick-6, a blocked punt inside the other team’s 5, a 60-pound advantage over the other team’s front four, etc. every week. The Orange announced to all what they think of Pyne when they started rushing three on every passing down in the second quarter and never stopped.
The bottom line is it is very, very hard to see a scenario in which Pyne has a meaningful contribution to winning the Clemson or USC games, and there’s a much greater than nonzero chance he could endanger the Navy or BC games if things go south on him in a game. I don’t know that this means you play Steve Angeli, either; I doubt that would go much better, even though he has more physical tools. It’s just…what it is, I guess.
Luckily, it wasn’t a problem for Notre Dame today, and the Irish secured a really nice win that spoke well to their young head coach.
56 runs to 19 passes, and yet that feels like 10 too many passes.
I wonder if we can convince Clemson to let us play next week at their place?
We should try to play them in Las Vegas.
Finally, we get the offense that NDNation has been clamoring for.
AND at 11:00 a.m.! Dinner in Irondequoit is saved!
While Clemson has looked vulnerable this year (and have their own qb struggles), their rush defense is still elite. Could be a very ugly game. Can’t wait to be there for it!
I think this said more about Syracuse (turns out- not an above average team after all) but gotta take any win as it comes this year.
Thought it was was a very strong game for Bertrand. As much as he gets piled on sometimes, he was making a lot of plays and tackles in this game. Reading and blowing up the screen on 3rd down was a good example of coming up big in an important moment.
Man Pyne is bad. We just set offensive football back 30 years and still won.
Maybe he can have one of his magical “good”-Pyne games and we get some turnovers and beat either Clemson/USC. Well, one can wish anyway.
At least it’s eminently clear to everyone that Pyne is bad and cannot play at ND next year. No way we don’t take at least one transfer QB as a result.
While there isn’t much evidence, the WRs do seem to be getting better and are big and athletic. With the 3 (hopefully 4) WRs coming in, we could have some real weapons there next year (we’ll need them too without Mayer to lean on).
The first call after the season has to be down to Wake to see if Sam Hartman is interested in playing at a big-time program. Then Coastal for Grayson McCall. Then you keep going down the line until you reach Cade McNamara, who I suspect would say yes.
Regardless, if Pyne is on the roster next year, ideally he should not even be the backup.
Are those guys grad transfers by chance?
I’m still a bit worried about any undergrad transfers.
I would think Hartman would be a homerun for us.
Hartman definitely would be a grad transfer. McCall is in his fourth year and presumably should be a graduate by next fall (though he may be a pro, so he may just call it after this season anyway).
Also available should be Brennan Armstrong and Hudson Card. Plus who knows who else would be available – per a couple of the beat guys, ND apparently considered the Syracuse backup who came in and made some plays today this past offseason.
You know who else has an extra year of eligibility… https://247sports.com/college/notre-dame/Article/Four-star-QB-Max-Duggan-grew-up-a-Notre-Dame-fan-and-will-visit-Friday-115926027/
***Grad transfer QB article dropping Tuesday AM***
Unironically that article dropping is going to be one of the highlights of the season
agreed. There’s a lot to look forward to next year if ND does get a major upgrade at QB.
Looking forward to it.
I was wonder today whether a QB article is on the way.
Wow that is a lot of potential targets! That’s good news for ND because there’s gotta be one in there that would want to come. And there’s a lot of decent talent that would be a major upgrade for us and hopefully a major upgrade for them in terms of talent around them.
To be clear, I’m mostly joking about Max Duggan: that would be a home run, but why in the world would he leave TCU (which is still undefeated) to come play for ND, particularly if we keep Tommy Rees as OC? He already picked TCU over ND once, after all.
But, what if though
Yea, I figured he was the longest shot of that group. I doubt he would leave. But a healthy Hartman, McCall, or Armstrong would be a major upgrade and Card could turn out to be one too.
We’d easily be a top 15 team right now with one of those guys at QB this year – maybe even higher (and we’d likely be undefeated too).
It will probably go under the radar, but it would honestly be a marvel if Freeman and Stuckey can keep two Texas top-150 WR’s in this class considering how little impact the WR’s have had this year..if I was a solid prospect like that or advising them, can’t say I would pick ND (unless of course I was a TE).
This is one reason why I think we need a very experienced and proven OC to replace Tommy. We need someone with instant credibility for recruiting purposes — right now we have basically nothing to sell to elite QBs and WRs other than immediate playing time.
Ehh, might as well hire the rising star OC who turns out first round picks left and right at his position 🙂
But, seriously, an experienced coaches with a good system isn’t going to sway top WR’s. Amon-Ra St Brown saw Kelly turn his brother into an NFL draft pick and that still wasn’t enough, specifically because he looked at the QBs USC gets and the ones Notre Dame gets and why even bother taking a leap of faith and making it difficult when you can play the game on east mode? That’s your challenge and a solid OC hire doesn’t fix that instantly for a high school kid, just the reality of the situation.
The promise of an experienced OC ain’t movin the needle for top recruits. Proven, dynamic arm talent QB’s and program turning WR’s into high draft picks moves the needle for places like Bama and tOSU and Clemson.
Greathouse, James and Flores are about the best case ND can hope for hitting on them (and Merriweather and maybe Styles and Colzie blossom) and then it grows slowly from there. But a sea change isn’t happening based on an OC.
If you say so. Some people look at actual results and make conclusions based on those.
I don’t even want a “sea change,” just improvement to Merely Average.
We all want it, but the idea an experienced OC is going to bring in “credibility” beyond what Freeman and Stuckey have already set the table for in 2023 WR recruiting is “merely” off base.
2023, sure, but what about the future? What is wrong or bad or “off-base” about hiring someone experienced? I seriously do not understand the aversion to this approach.
I’d bet on upside for the “future”.
OK. Still hoping we see the 2019 LSU upside of this offense.
Great idea,, what’s Joe Brady up to? Perfect mix of upside and instant credibility
Bills QB coach. I’d say that’s going pretty well.
ND coordinator job > NFL position coach, as the experienced Al Golden can show. Nothing says “merely average” any better!
wut
ND coordinator job > NFL position coach, as the experienced Al Golden can show. Nothing says “merely average” any better!
Lmao he saw BK turn his brother into a 6th rounder no wonder the younger two wanted nothing to do with ND
On the other hand, with transfer portal being so easily used (generally), it’s much easier to say something like: we can offer you a ton of PT early on and don’t worry we’ll be in the transfer portal for a QB who can throw the ball downfield, etc.