Imagine any Notre Dame team from 1997-2014 winning a game in which its third-string quarterback was taking whacks behind a line anchored by its third and fourth-string left tackle while the starting defensive tackle was out too.
The Irish have reached that level as a program and they proved it with a satisfying 31-point fourth-quarter explosion and 41-13 win over Wisconsin. In that way, it was a fitting way for Brian Kelly to get win #106 and surpass Knute Rockne as the coach with the most all-time wins at ND.
What a roller coaster this was. There were not many optimistic Notre Dame fans when the Badgers took advantage of a fumble and took a 13-10 lead to start the fourth quarter. Then Chris Tyree delivered a lightning strike kickoff return TD, and it was all Irish the rest of the way.
Notre Dame is 4-0 and will presumably be staring down a top-10 showdown when Cincinnati comes to town next week. We still don’t really know if this team is top-10 good, but we sure as heck know now that it’s resilient.
And cheeky.
Notre Dame blasting “Jump Around” in the locker room at present.
— Pat Forde (@ByPatForde) September 25, 2021
Marcus Freeman for Mayor
Let the record show that I never wavered in loving Marcus Freeman after the rough first two games. His defense performed quite well last week against Purdue, and today they were spectacular, outscoring the Badgers 14-13 and largely shutting down the Wisconsin running game.
Cam Hart, the converted wide receiver, recorded two interceptions, both on impressive jumping of routes, and the Irish did not make Graham Mertz’s life easy even though they didn’t rack up the sacks. He ended up throwing four picks, including back-to-back glorious pick-sixes in the final minutes that made the final margin deceptively large.
All told, the Badgers averaged less than three yards per carry and Mertz was under 50 percent in completions. All without starting DT Kurt Hinish. Not a bad day at the office.
Serious QB depth
Jack Coan again got sacked too much – a couple times he basically rolled himself into them – and as was inevitable, he got injured on the fifth and final sack he took. With Tyler Buchner apparently unavailable due to his hamstring injury, that sent in Drew Pyne, nominally the backup quarterback but realistically #3.
And Pyne everyone but his team and coaches by performing really well. On his very first snap he was (of course) flushed from the pocket and found Avery Davis on an improvisational play. At that point everything seemed relatively fine again. Pyne continued to do well the rest of the game, completing 6-of-8 with a touchdown.
It’s anyone’s guess who will play QB next week as of this writing – coach Brian Kelly said postgame that ND is optimistic Coan will be able to go, as his injury did not appear to be a high-ankle sprain and X-rays were negative – but right now, it feels like ND might be able to survive with any of the three, which is a good place to be.
O-line is what it is
It’s clear at this point that the offensive line is going to be what it is. Notre Dame is not going to be able to come up with a magic elixir to make Tosh Baker (or Joe Alt, or whoever plays LT) a dominant force. So the Irish will have to scheme around it, and it seemed like they did an acceptable job of that. Wisconsin is the best defense ND has played to date, and yet the Irish were able to get a few drives going and survive.
Pete Sampson had a good Tweet about this vis-a-vis Tommy Rees, who to my mind is doing a hell of a job working with what he has:
When Notre Dame had poor offensive line play, Tommy Rees adapted and game planned around it.
When Wisconsin had poor offensive line play, Paul Chryst basically stuck his face in a fan.
One team made a pragmatic adaptation, even if it didn’t want to. The other did not.
— Pete Sampson (@PeteSampson_) September 25, 2021
TFR is earning his paycheck this year, and if ND can get by Cincinnati next week, he will be even more so.
Chris Tyree
That’s it. That’s the heading.
It ends up looking like a footnote because of the final score, but Tyree’s kick return was so important in the moment. It fired everybody up again after a tough stretch.
And it kind of summed up where ND is now. The ND that can’t get guys like Tyree might not win this game – probably doesn’t, in my opinion. Depending how this season goes, we might go back and remember that one as the turning-point play of the season.
Also, Gus Johnson is just the best.
Next week, the Irish take on Cincinnati. Like today, it’s the biggest game of the season to date. Just keep winning. The rest will take care of itself.
And let me tell you folks, I’ve always said I love Marcus Freeman. Nobody loves Marcus Freeman, more than me, and actually, Brian Kelly came up to me and he was crying, can you believe it, and he said, “Sir, you love Marcus Freeman so much”
Great, great win. Let’s drink, boys.
so true! the toppest manliest men are very strongly looking into marcus freeman as the best ever
What a game! I watched it on delay but I was happy to see that while inconsistent Coan hit just enough passing plays today to keep the O moving. Rees did a great job throwing the ball more than average and spreading out the defense a lot. We probably need to keep this up to help our OL.
Pyne’s mobility is certainly an advantage behind this OL but he wasn’t super accurate and I worry his arm is a little limited so he’ll have a tougher time throwing to the far sidelines and deep. Not sure if Cincy, having seen Pyne on tape a little, will have a better game plan for him.
Hopefully Coan is not limited next week. It would seem any kind of limit from a knee/ankle would warrant holding him out give his amazing lack of pocket mobility – even if once he breaks free he is not super slow. And we probably need Buchner back too. Anything to manufacture a few extra big plays on offense is what will keep this team going with this kind of defense. I would presume we could hold Cincy to 17 and under as long as we don’t turn it over.
I kept waiting for Hamilton to make a big play when the game was still close. Thankfully other guys stepped up for those big plays. Also, Lacey looked great in the time he got today – 3rd string DT. Didn’t notice Griffith out there and that’s a good thing.
I was pretty anti-Pyne in the 18S Slack prior to his, you know, succeeding, so I had to eat some crow there. That said, his longer passes looked pretty soft (other than the out to Austin, which was a great catch), so I remain generally skeptical that he should be the guy. I still think the best combo is a Coan/Buchner shuffle, but Coan/Pyne would be fine too.
“I was pretty anti-Pyne in the 18S Slack”
Yes. The Khmer Rouge was also pretty anti-anti-communist, too.
yea his deeper pass to the left (was that Davis) was inside and a little short. That throw did not engender confidence. Could have easily been picked off if the defender was closely covering.
That was so fucking awesome
After the first drive I was just a tad bit concerned but man that Fourth Quarter was so unbelievably fantastic
The 4th quarter was college football at its finest: multiple pick sixes, a kickoff return to the house, head coach getting an unsportsmanlike conduct flag… and all by the same team.
The rest of the game was fairly nervy, but I’m going to savor this one for a while.
Love the username lol
Ha thanks!
Oh how sweet this one was amongst all the pre game doubters.
Go Irish!!!
Great win!
Is Mertz THE most over rated QB in CFB? Man is he terrible.
I was thinking the same thing – thank god that guy is horrible, it really helped ND
How is he overrated? Does anything think he is any good?
The coaches who chose him over Coan, for instance. Plus lots of media hype pre-season.
I haven’t seen the media hype.
The coaches are a bit of a stretch for tagging overrated on someone.
In his starting debut Mertz went 20/21 with 5 TD’s and Patrick Mahomes was tweeting about him. (Against Illinois though). Not really sure that “over rated” would the right word — though his 247 profile as a high 4* he is. But Mertz def had a lot of hype based on being a top recruit and looking like a stud his first game out. Pretty much since then it’s been atrocious.
Right, at one point (after one game and being highly recruited), he was highly thought of as one having potential. Some wrote off his bad games last year (only 6 total right?) to some kind of shoulder injury and so it was generally thought/hoped that he’d turn into a good player given the potential. But I’m not sure that anyone thinks he’s actually a good player either now or last year (even if there was a lot of hope he’d turn into a really good player).
So why is he still starting? He literally loses games for the,.
well presumably they have no one better or they still hope they can get him to play up to his potential.
Wonder if Clark Lea is questioning life decisions tonight. Hope the best for him but, woof.
I’m sure Lea knew what he was getting into. I hope things get better, but beating Georgia is always going to be the longest of long shots for him with Kirby running things.
Shamrock Series…Never Lost!
Finally figured how to add this. Clearly I should stick to reading while “on-the-line”.
Bad day for the “Notre Dame could potentially be a 7-5 team” crowd. Good day for the Irish.
A bit perplexed about the 4th string left tackle and 3rd string qb reference.
Fairly sure Baker is the 3rd string.
Also, quite sure Pyne has been listed as the back up in every game. Buchner has been deemed to be the change up situational running QB. Could have sworn I heard Pyne would be the back up if Coan was not available as he knows the entire offense much better.
https://badgerswire.usatoday.com/lists/the-complete-notre-dame-depth-chart-for-wisconsin-week/amp/
I think Joe Alt came in for Baker at some point. Buchner has played over Pyne, hence the reference to 3D string.