Advertisement
football Edit

Assessing the ebbs and flows of a Notre Dame QB room still led by Jack Coan

Brian Kelly had over a week to review film from Notre Dame's narrow win over Virginia Tech. Nothing he saw changed his mind.

To Kelly, the Fighting Irish have a starting quarterback. And that player isn’t named Drew Pyne or Tyler Buchner.

Jack Coan continues to be the guy that we feel like gives us the best chance to win,” Kelly said in his press conference Monday.

Sign up for Blue & Gold’s FREE alerts and newsletter

Advertisement

Coan, a graduate transfer from Wisconsin, has started all six games for No. 13 Notre Dame (5-1). He has given up a significant amount of reps to Buchner, a true freshman, and Pyne, a sophomore, in the Irish's last three, though.

Buchner played 45 snaps to Coan's 28 against the Hokies. Coan was benched in the first quarter. He reentered the game for an injured and struggling Buchner late in the fourth quarter and led two scoring drives that gave Notre Dame a win.

Without explicitly doing so, Kelly seemed to credit Buchner with an assist for the 11 unanswered Irish points engineered largely by the arm of Coan.

“When has he looked really good? Late in the game, right?” Kelly said of Coan. “Those defensive linemen are chasing Tyler Buchner around. They're tiring out a little bit, so that pass rush is not the same in the first series or the second series as it is in that last series.”

Notre Dame Fighting Irish football graduate student quarterback Jack Coan
Graduate student quarterback Jack Coan appears to be in line to start a seventh straight game for the Irish. (AP)

There is a certain "it" factor required to do what Coan did in Blacksburg, however. He didn't complete seven of his final nine pass attempts solely because Buchner wore the defense out. Kelly said there is a noticeable uptick in the deliberate and urgent nature of Coan's level of play when the game is on the line.

Notre Dame's challenge is getting that out of him for four quarters, which hasn't happened since the season opener at Florida State. Coan's passing yardage total and quarterback rating declined for five straight weeks. He finally bucked the trend in the latter category with his highest rating (178.1) since his stellar debut in Tallahassee (194.1).

"I still think it's maturation and 11 players pulling together as one," Kelly said. "We had that more or less in the second half against Virginia Tech. We're hoping that was a turning point for us offensively that we can get more of that on a consistent basis."

Pulling in the same direction on the field is one thing. Doing so off the field is another. The lines between them can easily blend and bleed onto scoreboards.

Notre Dame has three quarterbacks who have played significant snaps this season. According to Kelly, only two — Coan and Buchner — will get playing time when all three are healthy. Pyne has appeared to take the backseat to that duo again despite moving the ball effectively in spurts against Wisconsin and Cincinnati.

What does that do to team chemistry? Kelly said not much. Not at Notre Dame, anyway.

"I think it starts with who you recruit to Notre Dame," Kelly said. "The character of the kid makes a lot of those things go away, the issues of being selfish and not wanting to see the others succeed. And that selflessness has to be part of what you're looking for when you recruit.

"Now, they're all competitive and they all want to play. But I think if you're transparent and you're face to face with them and what you say is what you do and you build that relationship with them, then you're going to have a room where the guys work together."

Notre Dame Fighting Irish football sophomore quarterback Drew Pyne
Sophomore quarterback Drew Pyne has played in two games this season. (AP)

In an era in which every player has the power to transfer somewhere else to afford them more opportunities for playing time, it's not unreasonable to speculate if Pyne is thinking of greener pastures elsewhere.

But from a team perspective, every quarterback in the room has a purpose. Junior Brendon Clark has not figured into the playing time picture at all because of a nagging knee injury but still has a role on the roster. Kelly said he took majority of the first-team reps against Notre Dame's No. 1 defense during the bye week.

“We’re trying to get the rust off of him and get him back,” Kelly said.

Kelly said he meets regularly with Rees to game plan how to best make sure each quarterback has not been forgotten or lost in the shuffle of the circumstances of an ever-changing landscape throughout the season.

“You pick your spots during practice to give them the dedicated work necessary to see their growth continue to happen,” Kelly said.

Kelly said there's no doubt the team would rally around Pyne as it did at Soldier Field against Wisconsin if his number is called in the second half of the season. Based on how the first half transpired, it's definitely possible that could occur.

For now, though, it's Coan’s team with Buchner getting worked in to make use of his dynamic playmaking ability — which is exactly where Notre Dame stood in weeks two and three against Toledo and Purdue.

So even as much as things have seemed to change for Notre Dame this fall, maybe in a sense they've also somehow managed to remain the same.

CLICK HERE TO JOIN THE DISCUSSION ON THE LOU SOMOGYI BOARD

----

• Learn more about our print and digital publication, Blue & Gold Illustrated.

• Watch our videos and subscribe to our YouTube channel.

• Sign up for Blue & Gold's news alerts and daily newsletter.

Subscribe to our podcast on Apple Podcasts.

• Follow us on Twitter: @BGINews, @Rivals_Singer, @PatrickEngel_, @tbhorka, @GregLadky, and @ToddBurlage.

• Like us on Facebook.

Advertisement