SOUTH BEND, Ind. — In the midst of recounting how he had arrived at the moment Saturday that he had seemingly been waiting his whole life for, Drew Pyne made sure not to exclude the imperfections.
And there were enough of them, from the Notre Dame junior quarterback making his first college start and those around him, that the Irish got booed off the field at halftime only to find redemption by flipping an old story line in a 24-17 victory over California.
It seems highly unlikely to be looked back upon as a grand turning point of some sort sometime down the road, but it was hardly an insignificant step, either, for a team that found the right blend of muscle and moxie in the game’s most critical moments Saturday for the first time under first-year head coach Marcus Freeman.
Former Irish All-America linebacker Manti Te’o provided some pregame inspiration to the Irish players, then received a thunderous ovation from the sold-out Notre Dame Stadium crowd that brought him to tears during a pregame introduction.
The crowd and the players managed to color coordinate in green with the fifth successive win in the alternate Irish primary color the backdrop for Freeman’s first head-coaching victory in four tries going back to the Jan. 1 Fiesta Bowl.
Notre Dame’s defensive line, with six sacks, probably looked the closest from beginning to end among the Irish position groups of what was expected of it when both polls pegged the Irish (1-2) as a preseason top 5 team.
After Pyne gave the Irish the lead for good on a six-yard pass to All-America tight end Michael Mayer with 9:41 left in regulation, the Irish defense withstood three Cal offensive possessions, two keyed by sacks by Isaiah Foskey.
The first was a takedown of Cal fifth-year senior/Purdue transfer Jack Plummer on a fourth-and-10 play from the ND 22-yard line. The next was a third-down sack, Foskey combining with Jayson Ademilola, that almost went down for a safety and coaxed Cal to punt from its own 2 inside of three minutes left.
Still, the Golden Bears (2-1) got the ball back again at their own 20 with 63 seconds and no timeouts. And they had the ball fourth-and-15 from the Irish 35-yard line with five seconds left and a chance to extend the game into overtime after a seemingly game-ending interception by Clarence Lewis was wiped out by a targeting call on linebacker JD Bertrand.
Then an apparent 77-yard fumble return for a TD by TaRiq Bracy was overturned by replay leading to a Plummer heave into the end zone that was up for grabs and bounding off fingers before falling incomplete. Safety Brandon Joseph was credited with the breakup.
“I was hard on that unit,” Freeman said of his D-line, who also produced six QB hurries. “Even after the first half, a couple QB scrambles, but they know I believe in them.”
The offensive line, and the running back tandem of Chris Tyree and Audric Estime gave Freeman reason to believe there was real and sustainable progress from those areas of the team as well.
Meanwhile, Pyne, stepping in for out-for-the-season Tyler Buchner, at the quarter pole of the season remains the biggest Irish unknown, which isn’t necessarily a daunting thing.
Who he becomes as QB1 will have as much to do with Notre Dame’s ultimate bottom line this season. Who he is now is a serial competitor and preparer trying to transcend the physical limitations that seemed to make him a more ideal backup.
“We had to kick him out of the office a couple times,” Freeman offered. “Go home, get some rest, stop watching film.”
And then it all seemed to unravel in the game’s first 15 minutes. Pyne was 4-of-9 passing in the first quarter for 27 yards to go along with one team rushing yard. He whiffed on all four third-down conversion attempts, leading to four Jon Sot punts.
Notre Dame didn’t get its initial first down of the game until the second quarter, but a fumbled snap by Pyne, which Cal recovered, led to the Bears’ first touchdown less than a minute later.
The only Irish score of the first half, a Pyne 21-yard pass to Tyree, was only made possible because Cal was offsides on a missed 45-yard field goal that gave the Irish a first down and new life.
The Bears answered with a 24-yard field goal 4:11 before halftime for a 10-7 lead. The Irish got bogged down by back-to-back false starts, their third and fourth of the half, then basically opted to run out the clock and punt instead of taking a shot downfield from midfield.
The NBC cameras played a clip of offensive coordinator Tommy Rees, from the coaches box upstairs, berating Pyne over the phone during the first half.
“I saw that video,” Pyne said. “Coach Rees, I tell him to be hard on me. I texted him this Sunday and I said, ‘I want you to be very hard on me in practice. I’m going to treat practice like a game, and I want you to as well.’ That’s the standard he holds me to. That’s what I asked for.”
Pyne missed one pass the balance of the game after the first quarter and finished 17-of-23 for 150 yards and two TDs — a 157.4 pass-efficiency rating, more than 60 points better than Plummer’s.
He was 10-of-11 for 90 yards in the second half, when the Irish scored the first points of the third quarter this season (an Estime one-yard run) and 10 points in the fourth quarter.
The Irish leaned into the running game with Tyree gaining 64 yards on seven carries to go along with five catches for 44 yards, and Estime adding 76 yards on 18 carries with three catches for 43 yards.
“For this game, that's what we had to do,” Freeman said. “I'm not saying this is going to be who we are every game all year. We have to take advantage of what we feel like we can have success against the defense we play. Today it was — we weren't having success early in the first part of the game with our quick game, and handling snaps.
“So we said, ‘OK, right now the edge we have is being able to run the ball. So to me that's what we've got to be able to do. Listen, our identity, yep, we're an O-line/D-line driven program. We've got to be able to run the ball, but you can't just say, this is what we're going to do; that's it.”
Opposing defenses, moving forward, are likely going to align to make Pyne prove he can beat them.
“Deep down in my heart, the way I was raised by my parents is to never give up,” Pyne countered. "Not starting out too hot, but in my head I never give up. That’s how I’m going to be throughout the rest of my life, throughout the rest of my career, is to never give up.
“I was talking to my dad last night. He said times get tough. Never give up. When I was 2 years old just learning how to stand, I would be on the bed standing and my dad would push me down so I could get back up. He told me that last night.”
Saturday, the entire team got back up after getting knocked down. At last.
“I keep trying to tell myself to enjoy it,” Freeman said. “There's a lot of coaching that happened on that field (Saturday) that we can learn from. But listen, if you don't take a minute to enjoy these things, you're going to regret it. That's what I keep reminding myself, is to enjoy this victory. We'll get back to work tomorrow, but again, I want to celebrate with those guys.”
Even Pyne will pause his preparation long enough to revel in a winning starting debut and what it took to get there.
“My whole family came here,” he said. “I can’t wait to go out there and hug them. They’re the reason I’m here.”
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