Bottom Line
It was like a movie that you’d seen before and knew how it ends. Until it wasn’t.
Jayson Ademilola and Nana Osafo-Mensah stuffed BYU running back Lapini Kotoa for no gain on fourth-and-1 at the Notre Dame 27-yard line late in the fourth quarter, and the Irish running game closed out a 28-20 upending of No. 16 BYU in a Shamrock Series matchup in Las Vegas.
The Irish (3-2) are now 11-0 in the offsite home games that started in 2009 and have been played annually with three hiatuses.
Some bewildering big-chunk plays given up in the second half marred what seemed like a significant step forward for defensive coordinator Al Golden’s unit. That included a 20-yard run on third-and-18 from BYU’s 5-yard line.
The Cougars ended up completing an 87-yard, 10-play scoring drive to close within 25-20, 42 seconds into the fourth quarter. But Notre Dame was able to answer back for first-year head coach Marcus Freeman’s first victory over a ranked team.
Tight end Michael Mayer put on a show with a school-record (by a tight end) 11 catches for 118 yards and two TDs. He broke Tyler Eifert’s career record in the process. Quarterback Drew Pyne continued to evolve, outplaying vaunted BYU counterpart Jaren Hall and completing 15 consecutive pass attempts in one stretch to finish 22-of-28 for 262 yards, three TDs and one interception.
Big Picture
It’s still too early for the Irish to look ahead toward the postseason, but they put themselves in a position for that to not necessarily be a painful process when the time comes. Improvement needs to continue to be Freeman’s mantra for the rest of the month, even if that Irish pick up some votes in Sunday’s polls.
Questions Answered
Pyne showed he could not only manage the offense in a step up in defensive competition, he showed the ability to be a playmaker. The same could be said about the evolution of the offensive line and the running game. Wide receiver Jayden Thomas stepped forward as a viable wide receiver option.
Questions Lingering
Is Notre Dame putting its best-performing linebackers on the field enough or at least at critical junctures? Is the linebacking rotation too deep? Can the Irish eliminate the bewildering big-chunk plays in the second halves of games?
The Road Ahead
Notre Dame plays back-to-back home games against Stanford next Saturday and UNLV on Oct. 22.
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