BLACKSBURG, Va. — Notre Dame head coach Brian Kelly is making quarterback switches as frequently as a baseball team changes pitchers.
He’s bringing in relievers because the starters keep putting themselves in jams. Notre Dame found itself in a messy one Saturday at Virginia Tech.
Ineffective graduate student starter Jack Coan got an early hook, pulled in favor of electric freshman Tyler Buchner three drives into the game. Buchner dazzled at first but ran out of gas as his outing progressed. Coan, against all expectations, became the closer who slammed the door shut. He helped No. 14 Notre Dame (5-1) pilfer a 32-29 victory from Virginia Tech (3-2).
Only fitting the latest and wildest edition of Irish quarterback relief pitching took place at a venue that blares Metallica’s “Enter Sandman” — also the anthem of one of baseball’s greatest closers.
“We had to go to the bullpen,” Kelly said. “Enter Mariano Rivera today. Enter Sandman. [Jack] closed it out for us.”
Enter another 14 days of quarterback questions as Notre Dame heads into its off week. Even with the excitement of this latest two-quarterback venture still fresh, Kelly admitted postgame there’s a lot left to sort out. Six games into the season, he is still looking for the right quarterback answer.
“We’re trying to figure this thing out too as we go,” Kelly said. “That’s why I’m so proud of the guys who hung in there. I wish it wasn’t this hard, but it is right now, and we’re battling through it.”
Notre Dame is 5-1 despite little quarterback clarity. The Irish can thank their defense, which bent but didn’t break and held Virginia Tech to 4.5 yards per play. They can thank Buchner, whose run-game presence and improvisational skills woke up an offense that spent the first quarter asleep at the wheel. They can thank Coan, who didn’t check out after his second in-game removal in as many weeks and led the tying and go-head scoring drives.
“Jack is a stone-cold killer,” fifth-year senior linebacker Drew White said. “He’s got that look in his eyes. Lot of confidence. It says a lot when he goes in at the end of the game.”
Ideally, Coan never would have left. After playing three quarterbacks in an Oct. 2 loss to Cincinnati, Kelly and Notre Dame wanted to pick a direction and stay the course. They chose Coan, despite his benching the prior week and the offense’s increasing stagnant performances with him directing it.
That direction lasted all of three drives. In came Buchner – and not just for his usual pre-planned cameo – to provide a hopeful spark. He did, at first. He led two touchdown marches that gave Notre Dame a 14-13 halftime lead after it fell behind 10-0.
Stretch a reliver too far, though, and he runs out of stamina. Buchner completed just one of his final six pass attempts. He connected with Virginia Tech defenders twice, one of which turned into a 26-yard return for a touchdown by redshirt junior cornerback Jermaine Waller. He hobbled off the field after his second interception and didn’t return.
Coan re-entered with Notre Dame trailing 29-21 and 3:55 to fix it. He fired a 15-yard completion to freshman running back Logan Diggs on an angle route, hit fifth-year senior receiver Avery Davis over the middle for 23 yards and found senior receiver Braden Lenzy for 17 yards to set up first-and-goal. He connected with Davis for a 4-yard touchdown two plays later.
After Notre Dame forced a stop, Coan completed two passes to march the Irish into field goal range for fifth-year senior kicker Jonathan Doerer, who booted a 48-yarder for the lead with 17 seconds left.
“He was decisive,” Kelly said. “The ball came out of his hands. The reads were correct. It looked like it was shooting fish in the barrel with the timeliness of the ball coming out of his hands, compared to what it was earlier.”
Not just compared to earlier in the game, but in the last few weeks. Notre Dame’s offensive structure doesn’t mesh with a quarterback with limited mobility if he’s not a near-flawless passer. Coan has been far from perfect since an impressive opener at Florida State. Are two drives enough to change that reality? Are they a preview of what’s next or an outlier?
He might have the chance to prove they were no fluke, because Buchner doesn’t appear to be reliable enough as a passer to take the reigns right now. The plan for sophomore Drew Pyne is unclear after he didn’t play a snap coming off a flawed but still intriguing second half against Cincinnati and a strong 2021 debut versus Wisconsin.
The game of quarterback roulette doesn’t appear to be over. The questions surrounding the position aren’t quieting. Notre Dame doesn’t want to keep falling for the flavor of the week, but there has been no flavor that lasts more than a week.
“I can’t in all good consciousness say, ‘All right, he’s the starter or he’s the starter,’” Kelly said. “You know where we’re at. We're stringing this together the best we can.”
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