The warts only matter because of what’s lurking in the distance.
In the context of Notre Dame’s 28-20 taming of 16th-ranked BYU Saturday night at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas, the flaws were both more forgettable and forgivable.
That’s largely because on Saturday night, three time zones from home, the Irish (3-2) became the ND team that Irish coach Marcus Freeman envisioned and sculpted this offseason at the most critical junctures in game five of his inaugural season.
It’s also because the realization of the incremental improvement Freeman keeps insisting as the focus and function of a team eliminated from College Football Playoff contention in week 2 of this season has reopened the door to more than the most modest of dreams.
Not that anyone was willing to so much as hint at what those could be after Notre Dame’s 11th Shamrock Series win in the 11th rendition of the offsite home game concept, instead extolling the process.
“Today's a result of really having a critical eye in terms of evaluating everything we do,” Freeman said after his first win over a ranked team. “And that's what I think sometimes we get misconstrued, that it's all about the game.
“I think the result matters, and that's how we're judged. But to get the result you want, you have to prepare the right way. And that means having a critical eye. That means having uncomfortable conversations every day during the week and really challenging each other to find ways to improve.”
Where Notre Dame improved the most noticeably against BYU (4-2) was finding more ways to torture a defense with All-America tight end Michael Mayer (a school-record for a tight end 11 receptions and two TDs) and pushing the evolution of quarterback Drew Pyne against a defense less broken than the North Carolina outfit the Irish gouged before the bye week.
Also, the offensive line and running game improvement felt more genuine and tested. And the Irish were able to flip a familiar script and finish — something they couldn’t do in Freeman’s Jan. 1 debut, a Fiesta Bowl loss to Oklahoma State, and the three quarters of a near upset the Irish concocted in the 21-10 season-opening loss at Ohio State on Sept 3.
With Notre Dame leading 25-20 early in the fourth quarter, BYU linebacker Max Tooley picked off a tipped Pyne pass intended for Mayer. But the Irish defense answered with a three-and-out. And the Notre Dame offense tacked on a Blake Grupe 20-yard field goal eight plays and almost five minutes later.
BYU was driving for the potential game-tying points when the Cougars faced a fourth-and-1 from the Irish 27-yard line inside four minutes left to play. Running back Lapini Katoa was stuffed at the line of scrimmage by Irish defensive tackle Jayson Ademilola with an assist from end Nana Osafo-Mensah.
“At the biggest moments he shows up,” Freeman said of Ademilola, whose twin, Justin, had a big stop on the previous play on third-and-2. “And you can't say enough about a guy like that, that you know in the biggest moments you can depend on him.”
The Irish then leaned on their running game to bleed the final 3:37 and got, notably, a 33-yard run from Logan Diggs on a second-and-17 play, and later a four-yard run on third-and-4 from Audric Estimé.
The box score will suggest pure domination by the Irish, and in stretches, it was.
Notre Dame overwhelmed in total yards (496-276), offensive plays (73-46), time of possession (40:55-19:05), third-down conversions (11-of-16 to 3-of-9), rushing yards (234-156) and — shockingly — passing yards (262-120).
In fact, Pyne (185.4 pass-efficiency rating) decidedly outplayed vaunted BYU quarterback Jaren Hall (139.3), who was held under 250 passing yards for the first time in 10 games, dating back to last season. BYU’s total yardage also represented a season low.
But the Irish defense had enough lapses to allow the Cougars back into the game after falling behind 25-6 in the third quarter.
Redshirt freshman wide receiver Kody Epps, who in the opening quarter scored BYU’s first TD on fourth-down pass, torched the Irish defense for a 53-yard TD in the third quarter in which the ND defense looked confused.
Then later in the third, Kotoa blasted for a 20-yard run on third-and-18 from the BYU 5. That extended a drive that ended with 230-pound running back Chris Brooks covering the final 28 yards relatively unchallenged on a TD run two plays into the fourth quarter.
The Irish were without starting nose guard Howard Cross (high ankle sprain) and key backup Jacob Lacey (who hit the transfer portal midweek), with Harvard transfer Chris Smith getting his first start in a Notre Dame uniform.
“You (could) feel a sense of a little bit of panic,” Freeman said of the BYU rally. “I told them, ‘Calm down, calm down. Now just go back and just do our jobs. Relax. One play, one life.’”
The three-and-out ensued on the next BYU offensive possession, followed by the fourth-down stop.
“We challenged them on the sidelines,” Freeman said. “There was a timeout right before that fourth-and-1. And that was a huge play, and I’m really happy for them. So again to build off of that, to end on a high note.
“And then to be able to go back and learn from those plays that obviously didn't go our way, it's extremely satisfying.”
In other words, the memories of those flaws won’t stay in Vegas. By design.
Home games against Stanford (1-4) and quasi-surprise UNLV (4-2) the next two weeks figure to offer less-stressful or meaningful tests. But Freeman knows three ranked opponents await the Irish in the final five-game stretch of the season, with Syracuse, Clemson and USC a combined 17-0.
All of them appear to have defenses good enough to force the Irish to veer away from their congealing winning formula and find new avenues to win, And they all have enough playmakers on offense that Notre Dame’s defense will have to break its bad habit of mixing in enough bewildering big-chunk yields to shrink the Irish margin of error.
Perhaps freshman tight end Holden Staes’ first career catch or wide receiver Jayden Thomas’ emergence will have staying power. Perhaps linebacker Jack Kiser’s stellar first half will lead to a larger role and fellow linebacker Prince Kollie’s burst might be the start of something substantive and not merely a flash of potential.
Maybe the Pyne-to-Mayer connection continues to build.
“He’s kind of uncoverable,” Pyne offered of ND’s new all-time career reception leader among tight ends, displacing Tyler Eifert.
In the meantime, Freeman will smile when the cameras are in his face, because he finally has a grasp of how good his first Irish team can be. And behind closed doors, he’ll continue to have the uncomfortable conversations about what went wrong and how to fix it, because he knows they haven’t arrived.
And even if they do at some point in 2022, the latter will persist. This is Freeman’s formula, his process, his identity. And he’s determined that success won’t spoil it.
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