Category: 2022 ND Football

Notre Dame Football: Drew Pyne Through the Years

Photos of former Notre Dame quarterback Drew Pyne as he now heads to Missouri to continue his college football career.

It’s been quite the ride for former Notre Dame quarterback Drew Pyne.

Pyne committed to the Fighting Irish back in April of 2018 before enrolling and being a part of the 2020 team that wound making the College Football Playoff.

Pyne helped save the day against Wisconsin in the 2021 game at Soldier Field and after an injury to Tyler Buchner, started the final 10 games of the 2022 regular season that saw the Irish go 8-4.

After that regular season he transferred however, spending last fall at Arizona State.  He re-enrolled at Notre Dame this semester to take classes and reports have him on the move again as he’s headed to Missouri to continue his football career.

Below are some of the best photos of Drew Pyne during his time at Notre Dame from 2020-2022 when he threw for 2,257 yards and 24 touchdowns in 17 games.

Kirk Herbstreit updates his college football top 6 after Saturday

Who was the biggest winner of Week 12?

Survive and advance was the story of Week 12 in college football. Among the top 10 teams in the College Football Playoff rankings only No. 5 Tennessee and No. 10 Utah lost, but close calls and survival were the story for many.

So how will the College Football Playoff rankings look when they get updated and released on Tuesday night? We took our best guess at that late Saturday night, and you should certainly check it out.

Now a man who is such a big deal in college football that he had his own personal foot warmer on ESPN’s “College Gameday” yesterday, has released his.

Here is how Herbstreit ranks the top six with one week of the regular season to go before conference championships take place.

Notre Dame PLOWS Their Way Out of South Bend

ND Plows Way To L.A.

What a fun senior day it was in South Bend. Wild weather, great individual performances, record-setting stats, and most notably a dominant blowout win against a heated rival. This victory puts Notre Dame in a prime position to potentially end the year at 9-3 after a trip to Los Angeles next week. Quite the accomplishment after suffering three losses by October 15th.

Notre Dame has been very unpredictable at home and has played its’ worst football against bad teams. Boston College certainly earned that description throughout the year and most certainly did today as well. A dominant win such as this was the perfect way to send the Seniors off with a memorable win, comfort the chilly Irish faithful at home, and turn all focus to sunny Southern California. 

Let’s take a look at 10 aspects of this performance that the Irish can use to power them into LA next week to face the Trojans with major momentum. 

Notre Dame’s Quarterback Conundrum Must Be Solved

Solving Notre Dame’s quarterback conundrum

If you are a football fan to any degree, you know the following statement to be true. Quarterback is the single most important position in the sport. Coincidentally, this position has been a frustration for Notre Dame fans for well over a decade.

Sure, there have been some standouts. [autotag]Deshone Kizer[/autotag] comes to mind, [autotag]Ian Book[/autotag] in recent vintage as well in terms of quarterbacks who made it to the NFL after their Notre Dame careers ended. But even when including these players, the Irish haven’t had a signal caller they win their biggest games because of. Not with, but because of.

This needs to change for Notre Dame moving forward and with the rumor mill ablaze regarding quarterback recruits and the Irish, let’s take a look at five things to consider about the current quarterback dynamic.

BYU suddenly clinging to bowl eligibility hopes

Nobody saw this coming in Provo this fall…

After beating Baylor in overtime on the second Saturday of September, [autotag]BYU[/autotag] was 2-0 and knocking on the door of the top 10 in both the USA TODAY Coaches Poll and AP Poll.  Things since then haven’t gone according to plan for the Cougars, however.

BYU was routed the following week at Oregon before rebounding with wins over Wyoming and Utah State to close September.

The Cougars haven’t won since.

Notre Dame largely controlled the Shamrock Series contest against BYU before letting them back in the game late before holding on for a 28-20 victory.  Since then Arkansas (52-35) and Liberty (41-14) both put whoopings on the Cougars.

BYU closed their October to-forget with another loss, this one a 27-24 defeat at the hands of East Carolina as they allowed over six yards per carry in their latest loss that puts them at 4-5 overall.

Notre Dame fans can relate to BYU supporters as some outlets (I’m looking at you, USA TODAY Sports College Football Preview) had the Cougars in the preseason top 10 but with just three games to play a bowl game is far from a sure thing.

BYU travels to Boise State next week before finally reaching their bye week.  They close the year with games against Utah Tech (yes, that’s a real program) and Stanford.  The Cougars will have to go 2-1 over their last three to become bowl-eligible, something few if any saw coming this preseason.

Not that Notre Dame is in a position to compare their best wins to others for anything of real significance this season, but that victory over a ranked opponent at the start of the month looks more and more like another close call against a mediocre foe with each passing week.

[mm-video type=playlist id=01eqbz1mmy7gev0xbr player_id=none image=https://fightingirishwire.usatoday.com/wp-content/plugins/mm-video/images/playlist-icon.png]

[listicle id=63521]

[vertical-gallery id=62339]

Notre Dame vs. BYU: All-time series history

Go Irish, beat Cougars!

Notre Dame and BYU will meet for the ninth time ever on Saturday when the two take center stage in Las Vegas in the annual Shamrock Series game.  It’s the first meeting between the two in almost a decade and will be the first between the two that doesn’t take place on a college campus.

Related: BYU breaking out all black uniforms for Notre Dame game

Perhaps the biggest showdown the two programs ever had wasn’t actually a game but instead for the 1990 Heisman Trophy.  BYU quarterback Ty Detmer beat out Raghib “Rocket” Ismail of Notre Dame with 1482 total votes to the 1177 for The Rocket.

Below are the eight all-time head-to-head results between Notre Dame and BYU while after that are some of the best photos of the two over the years.

10/24/92: Notre Dame 42, BYU 16
10/16/93: Notre Dame 45, BYU 20
10/15/94: BYU 21, Notre Dame 14
11/15/03: Notre Dame 33, BYU 14
9/4/04: BYU 20, Notre Dame 17
10/22/05: Notre Dame 49, BYU 23
10/20/12: Notre Dame 17, BYU 14
11/23/13: Notre Dame 23, BYU 13

Marcus Freeman making media rounds but not seeking excuses

Excuses? Unlike Notre Dame’s previous head coach, Marcus Freeman isn’t making any.

I’ve been open about my lack of care for conference media days as a whole. The only things I really enjoy about them are the fact that they mean college football season is getting close to kicking off, and I’ve certainly been thankful for that the last two weeks.

[autotag]Marcus Freeman[/autotag] doesn’t have to participate in these media days for the time being and the good Lord willing, will not have to anytime soon. However, he made the media rounds right after Notre Dame’s epic Shamrock Series jersey reveal video went viral.

What did Freeman have to say as he made stops at both ESPN’s “Get Up” (at least it wasn’t “First Take”) and on Rich Eisen’s radio show? You can catch interviews in full at the links above, but here were the main takeaways, specifically from his time on “Get Up.”

And be sure to check it all out as you may enjoy his not-so-subtle jab at [autotag]Brian Kelly[/autotag] in regards to the position Notre Dame is in to win a national championship today.

Watch: Notre Dame’s game-winning touchdown in Gator Bowl from field level

Because even if it wasn’t from a unique camera angle you’d still want to watch right now

It’s been over a month since this took place but while sitting on my computer knocking out work today I had a playlist of a couple football related shows running on YouTube.  After one finished the next video that followed was one I hadn’t seen and one I thought you might like to watch for a few reasons.

  1. It’s the game-winning touchdown from the most recent Notre Dame game played and who doesn’t want to relive the moment [autotag]Mitchell Evans[/autotag] gave the Irish the lead for good?
  2. It’s from a different angle than most of us are used to watching Notre Dame games at and you can track Evans cleanly the entire time
  3. The loudness of the crowd and the defining silence suddenly brought upon the South Carolina fans (make sure you have your speakers or headphones up because…)
  4. This is perhaps the best part – listen to what then-sophomore [autotag]Blake Fisher[/autotag] (No. 54) yells once he reaches the end zone to celebrate with teammates

Hey, we’re under seven months until Notre Dame-Navy in Dublin for those wondering.

[lawrence-related id=18669,66238]

[vertical-gallery id=66821]

Notre Dame in NFL: Former first round pick waived

Here’s hoping he finds a new football home soon.

Former Notre Dame star defensive lineman [autotag]Jerry Tillery[/autotag]’s time with the Los Angeles Chargers is done. The Chargers announced Thursday evening they had waived Tillery. He had missed practice this past week due to a personal matter according to our colleagues at Chargers Wire.  He had also been dealing with a back injury he suffered during a lifting session.

Tillery was selected by the Chargers 28th in the 2019 NFL draft. Until [autotag]Kyle Hamilton[/autotag] was selected by the Ravens this year, Tillery had been Notre Dame’s most recent first-round selection. In four seasons with the Chargers, Tillery recorded 10.5 sacks, 12 tackles for loss and 106 total tackles.

Tillery turned 26 last month. Assuming his back isn’t a major issue, you would have to assume he’ll get another NFL opportunity. Here’s to good health and a fresh start soon for perhaps the biggest star on Notre Dame’s 2018 defense.

[mm-video type=playlist id=01eqbz1mmy7gev0xbr player_id=none image=https://fightingirishwire.usatoday.com/wp-content/plugins/mm-video/images/playlist-icon.png]

Related:
Every Notre Dame player selected in first round of NFL draft since 1975

[listicle id=60269]

Marcus Freeman not kidding around about improving Notre Dame talent

Is there a number of players Notre Dame should be putting into the NFL annually?

A fine catch was made by Blue-Gold Illustrated reporter Tyler Horka recently as he watched [autotag]Marcus Freeman[/autotag]’s discussion at the Rockne Gala in Chicago last week. Freeman did a roughly hour long Q&A session with Notre Dame legend [autotag]Chris Zorich[/autotag] and covered seemingly all things regarding Fighting Irish football.

One thing that came up was Freeman’s time at Cincinnati, Notre Dame’s loss to the Bearcats last season, and the fact the Bearcats had seven more NFL draft picks this spring than Notre Dame.

“Cincinnati had nine guys drafted, right, and we had two, and don’t think talent didn’t have anything to do with that, and so that goes back to why recruiting is so important.” Freeman said. “Nine NFL players on that team and two on ours and that shouldn’t happen at Notre Dame and hopefully for the future that won’t ever happen again”

You can check out the full interview below.

Next: Let’s talk about it…

Pages: Page 1, Page 2