Tag: jayden thomas

Twitter reacts to Tyler Buchner’s second touchdown of Gator Bowl

He did it again.

[autotag]Tyler Buchner[/autotag] must have a thing for scoring game-tying touchdowns. Doing it in the first quarter of the Gator Bowl to tie it at 7 was impressive. He did it again in the third quarter, this time to knot the score at 24.

Notre Dame hasn’t led in the game up to this point, but some offensive skills players contributed to the cause on its first scoring drive of the second half. A couple of nice runs by [autotag]Audric Estime[/autotag] and a 25-yard reception to [autotag]Jayden Thomas[/autotag] set the Irish up in the South Carolina red zone. They were in that red zone for exactly one play as Buchner scored his second rushing touchdown of the game, this one from 11 yards out:

We don’t know if the Irish will win this game, but we know Buchner will be a big reason if they do. We also know people were happy with this latest touchdown as evidenced by Twitter:

Five keys for Notre Dame to defeat South Carolina

What the Irish need to do to get a Gator Bowl win

The wait between the regular season finale and bowl games is always difficult, but for [autotag]Notre Dame[/autotag], game week is finally here. Their opponent, [autotag]South Carolina[/autotag] makes it two USC’s in-a-row and there are certainly similarities between them.

[autotag]Marcus Freeman[/autotag] will coach his second bowl game and will look to find a way into the win column after last year’s difficult loss to [autotag]Oklahoma State[/autotag] in the [autotag]PlayStation Fiesta Bowl[/autotag].

This venue is different, the [autotag]TaxSlayer Gator Bowl[/autotag] but the objective is the same, get a bowl win and momentum going into the 2023 season. For the Irish to do that, there are keys to their success and here are five of them.

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Notre Dame hosting Virginia Tech wide receiver transfer this weekend

He would be a great addition!

The Irish have a few needs that they are going to try and fill via the transfer portal. One of the biggest is quarterback, but there has not been much news from any of the multiple targets Notre Dame is going after. They have already found a kicker, [autotag]Spencer Shrader[/autotag], and are hosting former [autotag]Virginia Tech[/autotag] wide receiver [autotag]Kaleb Smith[/autotag] this weekend.

Smith, a grad transfer, played his best football during his final year for the Hokies, catching 37 passes for 674 yards and three touchdowns. All of those numbers were career highs for the six-foot-two-inch and 222-pound receiver. By getting Smith to South Bend, it’s a big first step in gaining a commitment from the transfer.

The wide receiver unit struggled mightily this fall and with tight end [autotag]Michael Mayer[/autotag] leaving, the need to add more talent really is paramount. [autotag]Lorenzo Styles Jr.[/autotag] suffered through a sophomore slump after it looked like he was primed for a breakout after a huge [autotag]PlayStation Fiesta Bowl[/autotag] last year.

[autotag]Jayden Thomas[/autotag] showed flashed, but wasn’t consistent. Same goes for [autotag]Deion Colzie[/autotag] and [autotag]Tobias Merriweather[/autotag]. If the Irish are able to get a commitment from Smith, it would be a very big transfer portal recruiting win.

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Five hidden plays that helped decide Notre Dame’s defeat of Navy

A win is a win and these plays helped the Irish get there

Touchdowns and turnovers don’t always tell the story as there are plenty of smaller plays that help dictate a game. These are those plays for Notre Dame as they escaped with a closer than expected 35-32 victory over Navy.

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5 Stars: The best and worst of Notre Dame’s win over Navy

Who did well? Who didn’t for the Irish?

The first half was like it was written as a perfect scrip. The Irish couldn’t do much wrong and raced out to a 35-13 lead. It ended up as a tale of two halves, the second not being as kind to Notre Dame as the first. There were good performances, 5 stars, and not so great, 1 star, ones today. Find out below who earn those the best and worst stars and all of them in between below.

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Twitter reacts to Drew Pyne’s touchdown pass to Jayden Thomas

What a first half for the quarterback.

To put it mildly, [autotag]Drew Pyne[/autotag] has been a very divisive figure among the Notre Dame fan base this season. Forced to fill in at a starting quarterback job he didn’t win in training camp, the results have been rather mixed.

When things are going bad, more than a few folks call for him to be benched, but folks are pleased when things are going well. It was the latter in the first half against Navy when he ran for a touchdown and threw three touchdown passes, including this 37-yard strike to [autotag]Jayden Thomas[/autotag] to give the Irish a 35-13 halftime lead:

Oh yeah, did we mention that touchdown was set up by the Irish’s school-record seventh blocked punt of the season? And the aforementioned rushing touchdown happened after a [autotag]Clarence Lewis[/autotag] interception broke up a trick play by the Midshipmen. So while Pyne had some help, he’s the one who has the guide the offense to the end zone. He has done that, and these tweets show how happy that has made everyone:

Notre Dame fans fed up with Drew Pyne vent on Twitter

Do your feelings about Pyne mirror these tweets?

You have to feel bad for [autotag]Drew Pyne[/autotag]. He became an accidental starting quarterback for Notre Dame after [autotag]Tyler Buchner[/autotag] went down with a season-ending injury during the Irish’s second game. To his credit, he has handled this situation about as well as he possibly can. However, none of that matters to a loud part of the Irish fan base that has seen more of Pyne than it cares to any longer.

Before the first half against Syracuse even ended, people filled Twitter with anti-Pyne tweets to the point where Pyne was trending. To Pyne’s credit, he did complete a long pass to [autotag]Michael Mayer[/autotag] during the half’s final minute to set up a short touchdown pass to [autotag]Jayden Thomas[/autotag]. Still, it’s unlikely that impressive last drive will be enough to flip people’s opinions on Pyne. The interception he threw to end the drive before the touchdown still might be more fresh in people’s minds. Here are some examples:

Let’s get wild, week 9: Statistical predictions for Notre Dame vs Syracuse

Which stats do you think help the Irish get a win today?

Although Syracuse isn’t a traditional power, they still boast a very quality team this fall. Their lone loss was last week to an undefeated Clemson squad, which didn’t really give a blueprint for how to beat the Orange. The Irish will have to do it their way and here are some stats that could help Notre Dame get another road upset victory against a ranked opponent.

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Twitter reacts to Notre Dame scoring on first possession vs. UNLV

Surprised?

We can’t blame you if you’ve given up all hope for Notre Dame’s offense. After all, this unit couldn’t get anything going against Stanford for quite some time. However, the offense decided not to wait against UNLV and scored on the game’s first possession. After [autotag]Drew Pyne[/autotag] threw a 37-yard completion to [autotag]Jayden Thomas[/autotag], [autotag]Audric Estime[/autotag] ran for a 12-yard touchdown, giving the Irish their first opening-drive touchdown this season:

We’ll give you a moment to get over the shock of the end result for this six-play, 75-yard drive.

OK, now that you’ve collected yourself, how are you feeling about this? Pretty darn good, we hope. Fortunately, if you still can’t find the proper words to express how you’re feeling right now, we found Irish fans on Twitter who were able to show everyone how they feel quickly. Here is only a small sample of Irish fans reacting to what has become seemingly an impossible task becoming a reality:

First watch: Thoughts on Notre Dame’s first half against BYU in Shamrock Series

They Irish played well but it could have been better

Unfortunately I wasn’t able to get to watch the Irish defeat BYU in Las Vegas this weekend, my brother in-law got married. Thankfully modern technology helped me out, as I DVR’d the game. I finally got a chance to watch the game and here are my thoughts on the first half of the game. Second half will come tomorrow.