Tag: Tyler Buchner

5 Stars: The best and worst of Notre Dame’s escape over Toledo

It was a win, right?

The first half was rough, aside from the first series and then when Tyler Buchner came in for his series and engineered a drive capped off by a Kyren Williams long touchdown run. The second half was a struggle, empty drives in the third quarter for both teams kept Toledo with a slim 16-14 lead. The Irish struck first in the second half as Buchner again showed his potential, finding Chris Tyree. Toledo answered right away but missed the 2-point conversion to tie the game. The game went to the wire again, Toledo taking the lead late and the Irish having to mount a comeback. Coan came back and found Michael Mayer for the game winner. It wasn’t pretty, but like last week, a win is a win. Take a look below at the best, 5 stars, and worst, 1 star, performances from the Irish today.

Notre Dame vs. Toledo: Fourth-Quarter Analysis

Whew.

Notre Dame will need to clean some things up before the competition really gets fierce. That it struggled so much for a second consecutive week undoubtedly will cause a lot of discussion about how good this team really is. For now, it can settle for a 32-29 win over a Toledo team that came into Notre Dame Stadium with something to prove and did just that even as it just came up short.

On a drive the Irish (2-0) left over from the third quarter, Tyler Buchner got the Irish into field-goal range on a 15-yard run. That set up a 30-yard field goal from Jonathan Doerer to put the Irish back in front. South Bend breathed a little easier.

The Rockets moved backwards on their first possession of the quarter by virtue of both the Irish’s defense and a couple of false starts. That enabled the Irish’s offense to set up shop at their own 45-yard line. Buchner only needed one play to hit Chris Tyree, who began the play in motion before the snap, for a 55-yard touchdown. South Bend breathed even easier than before.

It also took only one play for the Rockets to gain momentum back. Pinned back at his own 11, Bryant Koback took a handoff and found enough holes to gain 67 yards. That ultimately set up a third-and-goal from the Irish’s 8 on which he took a shovel pass to score a touchdown and bring the Rockets within two. A pass on a two-point conversion failed, so the Irish held onto a 24-22 lead.

With time winding down, the Irish focused on the ground game to eat the clock. It worked for a while, getting all the way to the Rockets’ 33. That’s when disaster struck as Desjuan Johnson forced a Kyren Williams fumble, which Zachary Ford recovered at the Rockets’ 27 with less than three-and-a-half minutes to play. Holy cow.

Needing only a field goal to take a late lead, the Rockets’ offense moved enough to set that up. However, it wasn’t needed. On a third-and-1 from the 26, Dequan Finn ran to the left and found enough open field to run into the end zone for a backbreaking touchdown to put his team up, 29-24. With 1:35 left, the Irish needed to make something happen fast.

The drive started well when Jack Coan hit Kevin Austin for a 34-yard reception to put the Irish into Rockets territory. Aided by a couple of penalties, the offense quickly found itself in the red zone and made the most of it. After having his finger popped back in on the sidelines, Coan found Michael Mayer right in front of the end zone, and he marched the short distance with his 18-yard touchdown reception. Needing a two-point conversion to protect the lead in the event of a Rockets field goal, quarterback-turned-receiver Avery Davis had enough time to find an open Williams, who caught the ball to put the Irish up three.

The Rockets had 1:09 to respond with 87 yards of field to work with and suddenly became undisciplined as they took one penalty after another. At one point, they took a timeout to avoid a 10-second runoff. Toledo’s frustrating drive ended abruptly when Myron Tagovailoa-Amosa forced a Carter Bradley fumble that was recovered by JD Bertrand. All of South Bend can exhale.

Will you be able to breathe after that, or is this frustrating? Whatever the case, a win is a win is a win.

 

Watch: Tyler Buchner finds Tyree for first career Notre Dame passing TD

A huge game from the true freshman

The Irish offense was stagnant for much of the second half, but the spark of the first half, Tyler Buchner came in to start the series an immediately made a big play happen. Buchner took the snap, fakes a zone read handoff then threw to running back Chris Tyree and the speedy running back did the rest.

Tyree sped past the Toledo defense for 55-yards and the score to extend the Irish lead to 24-16 with under 11 minutes left in the fourth quarter. it was a massive play to give the Irish some breathing room, in a game that was much tighter than many of us expected it to be.

Notre Dame vs. Toledo: Third-Quarter Analysis

Getting nervous here.

Suddenly, the possibility of Notre Dame dropping its home opener to a Mid-American Conference team is very real. While the Irish defense has held its own against a Toledo offense that still can’t find the end zone, the Irish offense still is searching for answers after three quarters. Those lingering questions better be answered quickly as the Rockets still have a 16-14 lead.

The Rockets went three-and-out on their first two possessions of the second half, and it didn’t matter. Although the Irish got a first down the first time they touched the ball, they moved backwards after that on a sequence that included back-to-back sacks of Tyler Buchner and Jack Coan. The Irish’s second possession began near midfield before stalling out at the Rockets’ 37-yard line. Jonathan Doerer came on to attempt a 55-yard field goal and put his team back in front, but the kick that would have given him his career long went wide left.

The Rockets finally got a first down on their next drive but nothing more. Back on offense, the Irish converted on a pair of third downs to hold onto the ball, and that’s where we stand. Hold onto your hats, folks. This is gonna be quite a finish.

Notre Dame vs. Toledo: Second-Quarter Analysis

Well, this isn’t going as planned.

It looked like the Notre Dame offense found the spark it needed. With the running game practically nonexistent for the first five regulation quarters of the season, there suddenly was reason think that would be the unit snap the Irish of of their funk. However, it took one bad play in the final minute to cancel that progress out, and the Irish trail Toledo, 16-14, at halftime.

The Rockets, looking for a field goal to give them their first lead of the game, came close to that possibility. However, Isaiah Foskey sacked Carter Bradley for a 10-yard loss, though it ultimately set up a Bailey Flint punt that pinned the Irish at their own 4-yard line. If the offense was going to snap out of it now, it would have to do so with almost the whole field ahead. Enter Tyler Buchner, who was inserted at quarterback for his first game action since his junior year of high school in 2019.

All Buchner did was roll out to the right for a 26-yard gain on his first play. He then ran for an additional 11 yards, then hit Braden Lenzy for a 15-yard completion a couple of plays later. The drive concluded on the next play when Kyren Williams busted through traffic on the right side for a 43-yard touchdown. It was nice teamwork led by a unlikely duo.

When the Irish took the ball back after a Rockets three-and-out, Jack Coan returned to action. After he threw an incomplete pass on third-and-1, the offense stayed on the field to go for it despite being on its own 40-yard line. Chris Tyree got stuffed, and the Rockets got the ball back with terrific field position.

The ensuing defensive possession started out disastrous for the Irish. A couple of penalties first kept the drive going, then gave the Rockets a first-and-goal at the 2. Things looked better when Kyle Hamilton tackled Bryant Koback for a 3-yard loss. The Irish then caught a break when a Bradley pass went through Bryce Mitchell’s hands in the end zone, and Thomas Cluckey came out to kick his third field goal.

With the Irish hoping to get points before halftime, the worst possible thing happened. Coan was intercepted by Chris McDonald, who returned the ball 27 yards to the house with nobody in front of him, and the Rockets had the lead. What a momentum shift in South Bend. The Irish had one last possession to try and score before the clock hit zero, but nothing came of it.

Not much you can say right now. Here’s hoping the second half goes much better.

 

Watch: Kyren Williams breaks a big run and score for Notre Dame

Williams shows off his home run ability

The offense needed some energy after stalling for a few series. Offensive coordinator Tommy Rees made a quarterback change, in came freshman Tyler Buchner to spell Jack Coan. Buckner’s running ability immediately paid off, ripping runs off of 26-yards and 12-yards.

Buchner then got the opportunity to put the ball in the air completing a pass to Braden Lenzy for 15-yards. That action made the defense spy Buchner as a threat to run, then boom, a handoff to to Kyren Williams and 43-yards later, the running back was in the endzone.

It was a much needed score, as Toledo had made two field goals to trip the lead to 7-6 before Williams long run. Take a look at the explosive jaunt by Williams to extend the Irish lead to 14-6 midway through the second quarter.

And another view here.

A bold prediction made by 247Sports regarding Notre Dame’s quarterbacks

Which quarterback should ultimately get the most reps?

The countdown had already begun, with less than two weeks to go until the Irish kick off the season in Tallahassee against Florida State, there are bound to be plenty of interesting predictions. Chris Hummer of 247Sports is included in that group as today he made some bold predictions regarding this coming season.

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There are some interesting takes, like Oklahoma winning the College Football Playoff title but his 5th point, true freshman QB’s are coming … eventually that should have the eyes of Irish nation. Hummer claims that this season “is a big of a rebuilding year” and Jack Coan is clearly not the future.

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Agreed on his Coan point but rebuilding this year just doesn’t seem right, but that isn’t Hummer’s main idea. It’s that Tyler Buchner is the future and I can’t agree more on this.

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Hummer thinks that “if things start slow for Notre Dame, I wouldn’t be shocked if Buchner started to earn some reps.” I think that Buchner gets rep even if things go great early on. Brian Kelly can’t afford to enter the 2022 season with an inexperienced quarterback, especially opening against Ohio State in Columbus.

After a solid spring game showing, Buchner has the ability to lead this offense now and into the future. It will be very interesting how Kelly handles this situation, while playing to win now and preparing for the future.

ESPN selects multiple Notre Dame true freshman to their All-American team

Who’s the true freshman that will make the biggest impact this fall for the Irish?

In what was seen as Brian Kelly’s best effort on the recruiting trail in a few cycles, the 2021 class has the potential to have multiple early impact players. Two of ESPN’s recruiting experts, the two Tom’s, Luginbill and VanHaaren, each selected their preseason true freshman All-American team (insider). Find out below which Irish freshman made the list.

Five breakout candidates for Notre Dame in 2021

These 5 could have big time years for the Irish

In college football there is plenty of turnover each year, with players leaving to the NFL, entering the transfer portal or an unfortunate injury ends their playing career earlier than they anticipated. With that turnover comes new opportunities for other players to breakout. Here are 5 Notre Dame players who could make a big impact this fall.

Notre Dame QB commit Angeli gives thoughts on 2021 starting job debate

Who do you think will win the starting job?

Notre Dame is betting big on quarterback commit Steve Angeli, who will join the Irish for the 2022 season. Their high hopes for him have to be ascended after the performance he’s put on at Rivals camp this week. It’s interesting to watch given that the Irish still aren’t sure who will start at quarterback for them in 2021. Angeli was asked about it at the camp, and here’s what he had to say:

Yeah, it’s not a very exciting answer, but given that he’s mostly on the outside looking in aside from conversations with Tommy Rees, it shouldn’t be a surprise. The truth is the Irish have very viable candidates in Jack Coan, Drew Pyne and Tyler Buchner, and none of them emerged as a lead candidate during the spring practices. It’s possible we won’t get an answer until shortly before the Irish open their season in prime time at Florida State. While you might not want to hear that, it is what it is.