The Clemson Insider recently caught up with Jamie Uyeyama to get some insight on Notre Dame ahead of Clemson’s game against the Fighting Irish. Uyeyama covers Notre Dame football and recruiting for Irish Sports Daily.
Uyeyama hit on a number of topics during the following question-and-answer session, including Notre Dame’s midseason turnaround, the Fighting Irish’s offensive identity, the quarterback situation and more heading into Saturday’s game at Notre Dame Stadium.
Note: This interview has been edited for clarity
Notre Dame comes into this one having won five of its last games after starting 0-2. What’s been the key to the turnaround?
The defense played pretty well in the first couple of games. It’s not by any means a dominant defense, but they certainly kept the points down. They played really well and really maybe was the only reason they were in the game in that Ohio State game. The big thing has been the offensive line. I think the offensive line, the first game, they were missing Jarrett Patterson. He’s a four-year starter and a guy who was a preseason All-American. They moved him to guard this year after playing center, and he’s been a guy who’s been key for them. He hurt his foot in camp. He tried to go in the first game but couldn’t go, so they missed him. Came back for the second game, but they still weren’t very good in that Marshall game. And I think, too, they’re starting two young tackles that are very, very talented but haven’t had a ton of game experience. And I think it showed.
These guys, especially the tackles, have gotten much, much better. And just with the guards working together with them and all five across, you’ve gotten consistent line play out of that. Then they started to kind of find out who they are running the football and really kind of leaned on that. That’s where they identity has come from. They’ve leaned on that, and it’s helped them quite a bit.
Drew Pyne started the season as Notre Dame’s backup quarterback before injuries pressed him into the starting role. What’s his skill set?
He’s quite a bit different. Tyler Buchner was the previous starter. He won it out of camp pretty convincingly. He was much more of a runner. He was a guy last year they kind of brought in as a the changeup and dynamic-runner type. Much more of a dual threat. Pyne isn’t a statue. He’s a guy that can scramble a little bit, but they’re not going to use him on designed runs. He’s someone that, when he’s on, can be really good, throw the ball with anticipation and be accurate.
He has two games this year against BYU and North Carolina where he looked fantastic. He was on point and looked like a 75% completion guy, getting the ball out, delivering the deep ball and looking exactly how you’d want him to. And then he’s had other games where he’s looked like a backup quarterback where he’s been a guy who struggled. He’s a guy that maybe tries to force it, the big play, a little bit too much and can get a little bit indecisive in the pocket. He’s had pretty good protection. He’s just someone that’s run hot and cold, and that’s kind of the best way to describe it. He’s got a decent-enough arm and he’s accurate enough. He’s just not consistent.
So was Notre Dame always going to be a run-heavy team this season? Or has playing a backup quarterback forced the team’s hand in that regard?
They’ve leaned on it more. They were always going to be a running team. I think that’s what the plan was, especially because Buchner brought a little bit more to the table with that part of it. He was going to be a guy that gets like 10 carries a game. They were going to use him in that way, and obviously you don’t get that with Pyne. But they’ve just had to (run the ball) because, I mentioned the offensive line, they’ve had to lean on that.
They’re very young at receiver. They lost Avery Davis, who was a guy that Clemson fans might remember from that 2020 game making a lot of big plays late in the fourth quarter. He was a veteran guy that they were going to rely on, and he tore his ACL in camp. They’ve had some other injuries there. The only proven guy that they have is the tight end, Michael Mayer, who obviously is a stud. But they haven’t had the level of consistency there at receiver. Throw that together with the quarterback and the inconsistency there, they’re doing what they have to do to win games, and that’s running the football.
The Irish have three backs with at least 78 carries apiece. Do they rotate the trio pretty evenly or is it situation-based?
It’s pretty even. Audric Estime, he’s a big 230-pounder. He’s a guy who you wouldn’t think of him as a third-down back, but he’s the best in pass protection. They might bring him in a third down quite a bit because they know he’s a guy that picks up the blitz really well. But all the guys have a pretty good skill set where they can pick up the blitz and catch the football pretty well. They rotate those guys a lot. Estime and (Logan) Diggs are more of the inside guys.
Estime is a big, physical guy who’s tough to tackle. Diggs is kind of shifty, but he also can drop his pad level and run a guy over. They’ve both been really good the last few weeks. Outside of Estime having some fumbling problems, he’s been great all year. (Chris) Tyree is more of the home-run hitter. He’s more established as more of a guy in the passing game, so they haven’t really used him as much. You wonder if that’s something they’re going to do more of, but it’s partly part of the offense, what they’ve done and what they’ve become. He’s still a key guy for them, but he’s not going to be the thumper or the closer if they’re trying to run the four-minute offense.
You mentioned Michael Mayer, who’s got nearly double the amount of catches as any other Notre Dame pass-catcher. How many different ways do they try to get him the ball?
They use him in a variety of ways. He’s obviously a guy you can line up in line or in the slot. They’ll line him up out wide to the boundary as the boundary receiver as well because they don’t have that go-to guy at receiver. He is the go-to guy. On third down, he’s a guy they want to get the football, so they try to scheme matchups more for him to get him into good matchups. They try to run a lot of bunch stuff to try to get him open as well. He just has phenomenal ball skills and is obviously a physical guy who can run through tackles as well.
He’s a tough matchup for anybody because if you’re putting a corner on him, he can just kind of bully that guy and be a little bit more physical. But I think corners have had a little bit more success because he is a guy who is athletic enough to beat safeties and kind of do the job there. Clemson easily has the most athletic linebackers that Notre Dame has seen this year. I’d say even more athletic than what Ohio State had. And I think that will be an interesting matchup because you have a different kind of athlete there at linebacker being able to cover Mayer one on one. I’ll be interested to kind of see how a Barrett Carter or a Trenton Simpson looks against him one on one.
What are the strengths and weaknesses of this Notre Dame defense?
The defensive line is easily their strength. They’re good. The rotation is good, and they just have a lot of solid players. They’re a bit undersized on the interior, but they’re really athletic and quick there. Howard Cross is a guy who’s only 275 (pounds), but he plays a lot bigger and a lot heavier than that. (Isaiah) Foskey is the best edge rusher on the team. Justin Ademilola is also a good edge rusher. They can get after the quarterback with just four, and that’s the main thing that they can do and play coverage.
They don’t have a star at linebacker. They don’t have that Jaylon Smith or Manti Te’o type of guy. They’re just solid there. They’ve been playing better in recent weeks, but those guys have kind of struggled since the beginning of the year. In the secondary, they haven’t made a ton of plays, but they haven’t really given up a lot either. I think it’s a well-coached group. They do have a true freshman starting at corner in Benjamin Morrison, and obviously that’s a guy that people have gone after. But he’s done a pretty admirable job. I’m sure he’s going to get a ton or targets in this game. I think Clemson will get their plays against him, but I think he’s a guy that will make some plays, too.
With Notre Dame, they’ve been pretty good against the run. Just not consistent enough. So I think if Clemson can kind of stay disciplined with running the ball with (Will) Shipley and (Phil) Mafah, I think that’s something where they could eventually find success against Notre Dame. But certainly there have been games where Notre Dame has played great run defense, and we’ll just have to see if this will be one of those games.
Photo credit: Mark Konezny/USA TODAY Sports
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