The game didn’t start well for Notre Dame’s offense or quarterback Drew Pyne on Saturday as the Fighting Irish offense tripped over its own feet early and often in the 24-17 victory over Cal.
After the Irish went three-and-out for the third time in as many possessions to start the game, Pyne was 3-of-6 passing with one sack.
Notre Dame’s coaching staff was none too pleased with the offense and Pyne’s start. The cameras on the NBC telecast caught an encounter between Pyne and Notre Dame offensive coordinator as they were on the phone, and it clearly wasn’t a “hey, how ya doin’?” type of call. Take a look here.
Norte Dame OC Tommy Rees is clearly up in the booth giving QB Drew Pyne HELL 🤣😅
(via @RealBigDev216)pic.twitter.com/UQ6EcdBkHz
— PFF College (@PFF_College) September 17, 2022
I will not share what was said, but it doesn’t take a professional lip reader to know at least a few of those words. Pyne was asked about the encounter following the game and had a positive response to Rees’ tough coaching.
Notre Dame QB Drew Pyne on Tommy Rees: “I saw that video. Coach Rees, I texted him this Sunday and said I want you to be very hard on me. … That’s the standard he holds me to and that’s what I asked for, and I respond well to hard coaching.” pic.twitter.com/1fm6GTAuoA
— Matt Fortuna (@Matt_Fortuna) September 17, 2022
Itt appears Pyne wasn’t just saying he responds well to hard coaching. His 14 of 17 and a pair of touchdowns performance from that point onward seem to speak exactly to that.
Some will be mad about it and that’s their right. Pyne flat-out said he responds well to tough coaching, and Rees was probably aware of this before today. I’ve got no problem with it, that’s part of playing competitive football at a high level. Even during Brian Kelly’s time I thought that was often overblown, but I do think Kelly used it as a form of coaching on quarterbacks that didn’t react quite as well.
MORE NOTRE DAME-CAL POSTGAME COVERAGE:
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Five stars: best and worst of Notre Dame’s 24-17 win over Cal