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Notre Dame was set to lose back-to-back regular season games for the first time since 2016 on Saturday night in Blacksburg. However, Jack Coan ended up rallying the Irish after Tyler Buchner left the game after injuring his ankle. Still, along the way, the Irish might have answered a few lingering questions that they could define for the remainder of the season for the Fighting Irish in 2021.
Tyler Buchner, health permitting, should be QB1 from now on
Tyler Buchner wasn’t perfect in his first real extended action. Heck, sometimes it was bad. That said, the spark it gives to offense is undeniable. With Buchner in the game, the Irish were finally able to throw the ball with some sort of success – and that was without Chris Tyree or C’bo Flemister available for much of the game.
The talent of the arm is there. His bombshell at Kevin Austin was a nice pass. When he snagged in the pocket and hit Avery Davis in stride in the second, we got a glimpse of what he brings as a pocket passer.
We’ve also seen the bad – and the very bad – of playing a real freshman. He had a choice of six and should have had another. Remember, however, that Buchner mainly practiced a very specific package. If Notre Dame commits to Buchner moving forward and giving him all of the starter’s reps, the passes will improve every week.
For as great as Jack Coan’s heroism is to complete the game, the start of the game was just too much of the same story we’ve been seeing for weeks now to think he’s the answer the rest of the way. It comes down to Pyne and Buchner. Neither was excellent – Pyne was 9 of 22 against Cincinnati, Buchner was 6 of 14 against Virginia Tech.
Buchner’s legs – he ran 67 yards on 12 carries – are what sets him apart. This attack will be very different if they go with Buchner and spend the next two weeks building a game plan around him. Buchner looks like the future, so they might as well ride with him now.
Notre Dame seems to have regained its offensive line alignment
Perhaps just as important as seeing what we saw from Buchner was seeing the offensive line finally start to freeze. Notre Dame started Joe Alt on the left tackle and ended up inserting Andrew Kristofic for Zeke Correll. After the match, Kelly credited the extra size Alt, and Kristofic took over Michael Carmody and Correll. The two have around 20 pounds on the players they replaced.
With Alt and Kristofic on the left side, the Irish have finally found some success in rushing football, surpassing 180 meters for their highest total of the year. We’re not usually excited about a total. However, in 2020 the Irish topped that mark in all but four of their games. In 2021, 180 yards was over 40 yards longer than their previous total.
Correll at guard has always felt like a stretch given his height, and it looks like Kristofic could be in the line to fill the position for the remainder of the season. Alt wasn’t the real freshman everyone thought was impressive at this point, but here we are.
This alignment could be what’s best for Notre Dame, both short and long term. When Blake Fisher is healthy, Notre Dame has a big problem on her hands with two promising LTs. Kristofic is gaining experience and coming back next year. Correll returns in the starting lineup for Patterson next year at center. Freshman Rocco Spindler will most likely fill the only opening next year.
With a frozen line and a QB, will the Irish finally have an identity?
It was a small sample size, but with Buchner in the quarterback and the line revamped, Notre Dame looked a bit more like Notre Dame at times. If the staff roll with Buchner as QB1, they can plan their strengths and weaknesses and build on their passes every week. RPO is becoming much more of a threat than it is now.
Notre Dame doesn’t face a better defense than the one they faced last night, statistically speaking, yet this season. In fact, they face some really poor defenses in the second half of the season, which could be an ideal situation to break into a true first-year QB. The next three games will all take place at the Notre-Dame stadium and four of the last six. The only car trips are to Scott Stadium in Charlottesville and Stanford Stadium in Palo Alto – not exactly intimidating environments.
If that’s the route the staff choose to take, Notre Dame fans need to be prepared for more mistakes like the ones they saw on Saturday night at Lane Stadium. Buchner didn’t play his senior season and essentially had a full season of high school football. As a result, he will see things every week that he has never seen before, and there will be a learning curve even if he gets starting reps in practice.
We saw Notre Dame and Brian Kelly leave with an inexperienced young quarterback along with a less physically gifted veteran in 2012 with Tommy Rees backing Everett Golson and sometimes coming in relief. We could see something similar in the last six games of the year.
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