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Cardiac kids were back at work on Saturday night as the No.14 Notre Dame trailed Virginia Tech 29-21 with just under four minutes left in regulation.
Jack Coan was a disaster in the first quarter, replaced by Tyler Buchner who gave the Irish a needed spark before spitting and appearing to take his ankle away from a game and being forced out.
Coan returned with less than four minutes to lead a tying touchdown before recovering the ball and leading the Irish within reach of Jonathan Doerer to score his second game-winning goal of the season.
It was a football game that was played and that Notre Dame won. Here are my five takeaways as the Irish go 5-1:
5. Abrupt start
Photo by Scott Taetsch / Getty Images
It was well known that Lane Stadium was going to rock as things went on. It didn’t matter who the starting quarterback would have been, it would be loud and crazy.
Jack Coan didn’t provide anything at first as Notre Dame didn’t do anything offensively, falling 10-0 five minutes into the second quarter. I am happy for Jack Coan and delighted that Notre Dame escapes from Blacksburg with a victory, but for the life of me I cannot understand why he started this ball game.
4. Defensive disaster on 3rd down
Photo by Scott Taetsch / Getty Images
The defense have to leave the field at some point and on Saturday night they struggled to do so. When you come back to see the movie and watch it without the same emotion, it will likely reveal a decent amount of takes that weren’t reported, but at some point you have to leave the field on the third try.
Cam Hart’s missed tackle in the 3rd and 7th leads to a field goal for Virginia Tech as the Hokies regain the advantage. 3rd and 15 in the fourth quarter and allow a backup quarterback who can barely lift his arm to rush for a touchdown.
It was not pretty but Notre Dame was able to get by on Saturday night.
3. Growth of the offensive line
Credit where credit is due?
The offensive line still has a long way to go, but it improved on Saturday night and was able to establish the run as it has yet to do in 2021.
Excluding sacks, 40 runs for 184 yards in running play. ND has also found something on the offensive line.
– Greg Flammang (@ greg2126) 10 October 2021
It’s not a finished product but it was a step in the right direction, still a long way to go but for a unit that has been so heavily criticized this year it was better performance and something on which to go. ‘to lean on.
2. Doerer starts over
Credit: Reinhold Matay-USA TODAY Sports
Jonathan Doerer enjoyed a top-down career at Notre Dame, but the timing wasn’t too great for him on Saturday night as he broke through a 48-yard field goal with just under 20 seconds left to give the Irish the eventual advantage.
He’s had good times and brutal times, but hats off to the youngster for telling his trainer to stop worrying about a laser pointer and let him kick it, then enjoy the opportunity and hit the winning basket.
1. Jack Coan takes, Jack Coan gives
Credit: Reinhold Matay-USA TODAY Sports
I don’t know how Brian Kelly had the guts to come back to Jack Coan after Tyler Buchner was injured, but that’s why he gets paid a lot of money to make such decisions when I get paid a lot less to write to their subject. I had been calling Drew Pyne since last Sunday and a week later we still haven’t seen him.
Coan has been excellent in the last two practices and I am delighted for the youngster. I hadn’t seen it coming, but I’m glad it did.
If Coan is going to start over after the bye when USC comes to town, can we see more of the three-step drops that were featured at the end of this game instead of the five-step and seven-step drops that the first possessions had? been met?
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