Notre Dame football: Irish lean on Coan, Buchner in comeback victory vs. Toledo
By Brad Weiss
It took turning to a true freshman to do so, but in the end, the Notre Dame football team came away with a home victory over Toledo, moving to 2-0.
With the game on the line, the Notre Dame football team turned to true freshman Tyler Buchner at quarterback, and he delivered time and time again. First, Buchner came up big in the first half, orchestrating a drive that gave the Irish a 14-6 lead early on, after Jack Coan and company were stagnant on offense to start.
Then, in the second half, Buchner came through again, this time with the Irish losing, helping lead the team to a hard-fought win in front of the home fans. Notre Dame Stadium finally had fans back in the stands, and they got to see a player at quarterback that could end up being the future at the position.
While Toledo pushed late, bringing the game under a touchdown, Buchner continued to roll, before the Irish turned back to Jack Coan late. Down by four with under a minute to go, Coan led a magnificent drive, one that ended in a touchdown, giving the Irish a hard-fought victory at home.
On a drive that had more penalties than one could count, Coan led the Irish to a late score, and with it, continued the Irish dominance at home. He hit Michael Mayer for a score to take the lead, but Toledo had three touchdowns to play with.
In the end, the defense got the only stop it needed, carrying the Irish to victory thanks to a strip sack.
Notre Dame football moves to 2-0 on the season
With the win, the Irish move to 2-0 on the young season, and have avoided disaster in each of the first two weeks of the season. They have shown resilience late, and have come away with the victories, but they need to get things cleaned up with a really tough part of their schedule coming up.
After the Purdue game next week at home, the Irish take on Wisconsin, Cincinnati, and Virginia Tech before the bye week, so changes could be coming after a shaky start.
Overall, while the win was nice, this game leaves the Irish faithful with more questions than they do answers. Notre Dame football is still 2-0, and some other big-time programs lost this weekend, so it will be interesting to see where they end up when the new AP Poll is released this week.