Notre Dame football: Do Irish QBs show up when the lights are brightest?

Sep 11, 2021; South Bend, Indiana, USA; Notre Dame Fighting Irish quarterback Tyler Buchner (12) throws in the second quarter against the Toledo Rockets at Notre Dame Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Matt Cashore-USA TODAY Sports
Sep 11, 2021; South Bend, Indiana, USA; Notre Dame Fighting Irish quarterback Tyler Buchner (12) throws in the second quarter against the Toledo Rockets at Notre Dame Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Matt Cashore-USA TODAY Sports /
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This Saturday, the Notre Dame football team takes on Ohio State in a matchup between two top-5 teams. The Buckeyes have an elite quarterback in CJ Stroud, a potential Heisman Trophy candidate, but here, we focus on the signal-caller for the Notre Dame Fighting Irish.

That quarterback is Tyler Buchner, who beat out Drew Pyne to earn the starting job this summer. Will Buchner be able to step up and beat Ohio State in his first career start? To get us ready for that opportunity, we took a look back at what some of his predecessors did in big moments.

Notre Dame football: Do Irish QBs show up when the lights are brightest?

Looking Back

There has been a stigma surrounding Notre Dame over the years that says the Irish cannot and do not win their biggest games. Is there some truth to this? Unfortunately, we cannot ignore the facts. Notre Dame has fallen short in recent years at certain points against the best of the best college football has to offer. I’m going to look at some of these losses and talk about the QB play during those games to see if ND has had a QB problem in these big games.

I will also look at some of Notre Dame’s biggest wins in the last decade or so and similarly look at the Irish quarterback play in those wins. Is there a noticeable uptick in the quality of QB play when the Irish win their big matchups? I’m going to find out. Let’s take a dive into Notre Dame’s past and find out whether or not Irish QBs show up in big games, win or lose.

For each game, I will give a rating out of ten based on whether or not the blame for the loss falls on the QB play. A 10/10 means the fault is fully on the QB, and 0/10 means he played a perfect game. For wins, the scale will be flipped. 10/10 means the QB carried the Irish to a win, and 0/10 means the QB was a non-factor in the win. Here we go!