Notre Dame football: Irish top No. 16 BYU in convincing fashion
By Ryan Shanko
The Notre Dame football team beat the #16 ranked BYU Cougars (4-2) 28-20 in Las Vegas for ND’s annual Shamrock Series game. The Irish improve to 11-0 all-time in Shamrock Series matchups. This game also marks head coach Marcus Freeman’s first win over a ranked opponent and brings his first career winning streak to three games.
Notre Dame football started off Saturday night with a bang, intercepting BYU QB Jaren Hall on the first play of the game, courtesy of Tariq Bracey. The Irish turned the early turnover into a 3-0 lead. BYU would answer, scoring a touchdown on a fourth and goal late in the first quarter on a drive set up by a 42-yard punt return from Hobbs Nyberg, but they would miss the extra point, so their lead was 6-3.
The Irish responded with a 10-play, 75-yard touchdown drive capped by a Michael Mayer touchdown. A few moments later, Notre Dame would find themselves in a goal-to-go situation on fourth down and failed to convert but sacked Jaren Hall in the end zone for a safety to make it a 12-6 game midway through the second.
Right before halftime, Notre Dame’s Jayden Thomas made an incredible catch for a 30-yard touchdown, and the Irish led 18-6 at the half.
Notre Dame football puts the game away
To start the third, the Irish would extend their lead to 25-6 on Michael Mayer’s second touchdown of the night. BYU fought back, as WR Kody Epps found the endzone twice, including on a 53-yard catch midway through the third. The Cougars added their final points of the night on a 28-yard rush TD from Christopher Brooks, but 25-20 was as close as they would get.
Blake Grupe added a field goal, and then Jayson Ademilola made an incredible tackle for loss on a BYU fourth down attempt that would ice the game for the Irish, who got a few first downs and then kneeled down to seal the W, 28-20.
Notre Dame outgained BYU 496 to 280 and held the Cougars to only 120 yards passing. Drew Pyne was phenomenal again, finishing with 262 yards and 3 TDs, with his lone interception coming off of a deflected ball.
Audric Estime and Logan Diggs stepped up big time with Chris Tyree struggling, as the two of them combined for 190 yards on only 31 carries. Michael Mayer stole the spotlight tonight though, as he broke ND legend Tyler Eifert’s record for catches by a tight end in program history. He finished with the best game of his career, 11 catches for 118 yards and 2 TDs.