Notre Dame football vs. BYU: Things learned in the Week 6 victory
By Andrew Hall
The Notre Dame football program continued its recovery from an 0-2 start with a 28-20 over the BYU Cougars, winning in convincing fashion Saturday night.
If you looked at the box score of Saturday’s contest, you would think that the Notre Dame football team dominated the Cougars. The Notre Dame football won their third straight game. Here are the things we learned from Notre Dame’s 11th straight Shamrock Series victory.
Notre Dame football vs. BYU: Things learned in the Week 6 victory
The offense is not a fluke
After seeing the Notre Dame football team find its offense in the second half Cal, it felt like defensive coordinators would eventually figure out how to slow a very simple Irish attack.
However, the Irish offense continues to evolve. The emergence of the offensive line, Jayden Thomas, and Logan Diggs give Tommy Rees more options to diversify.
Notre Dame is Tight End U but Michael Mayer is something else
Michael Mayer, in only his third year, surpassed all Notre Dame tight ends in career receptions on Saturday night. He continues to dominate opponents despite it being obvious that he is the top option for the Fighting Irish. This truly demonstrates his dominance. It will take a special defense to be able to completely shut down or even slow Michael Mayer.
The list of recent great Notre Dame tight ends is impressive: Anthony Fasano, John Carlson, Kyle Rudolph, Tyler Eifert, Durham Smythe, and Cole Kmet. Michael Mayer tops them all.
Fighting Irish defense continues to perplex and that’s probably who they are.
For moments, the Notre Dame defense appeared to be an elite unit. Against Ohio State, the Irish held the Buckeyes to their lowest output of the season. Against North Carolina, another high-powered opponent, the Irish limited them for the majority of the game but still allowed 32 points because of major mistakes.
What’s the reason for these momentary lapses? Substitution patterns and lack of focus. A lot of folks talked extensively about the substitution patterns of the defense early in the season. The coaches continue to rotate at critical moments and are slow to react when the defense strings a drive together.
On one hand, players, even the best ones, need a break. On the other hand, that must be weighed against stopping drives.
The lack of focus in moments could be related to the substitutions. On Saturday, freshman cornerback Jaden Mickey was beaten on a chunk pass. Typically, a substitution places a less experienced player in the game. These types of plays can happen. Playing defense is unrelenting and it only takes one mistake to result in a big-time play for the opponent.