What they’re saying about Notre Dame's 28-20 win against BYU
How did Notre Dame react to its abysmal loss against Marshall to drop to 0-2 on the season? With three straight wins, including a 28-20 triumph over No. 16 BYU on Saturday night.
The Irish are rolling with two very winnable games ahead of them with games against Stanford and UNLV the next two weekends, respectively.
In this article, we’ll take a look around at what the media is saying about Notre Dame’s triumph against the Cougars, including Blue & Gold’s Mike Singer and Tim Hyde giving their instant reaction in a postgame live YouTube show.
Make sure to subscribe to the Blue & Gold YouTube channel here and tune in to The Mike Goolsby Show, which will be live on the page at 7 p.m. ET Sunday.
Patrick Engel, Blue & Gold: Michael Mayer, Drew Pyne shine in Notre Dame win over BYU
Notre Dame has won three straight after beating No. 16 BYU 28-20. The Irish’s star tight end and increasingly reliable quarterback were at the center of it. Their offensive and defensive lines polished it off, ensuring a potential blowout didn’t turn into a collapse.
Here are five observations and from the game.
1. Dominant Michael Mayer
What else is there to say at this point? Michael Mayer keeps confounding defenses, even when he’s at the top of the scouting report. The junior tight end made his best case yet that he is the nation’s premier player at his position against BYU.
Mayer caught a career-high 11 passes for 118 yards and two touchdowns. Five of his receptions were third-down conversions. He accounted for half of quarterback Drew Pyne’s completions. Sometimes, Mayer was inexplicably wide open. Others, he was closely covered and made the catch anyway.
The opposing team’s game plan starts with defending No. 87. Mayer still produces anyway. Notre Dame offensive coordinator Tommy Rees has found ways to get him open despite the opponent’s attention to him.
Mayer has 33 catches through five games. Breaking his single-season program record of 71 set last season feels well within reach, as does leading all FBS tight ends in receptions and touchdowns this year. He is the current leader in the former.
Tyler Horka, Blue & Gold: Grading Notre Dame football in win over BYU
Make that three wins in a row for Notre Dame. The Fighting Irish (3-2) went to Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas for their annual Shamrock Series game and came away with a 28-20 victory over the No. 16 BYU Cougars (4-2) that was more dominant than the final margin suggests.
Here’s how Notre Dame graded in the victory according to BlueandGold.com.
Notre Dame Passing Offense: A
Take away a tipped interception, and this is an A+.
Junior quarterback Drew Pyne was nearly perfect. He was 22-of-28 for 262 yards with 3 touchdowns and the 1 interception. What more can you ask aside from getting the batted-then-picked ball over the line of scrimmage, or not attempting that pass in the first place?
The best thing Pyne has going for him is junior tight end Michael Mayer, who caught 11 passes for 118 yards and two touchdowns. The more he looks to No. 87, the better. Sophomore wide receiver Jayden Thomas had the best game of his career with 3 catches for 74 yards and a touchdown.
Notre Dame now has back-to-back stout performances in the passing game. It started with impressive cohesion in the second half against California in Week 3. This facet of Notre Dame’s game is rolling.
Brandon Judd, Deseret News: 3 takeaways from No. 16 BYU’s loss to Notre Dame
BYU fell behind by as many as 19 points before ultimately losing 28-20 to Notre Dame on Saturday night at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas.
Here are three takeaways from the loss that dropped BYU to 4-2 on the season:
Another painfully slow start and ball control cost the Cougars
BYU has been stricken with slow first halves much of the season as it hits the midway point, and it happened again in Las Vegas.
Despite the Cougars cashing in off a 42-yard Hobbs Nyberg punt return to take a brief 6-3 lead, they were largely overplayed and overwhelmed by their fellow independent program well into the third quarter.
At halftime, Notre Dame had 259 yards of total offense to 67 for the Cougars, had a 13-minute edge in time of possession and led 18-6.
Jaren Hall completed just 3 of 8 passes for 11 yards in the first two quarters in what was easily his worst half of football at BYU, and he struggled much of the night against the Notre Dame defense.
The time of possession domination extended into Notre Dame’s first possession of the second half, when the Fighting Irish ate 6:55 off the clock on an 11-play, 75-yard touchdown drive to go up 25-6.
Douglas Farmer, NBC Sports: Michael Mayer, Notre Dame hold on in Las Vegas amid second-half BYU surge
LAS VEGAS — When Notre Dame revealed its white-and-gold uniforms back in July for Saturday’s Shamrock Series against BYU, “All-American tight end fell down” was the first mention of Michael Mayer, courtesy of former Irish offensive lineman Mike Golic Jr. doing his best Zach Galifianakis impersonation. Officially wearing that uniform this weekend, Mayer did anything but fall down in Notre Dame’s 28-20 victory against the No. 16 Cougars.
He did, however, firmly establish his All-American candidacy while breaking some Irish records.
At first, Notre Dame (3-2) leaned on Mayer to convert third downs, moving the chains on five separate third downs by the end of the game. Then, the Irish sought him out in the end zone, junior quarterback Drew Pyne twice connecting with his favorite target for scores.
For precision’s sake, it should be acknowledged Mayer fell to the grass on both of his touchdown catches, but obviously at that point, he had inflicted the necessary damage on BYU (4-2).
“We knew BYU was going to be a tough team,” Irish head coach Marcus Freeman said. “I told them at halftime (leading 18-6), this team wasn’t going to quit. I challenged our guys, we have to match their intensity.”
