Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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28 NOV. 6, 2021 BLUE & GOLD ILLUSTRATED yards and another score on the ground. The latter touchdown — a 21-yard scramble on Notre Dame's first pos- session of the second half — was a fre- quent subject of discussion in Coan's postgame media session. The rarity of it wasn't lost on him. "I don't take anything for granted when I'm running," Coan said. "It was sort of like, 'Wow, I can't believe I'm still going.'" His run as Notre Dame's starting quarterback is still going, too, and as strong as ever. The Irish have won three straight and have found a stable path forward on offense overall. Coan is right in the middle of it. Since re-entering the Irish's 32-29 comeback win at Virginia Tech Oct. 9, Coan has connected on 43 of 61 throws (70.5 percent) for 495 yards with three touchdowns and one interception plus one rushing score. He has done it while playing in the up-tempo offense he operated out of need against the Hok- ies. Notre Dame liked what it saw and adopted the hurry-up as a more perma- nent tactic. "We have found obviously a niche where he feels really comfortable," Notre Dame head coach Brian Kelly said. Yes, Notre Dame ideally doesn't need six games to find the setup that consis- tently brings out Coan's best, but that trial-and-error process has seemingly concluded with Notre Dame still in po- sition to make some stretch-run and postseason noise. The Irish are a quick- throw, fast-decision passing offense with Coan as the starter and freshman Tyler Buchner occasionally rotating in behind him. Coan took what North Carolina's defense gave him, which was enough to help Notre Dame's offense average a season-best 7.7 yards per play and score a season-high 44 points. Sometimes, that was a throw to graduate student receiver Avery Davis when he settled in the soft spot of a zone coverage. Other times, it was sophomore tight end Mi- chael Mayer on a short throw or senior wide receiver Kevin Austin Jr. one-on- one. Coan's touchdown was a 21-yard toss to Austin on a back-shoulder fade. Aus- tin had one-on-one coverage against NOTRE DAME VS. N. CAROLINA QUARTER-BY-QUARTER COMPARISON Notre Dame 1st Qtr. 2nd Qtr. 3rd Qtr. 4th Qtr. 1st Half 2nd Half Total Time of Possession 7:12 7:15 7:07 8:31 14:27 15:38 30:05 Third-Down Conversions 1-2 1-2 1-2 1-2 2-4 2-4 4-8 Fourth-Down Conversions 0-0 0-0 0-0 0-0 0-0 0-0 0-0 Average Field Position UND-42 UND-25 UND-23 UND-39 UND-31 UND-31 UND-31 North Carolina 1st Qtr. 2nd Qtr. 3rd Qtr. 4th Qtr. 1st Half 2nd Half Final Time of Possession 7:48 7:45 7:53 6:29 15:33 14:22 29:55 Third-Down Conversions 2-3 1-2 1-2 2-4 3-5 3-6 6-11 Fourth-Down Conversions 0-0 0-0 0-0 0-0 0-0 0-0 0-0 Average Field Position UNC-20 UNC-28 UNC-26 UNC-25 UNC-24 UNC-26 UNC-25 PLAY CHART (NO. OF PLAYS) Yards ND UNC Nega ve 4 6 0-5 38 30 6-9 11 13 10-19 6 15 20-29 5 1 30-39 1 3 40-49 1 1 50 or more 1 1 RED ZONE EFFICIENCY (INSIDE 20-YARD LINE) No Poss. TD FG Score Notre Dame 5 2 3 0 North Carolina 4 1 2 1 BIG PLAYS (25 YARDS OR MORE) Notre Dame • 4-9 UNC48 Williams 47-yard punt return to UNC41 • 2-8 UND27 Coan pass complete to Mayer for 30 yards to UNC43 • 1-10 UND39 Coan pass complete to Styles for 40 yards to UNC 21 • 1-10 UNC42 Coan pass complete to Styles for 25 yards to UNC17 • 1-10 UND9 Williams 91-yard run for touchdown North Carolina • 3-8 UND47 Howell pass to Downs for 41 yards to UND6 • 2-10 UND39 Howell pass to Downs for 31 yards to UND8 • 2-10 UNC47 Chandler 53-yard run for touchdown • 3-2 UND33 Howell pass to Green for 33-yard touchdown • 2-13 UND31 Howell 31-yard run for touchdown Coan was benched in the first half at Virginia Tech Oct. 9, but since re-entering that game late in the fourth quarter to lead the Irish's 32-29 comeback win he has connected on 43 of 61 passes (70.5 percent) for 495 yards with three touchdowns. PHOTO BY CHAD WEAVER MISCELLANEOUS NOTES • Notre Dame head coach Brian Kelly awarded the game ball to the offensive line. They led the Irish to 293 rushing yards as a team, the highest in any game this season. • Junior Kyren Williams' 261 all-purpose yards (199 rushing, 15 receiving, 47 punt re- turn) marked a career-best effort, surpassing the 205 he put up against Duke in the 2020 season opener (112 rushing, 93 receiving). In addition, it is the best single-game all-purpose performance by a Notre Dame player since Golden Tate had 275 versus Washington in 2009 (31 rushing, 244 receiving). Williams narrowly missed joining the top-10 all-time Irish list. At No. 10, Vagas Ferguson had 263 all-purpose yards (255 rushing, eight receiving) against Georgia Tech in 1978. The Irish's single-game leader in that category is Willie Maher who tallied 361 yards (107 rush, 80 punt return, 174 kick return) against Ka- lamazoo in 1923. • Graduate student wide receiver Avery Davis hauled in a touchdown in the first quar- ter — his third straight game with a receiving score. He finished the game with a team-high five receptions, which tied his career high. • Sophomore linebacker Jordan Botelho recorded his first career sack in the fourth quarter. He is the ninth different player to tally a sack this season. • Senior safety DJ Brown hauled in his second interception of the season in the fourth quarter.