Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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6 MAY 2022 BLUE & GOLD ILLUSTRATED T here are few events on an- nual college football sched- ules that turn every type of fan — from casual supporters to diehards — into prisoners of the moment quite like spring games. It happened with Notre Dame this year. Perusing social media and message boards, you'd think the Fighting Irish were fatally doomed on offense for the up- coming 2022 season. Less than four yards per carry for both teams? A wide receiver leading the winning team in rushing yards — and he only had 22? The projected third-string running back leading the other team in rushing yards with 59 — and the next closest players on that side tied for second with 10 apiece, with undersized and not overly athletic junior quar- terback Drew Pyne being one of those two? About Pyne — he threw two back- foot interceptions that weren't close to his intended targets. He overthrew sophomore wide receiver Lorenzo Styles on a screen attempt when Styles was no more than eight or so yards di- rectly in front of him. Those were his three worst throws of the day. There were others filed away firmly in the cat- egory of, well, bad. But that doesn't mean Pyne is bad. It doesn't mean the game was bad either. Spring games should be the ultimate grain-of-salt situations, not prisoner- o f- t h e - m o m e n t so u n d i n g b oa rd s. Imagine going through 14 practices with the same players next to you fight- ing for the same cause only to see them standing on an opposite sideline on game day. That's the challenge both of- fenses endured. Starting tackles Joe Alt and Blake Fisher were mixed and matched on different teams. Even senior walk-on guard Quinn Murphy started for the Gold team. So did senior walk-on wide receiver Conor Ratigan. Those guys aren't trotting on the field first, if at all, against Ohio State Sept. 3, so why should anyone assume what they wit- nessed April 23 at Notre Dame Stadium is indicative at all of what will occur when games actually count, wen they actually matter? Pyne isn't going to miss out on the chance to start in the fall because he looked off during a scrimmage in which he had to rush back and forth to quar- terback both teams while sophomore signal-caller Tyler Buchner stood on the sideline with an injured ankle. If he does lose the starting job to Buchner, it'll be because his entire body of work from March 17 to whenever the decision is made was not as complete as Buch- ner's. April 23 will end up representing a small sliver of the evidence. "It's been important for me to con- tinue to meet with those guys," head coach Marcus Freeman said of the quar- terbacks after the Blue-Gold Game. "I have to continue to think the way they think. A couple [missed throws] were batted balls. It's not always on the quarterback. "We know we have to take care of the football, but it's a collective part. We've got to be on the same page. There have to be guys that make the quar- terback look good, too. We will evaluate it. He played with basi- cally zero breaks. I am proud of him for how he played." That doesn't sound like a head coach ready to give up on a guy because of a poor performance in a spring game. It's OK to say Pyne didn't play well, even though Freeman did not say that, and still believe he could be a part of the team's future. It's also OK to believe Buch- ner is the better option to start, but that assertion shouldn't be entirely derived from what hap- pened at Notre Dame Stadium on one Saturday afternoon. It's perfectly acceptable to say some individual Blue-Gold Game accomplishments should be held onto as well. That's not shifting the goalposts but rather having an open mind. Is true freshman quarterback Steve Angeli likely to score a game-winning touchdown this season because he scored one in the spring game? No. Remember, don't be a prisoner of the moment. But did he show some mettle no of- fensive player other than fellow early enrollee freshman Jadarian Price could muster? Yes, and there's something to be said for that. Just like one mediocre day doesn't tell the whole story on Pyne, one heroic day doesn't vault Angeli and Price into eter- nal good graces at Notre Dame. They still have much to prove. They didn't arrive at Notre Dame thinking, "The ul- timate determinant of success will be showing out in the spring game." It's only just getting started for those two, just as the spring game should only be a fleeting moment in time for those who pay attention to Notre Dame football. ✦ GOLDEN GAMUT TYLER HORKA Tyler Horka has been a writer for Blue & Gold Illustrated since July 2021. He can be reached at thorka@blueandgold.com Junior quarterback Drew Pyne completed 22 of 33 throws for 185 yards with one touchdown and two interceptions in the Blue-Gold Game. PHOTO BY CHAD WEAVER Don't Put Too Much Stock In Blue-Gold Game Results