Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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www.BLUEANDGOLD.com OCT. 15, 2022 25 DREW PYNE PROVES HIMSELF WORTHY WITH EVERY START Notre Dame quarterback Drew Pyne isn't a numbers guy. He's a results guy. The junior sat in the same seat his head coach occupied a few minutes earlier after Notre Dame's 28-20 victory over No. 16 BYU at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas. Marcus Freeman referenced a statistics sheet multiple times to answer questions from the media. He even glanced at it to review Pyne's performance. "What was Drew Pyne, pass comple- tion?" Freeman muttered while scan- ning the piece of paper. "Twenty-two of 28 is pretty good." Pyne, meanwhile? Nope. Not neces- sary. "I don't really worry about stats," Pyne said. "I just worry about win- ning. I have no clue — I couldn't even tell you a ballpark for how many yards I threw for. W hatever. I don't really think about that. It's just play by play." Two-hundred and 62. With 3 touch- dow ns and 1 somewhat f luky inter- ception that was tipped at the l i ne and fluttered right into the arms of a Cougars linebacker. It was only Pyne's second interception of the season since relieving injured sophomore Tyler Bu- chner in the fourth quarter of Week 2. In Pyne's three starts, all of which he has won, he has completed 63 of 85 (74.1 percent) passes for 701 yards with 8 touchdowns and 1 interception. He might come across a few social media posts with those figures whether he wants to or not. His friends and family might put them in his ear, too. Every- one can't help it. Pyne is not Notre Dame's most myste- rious "who is he?" anymore. He's more of a proven commodity with each outing. He settled in and did enough for Notre Dame to win in his first career start against California. He went on the road and outplayed redshirt freshman sensa- tion Drake Maye for large stretches of Notre Dame's win over North Carolina. And now he has beaten another highly touted opposing quarterback in BYU's Jaren Hall, who had completed 70.2 per- cent of his passes for 1,438 yards with 12 touchdowns and 1 interception through the first five games of 2022. There was no question who was the better quarterback on the same field NFL signal-callers grace every Sunday. It was the guy who didn't try to do too much, but instead fed his All-American tight end, Michael Mayer, with regu- larity on the way to 11 catches for 118 yards and 2 touchdowns. It was the guy who evaded an edge rusher off the right with a step-up move, stood in the face of another rusher coming from a simi- lar direction and still shoveled a pass to his running back for a 13-yard gain. "I surprised myself," Pyne said of the play. "It worked, I guess. It was pretty good." Sure did. Sure was. It was the guy who isn't supposed to unleash that sort of surprising athleti- cism but still beat a Cougars linebacker to the edge to pick up 5 yards on third- and-4. Notre Dame connected on an im- portant final field goal later on that drive. It was Pyne. "He's an ultimate competitor," Free- man said. "That's the one thing that makes him special. He competes. He prepares the right way." Prior to the California game, Notre Dame fans were rightfully worried in not knowing what to expect from Pyne. A nd even in the first quarter of that game, they had every reason to write Pyne off after he grounded his first pass attempt of the day, put another ball in the turf shortly thereafter and followed those short-armed failures up with a sailed ball over Mayer's head. He lost a fumble to add to the misery. But ever since offensive coordina- tor Tommy Rees unleashed a series of seemingly magical words into a head- set and through a telephone speaker into Pyne's ear, Pyne has been every- thing Irish fans could have ever asked for in a backup quarterback. He's played more like a starter. That's a luxury every coaching staff wants when the actual sta rter goes dow n. Notre Dame's season has a completely different trajectory than it did a month ago, and Pyne is a catalyst for that. "Drew Pyne is always ready to go," Freeman said. "Now what you're see- ing is the execution starting to be there, so the confidence is continuing to rise. I just keep challenging him to continue to be the standard in terms of how we prepare, because he is, and he'll con- tinue to get better and better." JAYSON ADEMILOLA ANSWERS THE CALL WITH FOURTH-DOWN STUFF The challenge Notre Dame defen- sive end Justin Ademilola gave his twin brother and fellow lineman, graduate student defensive tackle Jayson Ademi- BYU GAME NOTES BY TYLER HORKA AND PATRICK ENGEL Pyne is 3-0 as the Fighting Irish's starter, completing 63 of 85 (74.1 percent) passes for 701 yards with 8 touchdowns and 1 interception in that three-game stretch. PHOTO BY DAVID BECKER