Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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www.BLUEANDGOLD.com FEBRUARY 2023 25 TYLER BUCHNER TAKES BACK QB1 DUTIES WITH A VENGEANCE It was a scene nobody thought they'd see again in 2022. But with just two days to spare before the new year, it hap- pened anyway. Notre Dame head coach Marcus Free- man. Sophomore quarterback Tyler Bu- chner. The two embracing on the play- ing surface at TIAA Bank Field in the immediate aftermath of a Fighting Irish Gator Bowl victory, one in which Bu- chner accounted for 335 yards of total offense and 5 touchdowns. Three and a half months prior, Free- man accepted the loss of Buchner for the season after a grade 5 (of 6) sprain of the AC joint on his non-throwing shoulder. "Expected recovery time is about four months," Freeman said Sept. 12. "So, we can all do the math. Probably, that puts us somewhere in mid-January." Instead, Buchner's recovery was a speedy one. He started practicing again in November. By December, he was "full-go" per Freeman. On Dec. 30, he was the Gator Bowl MVP. The hug between head coach and sig- nal-caller won't soon be forgotten. "Tyler Buchner is an example of a guy who had a bumpy road," Freeman said. "The way he finished off this season, having a chance to start, and the ability to really tune out all the noise and focus on his job — within a practice, within a season, within a game — that's why I'm proud of him." Buchner wasn't perfect. He poked fun at himself in his postgame press confer- ence, quipping that he accounted for 2 "extra touchdowns" he didn't want any part of. Those were both interceptions returned for scores. Most teams don't win games in which they allow the opponent to score twice de- fensively, and once more on special teams for good measure. But the Notre Dame defense kept giving the offense chances, and Buchner and the boys made good on enough of them to emerge victorious. For someone who spent 10 games watching from the press box this season, there was no better feeling than to be the one responsible for the Irish loading a trophy on a plane headed for South Bend. "I play football because of the games," Buchner said. "It's only so fun working out, doing all this stuff. Getting hurt? Not so fun. Just having this opportunity to go back out there for one last time this season with people that I love, my teammates, it's just an unbelievable op- portunity, and I'm happy we came out with a win." Buchner opened the Irish's trek to 45 points with a rushing score on a third- down draw from 15 yards out and finished it by perfectly executing a third-down throw that included a fake handoff, a pump to the right and a flick to a wide- open target to the left from 16 yards away. There were some misfires in the mid- dle, but South Carolina head coach Shane Beamer knew it would be a tough task to hold Buchner down for four quarters. "He's a good athlete," Beamer said. "He was the starting quarterback at the beginning of the season for a reason, and I know how talented Drew Pyne is. When I was at Oklahoma, we recruited Drew Pyne like crazy and were crushed when we didn't get him. "I know how talented Drew is, so for Tyler to be named the starting quar- terback going into the season kind of tells you everything you needed to know about him." Who knows what the future holds for Buchner. That'll sort itself out in the next eight months. But for one more game as a sophomore, in a season that could have ended for him in September, Buchner was Notre Dame's true QB1. "I love Tyler, and I feel like he went out there today and showed that he is TB12," sophomore running back Logan Diggs said. IRISH DELIVER ONE MORE IMPACT SPECIAL TEAMS PLAY Notre Dame special teams coordina- tor Brian Mason kept the fake punts and field goals in his pocket all season, not quite sensing the right time or situation to call one. He had them marinating all along, though, and knew the Gator Bowl might be the game to let one rip. South Carolina, the Irish's opponent, became a special teams force this year in part because of its trickery. Winning that phase against the No. 1 team in the Fremeau Efficiency Index special teams rankings might require something Ma- son hadn't shown this year but had in the holster all season. "If it's there, it's something we will always have ready," Mason said earlier in December. "If the opportunity is there, we'd certainly love to be able to change the game with that." Finally, he and head coach Marcus Freeman decided the opportunity had arrived. And Mason's plan delivered. G ra d u a te s t u d e n t w i d e re ce ive r Braden Lenzy's 20-yard catch and run SOUTH CAROLINA GAME NOTES BY TYLER HORKA AND PATRICK ENGEL Buchner returned after a 111-day absence due to a shoulder injury and pointed the way to victory for the Fighting Irish en route to earning Gator Bowl MVP honors. PHOTO BY CHAD WEAVER