Drew Pyne Talks Notre Dame Offensive Struggles, Michael Mayer Obsession, Tobias Merriweather

Notre Dame quarterback Drew Pyne discusses the struggles of the offense in a loss to Stanford as well as tight end Michael Mayer and freshman wide receiver Tobias Merriweather

NOTRE DAME, Ind. - Drew Pyne’s ascension seemed unstoppable. Notre Dame’s backup quarterback turned starter turned around an erratic first half against Cal in his first career start into his first career win after a televised (yet muted) chewing out from his offensive coordinator.

Pyne rode the second half momentum of that Cal game – a game that would see him complete 10 of 11 second-half passes to finish the game 12 of 23 – into offensive bonanzas in wins over North Carolina and BYU.

Saturday’s game against Stanford appeared to be just another opportunity for Pyne and the Fighting Irish to put up more big numbers against an outmatched defense.

But that never materialized as the Irish lost 16-14 to a team that was surrendering 32 points a game and had lost 11 consecutive games to FBS opponents.

Pyne was just 7 of 9 for 59 yards in the first half and finished the game 13 of 27 for 151 yards. He was sacked twice, which is twice as many as he had been brought down in the last two games combined.

In no world does Pyne deserve the bulk of the blame for Notre Dame’s offensive woes in the loss, his first as the Irish starting quarterback. But as the starting quarterback, Pyne faced the music in his postgame press conference after the game in the bowels of Notre Dame Stadium. He fielded questions on several topics:

Why The Offense Sputtered

Notre Dame’s game plan was far from obvious to the naked eye Saturday night. There were the usual rapidly changing personnel packages, but there were also more punts (four) than third downs converted (1 for 8) in the first half.

The Fighting Irish offense punted on four of its first five possessions of the game. And the only time they didn’t punt in that stretch they turned the ball over on downs inside the Stanford 10 when Jayden Thomas was stuffed on an end around call on 4th and 2.

"Lack of execution,” Pyne said when asked about why the offense struggled in the first half. "I think that -- I put a lot of that on myself. I've got to go out there and do my job and execute, deliver the ball, get us in the right protection. I've got to see the defense. And I've just got to go out there and execute. And, you know, when we talk about losses, Coach Freeman -- when we talk about wins, we talk about team game. When we talk about losses, we talk about how to get better individually. I've just got to go out there and execute.”

Misfires To Mayer

Michael Mayer has been Pyne’s favorite target this season, but why wouldn’t he be? The All-American candidate tight end just had 11 receptions for 118 yards and touchdowns against BYU last week. He led the Irish with 33 receptions going into the game.

But Stanford did to Mayer what nobody else had been able to do this season – properly defend him. Pyne struggled with how to overcome the job Stanford’s defense did against his favorite target.

"I don't think it was anything special,” Pyne said of what Stanford did to try to take Mayer away. "I think -- kind of going back to the first thing I said, I think I've just got to go out there and execute and deliver the football. We get in good looks, we get in spots where Mike is one on one. And we've just got to execute and convert and deliver the ball.”

The bigger problem Saturday wasn’t just Stanford’s defense or Pyne’s execution against it when trying to find Mayer. The greater issue was Pyne just simply being too Mayer obsessed on his drop backs.

Mayer finished with five receptions for 60 yards, both team-highs, but he was also targeted 10 times. Which is 37% of his total targets on the night. Too many times Pyne was locked in on a double-teamed Mayer, while other options were either wide open or in single coverage.

Pyne was asked if, maybe, he was too hyper focused on Mayer at the expense of better passing options.

"I think Mike is a great target,” Pyne responded. "He's a great player, and defenses have a way to try to combat that. I think when they do, like you said, I've got to go and find other guys, and I think there were times that tonight where I could have done that. I'm just going to learn from it, come back and execute every day at practice this week and just come back with head down and work.”

The New Kid In Town

Tobias Merriweather is the guy everyone’s been waiting for. The freshman wide receiver had been on the field for a handful of plays this season, but he hadn’t had the ball thrown his way.

That changed Saturday night.

The 6-4 Merriweather had his first career target in the third quarter when Pyne went his way on 2nd and 4 from the Stanford 31. The pass was just a stride too long for the long striding speedster as it fell incomplete in the end zone.

But Pyne went his way again in the opening seconds of the fourth quarter when he lofted the ball downfield on a deep post that Merriweather reeled-in as he fell across the goal line.

His first career catch was a 41-yard touchdown pass to put the Irish on top 14-13 with 14:53 to play.

"Tobias is a speed demon,” Pyne proclaimed. "He has really good routes, big target, has great hands. He's been working his tail off to go make a play like that. Saw earlier, I missed him on a route earlier in the end zone that we could have scored on as well. He's a great target for us, and we're going to keep building on his role.”

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