Key Takeaways From The Notre Dame Offense From The BYU Victory

Breaking down what we learned about the Notre Dame offense from the win over BYU

Notre Dame won its third straight game with a victory against the previously 16th-ranked BYU Cougars by a 28-20 score. It was an important win for Notre Dame, and while it wasn't always pretty, it showed the Irish program continues to show growth this season.

There was a lot to learn about the Irish football team, and we'll begin with the key takeaways from the offense.

Balance Was The Key - It was obvious that Notre Dame wanted to establish the ground attack against BYU, but overall this was the second straight balanced football game. Notre Dame racked up 289 passing yards and 287 rushing yards in the win over North Carolina and followed that up with 262 passing yards and 234 rushing yards against the Cougars.

Although the ground game was clearly the emphasis from a game plan standpoint, the Irish were able to generate enough big plays in the pass game to keep BYU honest. That success in the pass game was coupled with a ground attack that wore BYU down, grinding out tough yards for three quarters. 

By the fourth quarter Notre Dame had worn BYU completely down, which opened up the room needed for Audric Estime to rack up a 46-yard gain and Logan Diggs to rip off a 33-yard gain, which helped seal the game.

Third-Down Offense Dominated - Notre Dame's third-down offense was abysmal in the first three games, with the Irish converting just 26.3-percent of their third down opportunities. We saw a big jump forward against North Carolina, but the Irish were brilliant on third down against the Cougars.

Notre Dame converted 11-16 third down chances against BYU, which was good for a 68.8-percent conversion rate. It was Notre Dame's best third down success rate since it went for 72-percent in a win over Bowling Green back in 2019. You have to go back to 2016 (vs. Army) to find another game that topped last night's third down success.

Michael Mayer was especially good on third down, as was quarterback Drew Pyne. Five of Mayer's 11 catches resulted in third down conversions. Pyne went 9-12 for 124 yards and two touchdowns on third down throws. He also converted a 3rd-and-4 with his legs. Eight of Pyne's nine third down completions moved the chains.

Offensive Line Is Getting Close - Notre Dame's offensive line wasn't dominant against BYU, but that actually is a positive for me. The unit showed that it has shown incredible growth since the first two games. No, they didn't push BYU around, but in my view that was more of a game plan issue with the ground attack than it was the line not playing well. What we saw was the line, for the most part, was assignment correct in the run game, the communication was effective and they were able to be efficient with the ground attack.

Notre Dame wore BYU down, which played a big role in the late success on the ground that was discussed above. When the game was on the line in the fourth quarter the line did what it needed to do to keep moving the chains.

The pass pro from this unit was outstanding. No, BYU isn't a great pass rushing team, but the Irish did what a good line is supposed to do against a team like this, they shut down the pass rushers and gave Pyne plenty of time to throw the football.

Drew Pyne Is Progressing, More Is Needed - We saw a second straight strong performance from Pyne, who completed over 70-percent of his passes for the second straight game (78.6% vs. BYU) and averaged 9.4 yards per attempt. He took effective shots down the field and was clutch on third down.

This is going to seem like a criticism, but it's really not. Pyne could have played a lot better in this game. Think about that for a second. Pyne had several opportunities to make bigger plays but he made some mistakes. He missed Jayden Thomas on an early seam route that would have gone for a big gain. He also failed to see Lorenzo Styles coming open over the middle on two different throws.

At times Pyne got too locked into Mayer, which is why he threw his fourth quarter interception. There is a lot to like about this game, but as a coach there's also a lot to teach from this film and areas where Pyne can get even better. That's an exciting thought, especially for a player who just finished his third career start.

Run Game Plan Was Shaky, Needed Counters - There were two big beefs from a game plan standpoint. From a run game standpoint, Notre Dame ran right into the strength of the BYU defense. The Irish also went away from the zones and counters that were so effective in the last two games and instead focused on power and Duo runs, something the offense hasn't been very good with in the first four games and wasn't very good against BYU. Those runs also play right into what BYU does well, which is play big boy football in the box. Notre Dame also did a lot of running out of 12 and 13 personnel, which allowed BYU to keep tighter numbers into the box.

It wasn't until Notre Dame went to the stretch runs that we started to see the ground game get a bit more success, but they didn't stick with it enough. 

When Notre Dame did finally rip off a big power play, which was the 33-yard gain by Diggs, they did it from 21 personnel and they used motion to loosen up the box.

Diggs!#GoIrish pic.twitter.com/JahVU0n2D1

— Notre Dame Football (@NDFootball) October 9, 2022

It got the job done, but I didn't love the run game plan.

Also, Notre Dame had plenty of success early in the game throwing the ball to Mayer. Eventually BYU figured out how to defend Mayer, and Notre Dame never used that to their advantage. This was especially true on the third-and-goal stop that led to the final field goal. It was a telegraphed play and BYU sniffed it out, especially since they had seen it on film. It's the play Notre Dame ran for a touchdown against Ohio State.

That was a perfect time to use that to their advantage by showing that look to Mayer, but then sneaking another receiver behind him in order to take advantage of the fact BYU was keying Mayer in that instance.

Red Zone Woes - Notre Dame has been a very, very good red zone team this season, especially when it comes to scoring touchdowns in the red zone. Notre Dame ranked 10th in red zone touchdown success rate coming into the game, but against BYU the Irish scored a touchdown on just one of their four red zone trips.

A poor throw by Pyne to Diggs is why the Irish settled for a field goal on their first red zone drive. I'd argue play calling was the issue on the other two misses. In the second quarter the Irish faced a 4th-and-1 at the 3-yard line. It was a chance to go up 17-6, but instead the Irish got stuffed. It was a poor play call.

As this photo shows, Notre Dame's decision to go 11 personnel (three receivers) and spread the field at the 3-yard line was a poor one if they were going run right downhill. The fact is Notre Dame's choice of alignment/personnel coupled with that play call meant BYU had eight defenders in the box to go against just six blockers. 

The result was exactly what we saw in BYU's win over Utah State. The Aggies ran all over BYU on the edges, but in short yardage situations they got stuffed, just like Notre Dame did here.

The tunnel screen to Mayer discussed above was also a poor call that didn't put the players in position to be successful.

If Notre Dame was better in the red zone this game would have been a blow out and the 496-276 yards advantage would have shown up in the score as well.

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