What they’re saying about Notre Dame’s 44-21 victory over UNLV
Notre Dame got back to its winning ways on Saturday, as the Fighting Irish knocked off the UNLV Rebels 44-21.
In this article, we’ll take a look around at what the media is saying about Notre Dame’s triumph against UNLV, including Blue & Gold’s Mike Singer and Tim Hyde giving their instant reaction in a postgame live YouTube show.
Make sure to subscribe to the Blue & Gold YouTube channel here and tune in to The Mike Goolsby Show, which will be live on the page at 7 p.m. ET Sunday.
Patrick Engel, Blue & Gold: How Notre Dame’s three-score win over UNLV still left a desire for more
SOUTH BEND — Those hoping Notre Dame freshman quarterback Steve Angeli could make his college debut Saturday were rewarded, technically. But not in the desired manner.
Ideally, Angeli would play a series or two in the fourth quarter because Notre Dame had long buried shorthanded UNLV. That’s how this was supposed to go, even for a flawed Notre Dame team that had already lost once at home to a Group of Five team.
Instead? Angeli played two first-half snaps in relief of starter Drew Pyne, who left briefly after taking a hit to the helmet on a scramble. That was it. Notre Dame didn’t build a fourth-quarter cushion that crossed head coach Marcus Freeman threshold for playing backups.
Angeli’s lack of fourth-quarter mop-up duty was just one aspect of a comfortable win that still left you wanting more. It was better than the alternative — as Notre Dame can attest firsthand — and that’s not to be discounted when discussing a team playing for week-to-week improvement hoping to reach a bowl game.
But Notre Dame 44, UNLV 21 could have been a total laugher. Instead, it was a took-care-of-business snoozer that highlighted the Irish’s problems almost as often as it did strengths. Fan excitement about it matched that of a man hearing his number called at the DMV.
Tyler Horka, Blue & Gold: Grading Notre Dame football in Irish win over UNLV
Notre Dame is back in the win column. The Fighting Irish beat UNLV, 44-21, in South Bend on Saturday. Here are BlueandGold.com’s grades for the Irish in the victory.
Notre Dame Passing Offense: C-
The good: junior tight end Michael Mayer had another banner day with 6 catches for 115 yards and a touchdown. Graduate student Braden Lenzy got involved with 4 catches for 38 yards and a touchdown, but 3 of those came on short forward pitches that technically count as pass attempts and receptions. Junior quarterback Drew Pyne wasn’t ever sacked, so pass protection held up nicely all afternoon.
The bad: Pyne’s erratic performance, his second in a row. He was 14-of-28 for 2 touchdowns and 1 interception. The INT came on a pass that was tipped at the line of scrimmage. It floated perfectly into a defender’s sprawling arms, exactly the way Pyne was intercepted against BYU on Oct. 8.
Pyne’s last two starts have been a 180 from his first three when he made all the right decisions and was extremely accurate. Teams go as far as their quarterbacks take them. Pyne isn’t displaying the broadest of shoulders of late.
Douglas Farmer, NBC Sports: Notre Dame, Isaiah Foskey rout UNLV early, coast late in 44-21 win
SOUTH BEND, Ind. — None of this was UNLV’s fault. It was not the Rebels’ fault that Notre Dame needed to exorcise a bounty of offensive demons this late into October. UNLV was not to blame for Irish defensive end Isaiah Foskey having six games of frustrations pent up to unleash on the Rebels’ punter and then quarterbacks. And UNLV was nothing but accommodating of Notre Dame’s record pursuit for junior tight end Michael Mayer.
It may not have been the Rebels’ fault, but they bore the brunt of those realities in the first half of the 44-21 Irish victory on Saturday. Leading 23-7 after one quarter and 30-7 at halftime thanks in large part to Foskey blocking two punts deep in UNLV territory, Notre Dame (4-3) coasted to victory in the second half, somewhere between convincingly so and frustratingly so.
“It wasn’t perfect, we know that,” Irish head coach Marcus Freeman said. “That’s the reality of football, it’s never perfect. There’s a lot of things that you’re going to look and want to correct, but overall they played a really good game.”
Junior quarterback Drew Pyne did not set the field ablaze, not before he took an ugly hit to his upper back/head/neck late in the second quarter and not after. He was 8-of-17 for 167 yards and a touchdown before taking the hit that set up the most unorthodox touchdown of Notre Dame’s season. Afterward, he went 6-of-11 for 38 yards with a four-yard touchdown pass to fifth-year receiver Braden Lenzy and an interception on a pass deflected at the line of scrimmage.
