Brian Kelly Gets Milestone Win as Notre Dame Tops Wisconsin in Chicago
The final score Saturday in Chicago was Notre Dame 41, Wisconsin 13. If you watched zero and just caught the final score, you may think that finally Notre Dame got something going on offense to answer some of the big questions. That couldn’t be any farther from the truth. Obviously with a score like that there was some good from Notre Dame on Saturday; the good was the Notre Dame defense, which was all around outstanding. The bad, like the whole season to date, was the offensive line. With the good and the bad, Saturday was a great win for the Irish and moved them into 4-0 heading into the giant top-10 match up vs Cincinnati back in South Bend this weekend. The win on Saturday was also big for head coach Brain Kelly’s, as it was his 106th win, which made him the winningest head coach at the University of Notre Dame, passing legend Knute Rockne.
Let’s start with the bad. The biggest question going into the season and one that has lasted the first 3 games of the season has been Notre Dame’s offensive line. Even after Notre Dame’s blowout win Saturday, the line is still the biggest question mark this team has. They couldn’t keep Coan upright and there was zero running game all day. The leading rusher on Saturday for the Irish was Kyren Williams with 33 yards. As far as team rushing, when you add sacks into it, the Irish only rushed for 9 yards. Wisconsin has one of the best fronts in college, but there is zero reason Notre Dame should have a rushing total that low – there is way too much talent in the backfield with Williams and Chris Tyree. The line also let up 6 sacks on, one knocking out Jack Coan for the game. Fans knock Coan for not being a great QB, but the reason he hastn’t looked great is because he hasn’t had much time to throw. The down side to Coan at QB is his lack of speed and when you have the line that the Irish have you definitely don’t get the best QB play. Coan is a very good QB, he gets the ball down field which is something we did not see last year. I just wish we had a line to help him out. Next week the Irish don’t face a defense as scary good as Wisconsin but it its still a top-10 team coming into South Bend, so no time like the present for the line to figure its self out.
After Coan went down in the 3rd, almost everyone thought we would get to see Tyler Buchner take control of the offense on his own. What we didn’t know is that he was only dressed as a decoy, as Buchner was unavailable with a sore hamstring. So in stepped in back up Drew Pyne, who showed he could also lead the Irish offense to a win. He was knocked around but still showed a lot of upside, as he found Kevin Austin Jr. in the 4th for a touchdown, Austin’s second of the day. So whether it’s Coan, Pyne or Buchner who’s named starter for this week’s game, Notre Dame is more than ready at the QB position.
The final score of 41-13 had a lot to do with the Irish defense. They harassed the Wisconsin offense all afternoon, forcing 5 total turnovers. The two highlights were Jack Kiser and Drew White’s 4th-quarter pick-six which blew the game wide open. Defensive coordinator Marcus Freeman has shown us why the early season growing pains were nothing to worry about. His defense picked the ball off 4 times Saturday, two from Cam Hart, helping out a much needed Notre Dame offense with great field position. They also held Wisconsin to 78 total rush yards with one sack. Notre Dame has shown in the past that they can win with an OK offense as longs they have an outstanding defense, and this year might just have to be that way.
Game Ball: Chris Tyree- Notre Dame was down down 13-10 early in the 4th quarter after turning the ball over. Tyree took the ensuing kickoff 96 yards to the house, which kicked off the Irish scoring 31 unanswered points in the 4th quarter. The Irish needed a spark and Tyree gave it to them.
I wasn’t surprised it was a defensive slugfest all day, seeing that these two schools are known for that. I was surprised with the final score being what it was. The Notre Dame offense showed a little life, thanks to Kevin Austin, but there is still ton of work that needs to be done with zero time to do it before Cincinnati on Saturday. I would be lying if I said I didn’t have any doubts going into this last game, but Notre Dame proved they have what it takes to win the big game regardless of what is thrown at them. It’s been a wild, fun season so far and I don’t seeing that changing. This team has been a blast to watch.