A bizarre thing happened on the way to a Notre Dame win Saturday afternoon in Baltimore. Junior quarterback Drew Pyne and the Notre Dame offense appeared to take a big step forward while building a 35-13 halftime lead over Navy. But that step forward was overshadowed by two substantial steps back, as the Irish (7-3) held on for a 35-32 victory over their longtime rival.
Pyne was 14 for 16 for 234 yards with five total touchdowns in the first 30 minutes of the game. Those five touchdowns matched his previous three games combined, but it disappeared in the blink of an eye in the second half.
"I don’t think it’s anything to do with playing well in the first half,” Pyne said after the game. "We come in the locker room no matter we’re up or down doesn’t matter. And that was my mentality as well. They played hard in the second half. It’s tough, you know, cover zero ... if we have nine in protection they’re bringing 10, so you’ve just got to find a way to get the ball out, and I just got sacked a little bit. But a win’s a win and we fought hard all day. It was a team win.”
There’s some truth to it. Navy brought numbers in the second half and they sent them in waves, enough so that a comfortable 3-plus touchdown lead became as comfortable as a hair suit. Half of Notre Dame’s six second-half possessions went for negative yards. Only one of them lasted longer than three plays, and even it went for –1 net yard and the entirety of the second half amounted to 20 plays for 12 yards.
Navy’s overloaded boxes and pressures on Pyne gave him opportunities to get the ball out to open receivers, like he did when he hit Audric Estime on his 30-yard touchdown pass in the first quarter, and Chris Tyree for a 5-yard touchdown in the second quarter, but Pyne ate four sacks in the fourth quarter alone after taking none in the first half.
"I think the fact that they’re just bringing as many ... I mean they were playing cover zero and they were catching, their DBs were catching on off man,” Pyne explained. "I think it’s pretty tough. Just got to learn from it and get better and that’s all you can do.”
Pyne’s second half stat line looked like an off series. He was 3 for 5 for 35 yards with an interception (on another batted ball at the line of scrimmage). He was unfazed afterwards when asked for his top take away from the game.
"It’s the same as every single game,” Pyne stated. "I’m the same every single week. I’m programmed the same every single week. I learn from it, I get better. I mean that’s just how I operate. That’s how I live. I’m going to take this game and I’m sure I made mistakes in the first half as well. I’m not perfect. I’m just going to learn from it and keep getting better. That’s all I do and that’s all I will ever do.”
What’s so confoundingly contrasting about Pyne’s uneven performance from the first to second half is he was virtually unfazed while hitting clutch throws in the game’s first 30 minutes. From the hot route to Estime to the spectacular catch (if underthrown ball) Braden Lenzy made on his 38-yard touchdown.
"I felt like I’ve got to give him a shot and I scrambled out there, he beat his man by a couple yards and I saw that and I said, I’m going to give him a chance,” Pyne described. "I threw it up and that was an unbelievable catch and I’ve never seen anything like it in my whole life.”
Pyne’s 234 yards in the first half would have been the third-highest passing total for a game in his career. He did it by hitting passes he hasn’t typically hit when opponents drop eight defenders into coverage.
He found soft spots in the zone and connected with open receivers. He completed passes on 3rd and long twice in the first 30 minutes after having just two 3rd and long completions in his first seven games combined.
"They played a lot of drop eight and we were third and behind the sticks and it wasn’t great,” Pyne noted. "But we were able to hit a few digs on the second window. Kind of just dropping back and being able to...you know our line’s so good and our receivers are getting better every single week and we’re becoming more of a full offensive team and attack. I think that it’s just part of the game and we got better at it today. We’ve just got to keep getting better.”
Pyne has needed a half like he had while rolling up those 35 first half points and five touchdowns. He looked like a varsity quarterback going up against the JV. But the first half swells of success suddenly evaporated, leaving more questions about who and what this Irish team is as they prepare for their final two games of the regular season and the bowl game that will follow.
"We’ve just got to learn and keep getting better and that’s what we’re going to do,” Pyne deadpanned. "We’re going to come in tomorrow and watch the film and we’re going to get better. But look, we won. And we’re the 20th ranked team in the country and a win’s a win. Like Coach (Marcus) Freeman said after the game, there were games earlier in the season where if we were in the same position we didn’t pull through and win. We found a way to win today and that’s important and we’re going to keep building off of it.”
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