As I have said repeatedly, Pyne played as well as he could with his obvious physical limitations. His completion percentage was due to his limited repertoire and Mayer as a target. His game was 100% reliant on yards after catch. His small stature led to countless passes being swatted down at the LOS. And in the USC game , as great as he played given his limitations, it was his two turnovers that directly led to a probable 14-0 swing in points in a game we ultimately lost by 11. He stepped in and played at 100% of his potential in a season where he was expected to wear a visor all year but he is not the answer.
Here's some other stats, Pyne had 9 passes deflected in the first 12 games (but he played in less than 11 full games.) 3rd among power 5 schools. The QBs ahead of him had 81 and 302 more attempts respectively so his percentage of passes deflected to passes thrown is much higher. Most of those came on 3rd down killing drives. ESPN has a way of rating quarterbacks. Bryce Young is 8, Penix is 12, Pyne is ranked 44th out of 50 ranked.2022 College Football Season Leaders Total QBR | ESPN
So if being short is the problem with batted passes, how is it that Drew Brees, Kyler Murray, Russell Wilson and other short QB's don't have that same problem. If height was the factor everybody is making it out to be, then Drew Brees wouldn't be a future HOF QB, instead he'd have had a medicore NFL career as a backup.
Irish Women's Soccer lost to UNC at home and their season is over. They had a great year and the coach seems to have the program on a good trajectory. They were the only #1 seed to lose, UCLA, Alabama, and FSU all won and advanced to the College Cup along with UNC. UNC has had the number of the Irish for a long time, beating us 22 of the 33 times we've faced off and of course UNC is the Alabama of women's soccer with an incredible # of Nat'l Titles.
The problem is his locking onto his primary target and not looking off defenders. D linemen see where he's looking and deflect his throws. It was a problem all season mainly because his target was almost always Meyer.
It's a simplistic answer to a complex problem. Perhaps if his Mayer safety blanket were taken away from him, he'd become better at finding WRs.
Let's break down the receiving stats for the season and for last Saturday. Over 12 games the QB completed 192 passes for 2,399 yards. Mayer caught 67 for 809 yards. Eleven others caught 125 for 1,590 yards. Four of those eleven (Styles, Lenzy, Tyree, Jayden) caught 90 for 983 yards. On Saturday, the QB completed 26 passes for 318 yards, an average of 12.23 yards per completion. Nine went to Mayer for 98 yards and 2 TDs. The other 17 went to 6 receivers for 220 yards and 1 TD. For the entire season Mayer has averaged roughly 1/3 of the receptions, more or less, for about 1/3 of the yards. That's essentially what happened Saturday, roughly 1/3 of the receptions and 1/3 of the yards. It's one thing to say Pyne isn't the QB who can lead us to a national championship. It's a hard claim to disprove. Only one QB each season gets to do that. It's quite another to denigrate his ability based on the fallacious claim that he only looks for one receiver; or to suggest that he's too short (See Terry's 9:06 am post above). This season's facts say otherwise.
The season's facts say that he has way too many passes deflected. If you have a viable cause I'll be happy to listen.
Cade McNamarra has entered the Portal. Rees recruited him for ND. I’m just saying…. 64% passer, Big game experience, similar offense, leader…again, I’m just sayin.. ??…
He can't find his secondary targets because he can't see them. He could roll the pocket like they did with Book and he could compensate for the fact that he is a 5"11 QB standing behind a forest of 6-9 players all of whom are 5-7" taller and half of whom have their arms up in the air.
So George how did Brees find his targets and become a HOF QB? I just think that Drew did all he could to help the team and we should be greatful for his contributions not degrading his efforts. Do we need a better QB than him sure we do and many are hoping for the Leary kid to Grad Transfer.
Sid, With all due respect and even considering Saturday’s game stats for Pyne, he will Not start again for ND after this season. If he stays there will just be too much talent in that QB room ahead of him. I wish him the best and I’m thankful for his efforts this year.
Terry, Is there anything to this talk about Leary being a grad transfer? I see he is rated about a 3rd or 4th round pick if he comes out. Maybe wants to try to up his draft potential?
Wise counsel from our leader. Enough said. Tim, I agree with what you've said about Pyne. My concern never has been who our future QB might be. I don't look ahead while the season is in progress. I look just at what's happening now. My concern, as Terry expressed so well, simply is to respect the effort - and, frankly, the ability - he's shown during this up and down 8-4 season. Lou's record in his first season was 5-6. He came to ND as a highly successful college coach. He was 8-4 his second season and undefeated his 3rd. We were 8-4 in Marcus' first season ever as a head coach. After the bowl game, Pyne may or may not ever again start a game, but he forever will be in the record book as the QB who helped guide ND to a winning record in 2022. For that he deserves a ton of credit. Good for him, good for his teammates, and good for the coaching staff.
You will always find exceptions to the rule. Pyne is not the exception. Can you give me a list of sub 6'0" QBs who have reached the pinnacle of their sport and won a championship?
Looks like Many ND fans including Brady Quinn aren’t crazy about McNamara. Skills not much better than Pyne.