Notre Dame’s 28-24 loss at BYU was a roller coaster for both sides of the ball on Saturday night.
In the first half, Chris Ash’s defense was picked apart by Cougars quarterback Bear Bachmeier, as BYU found success without doing anything overly elaborate.
The Cougars used plenty of misdirection to help their sophomore quarterback, along with simple, one-read zone beaters that challenged Notre Dame’s coverage.
BYU totaled 229 yards in the first half, including 86 on the ground.
Notre Dame captain Drayk Bowen gave the Cougars credit for executing plays they hadn’t put on film entering the matchup.
“There were a lot of things they hadn't shown on film,” Bowen explained. “Trick plays, quarterback throwback, different types of reverses, sweeps. Just routes that they threw in last week that we hadn't seen before.
“They used a little bit of our weaknesses against us. It's just something that now we'll be able to go back, look at it in the bye week and say, we really need to improve these areas. It'll be a good bye week for us.”
In the second half, Notre Dame’s defense looked much more like the unit that entered the trip to Provo ranked No. 1 nationally.
The Irish held BYU to 131 total yards and just 35 rushing yards over the final two quarters. Notre Dame also forced two turnovers and stopped a fake punt, giving the offense several opportunities to take momentum back.
Notre Dame will enter its bye week with plenty to address as it prepares for a challenging November stretch featuring Navy, Miami and SMU.
For Bowen, one priority is cleaning up the Irish’s coverage as opponents look for ways to exploit what BYU put on film.
“It's just a couple things in different coverages that we need to see differently,” stated Bowen. “It'll be good for us to see it and to start working on it because you put it on film now that a team can hit you on it. Teams are going to start trying to use that and expose it. It'll be good for us to work on it and to get better at it.”
As a captain, Bowen also has a responsibility to make sure one loss doesn’t snowball into something bigger for Notre Dame.
That leadership was started in Provo, where Bowen and other Irish players made sure safety Joey O’Brien didn’t dwell on giving up BYU’s final touchdown of the night.
“I've been there before,” said Bowen. “He's got to just pick his head up. That wasn't a play that lost us the game. They just happened to score there. Good throw, good catch.
“He's young. He's got to keep working. But that wasn't the play or that wasn't the touchdown that lost us the game. There were many, many plays before that that we could have played a lot better on.”
The defense had opportunities to make more plays long before BYU’s final touchdown and the bye week provides an opportunity for everyone to take ownership of those missed chances.
That starts with individual accountability.
“It's making sure that we look at ourselves,” said Bowen. “What do we have to get better at? When you win, it's a team win. But when you lose, there are things that you can get better at as a player that will ultimately give you that win. Throughout this bye week, tomorrow, it's going to be looking at what could I have done better? Everybody's got to hold themselves accountable during this process and we'll be ready.”
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