The 2022 Gator Bowl had a little bit of everything – defensive touchdowns, fake field goals, fake punts, long bombs, long runs. It was a wildly entertaining game that was equally maddening for Notre Dame fans who saw South Carolina pull out all the stops as they played with 22 players missing to opt-outs and transfers. In the end, Notre Dame scored a go-ahead touchdown with less than two minutes to go to secure the victory, their ninth win of the season.
Tyler Buchner accounted for five touchdowns for the Irish but also accounted for two for the Gamecocks with two picks sixes and three interceptions overall. Notre Dame got off to a slow start running the ball, but ended the game with 264 yards on the ground. The win was Notre Dame’s first bowl win since their 2019 Citrus Bowl victory over LSU.
Frank Vitovitch has been Co-Owner and Editor in Chief of UHND.com since joining forces with Kyle Flavin in 1999. Since that time, he has written over 2,000 articles covering Notre Dame football, recruiting, and basketball. He also works with all staff and external writers on all articles published on UHND.com. Frank's love for Notre Dame football started at a young age watching Rocket Ismail give opposing coaches ulcers in the late 1980's. By day Frank works in marketing and holds a degree in Digital Media from Drexel University. Frank's work has been cited by online/print editions of NBC Sports, ESPN, and Sports Illustrated and has been quoted on air by ESPN's Collin Cowherd. He's conducted interviews with Notre Dame legends Rocket Ismail, Randy Kinder, Lee Becton, Reggie Brooks, Michael Stonebreaker, and Ned Bolcar among others over his 20+ years of covering Notre Dame football. He's also been published in the print edition of USA Today Sports Weekly and the USA Today College Football Preview multiple times. Other Published Works/Citations for Frank Three Reasons Notre Dame Will Beat Alabama - USA Today Notre Dame Suspends WR Kevin Stepherson, RB C.J. Holmes Indefinitely - Bleacher Report Notre Dame / Ohio State Fiesta Bowl Preview - Eleven Warriors Brace Yourself: The Fighting Irish are Relevant Again - Sports on Earth Interviews with the Enemy: A Q&A with Frank Vitovitch of UHND - Yahoo! Sports Five Good Minutes: Notre Dame Football Preview With UHND.com - BC Interruption Vicious Electronic Questioning with UHND - MGO Blog
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I agree. Next year will truly tell the tale especially if Notredame gets Hartman. With the talent coming back on offense along with the talent coming in there are no excuses for not having an elite explosive offense. In his 3 years Tommy has been restricted somewhat by the poor recruiting and coaching on the offensive side of the ball with Quinn oline,, Del Alexander,receivers and Kelly’s lazy recruiting. However, he is also the one that hand picked Buchner, Pyne and Angeli. Who knows for sure about Carr and Minchey. If Tommy is back next year I would like to see Freeman bring in an experienced successful o coordinator or anylist to
improve the offense.
Just having the legitimate threat of a QB who can reliably complete material forward passes.
Buchner is just a fragile wildcat RB, who needs wide open field to run on.
That is not a thing.
Tommy Rees needs to be let go. He’s that bad. Getting ready to put the game away with a TD and you call a pass play when SC is clearly tired on defense and cannot stop Estime, Diggs, or even Buchner on the ground. So instead of running on 1st and goal to go up 14, he calls a pass play and I’m glad something bad happened because it shows the world how stupid Tommy is. Coaching and play calling is so incredibly f’n important in football and we have a coordinator who apparently wants to be “sexy” with his play calling instead of just being smart. Done with Rees and hopefully ND will be too. Al Golden came. Maybe Chris Petersen will want to as well.
I agree. My patience with Rees has run out.
Absolutely bone-headed play calling and he hasn’t shown he can develop an elite QB (or recruit one—maybe that changes with Carr). What is his upside besides being a well liked former QB?
I think people think Rees has a lot of “potential” as a coordinator. But “potential” is worthless if you aren’t meeting it.
Wow…..two of the board’s esteemed brain trust BOTH giving a thumbs down.
Rees is dead man walking.
I guess it’ll make signing one of the few transfer QBs left a teensy bit harder….but whatever.
I’m sure LOTS of solid OC names are waiting for the chance to make Tyler Buchner into a Heisman winner.