Notre Dame football received the opening kickoff and drove all the way down to inside the Cincinnati 10-yard-line. The Irish were mixing in a nice combination of passing and rushing plays on the opening drive and it seemed like they were going to have a good day on the offensive side of the ball.
It suddenly went south very quickly shortly after for the Irish.
Jack Coan threw a red zone interception inside the Bearcats’ 10-yard-line which completely wiped out the Notre Dame opening drive. A few minutes later, freshman quarterback Tyler Buchner came into the game and threw a pick of his own.
Throw in a fumble by returner Chris Tyree on a kickoff in the first half and the Irish were lucky to be going into halftime only down by 17 points.
The Irish showed signs of life in the second half thanks to a strip-sack by Isaiah Foskey and it was recovered by Drew White. Notre Dame decided to switch to quarterback Drew Pyne in the second half and was able to move the ball better down the field to set up a Kyren Williams touchdown run to cut the lead to 17-7.
The Irish got as close as four in the fourth quarter after a great throw and catch by Pyne to Braden Lenzy for a 32-yard touchdown reception. Cincinnati answered the next drive and shut the door on any comeback for Notre Dame.
The loss to Cincinnati snapped Notre Dame’s 26th game home winning streak inside Notre Dame Stadium. The last Irish loss before Cincinnati was back in 2017 in a one-point loss to Georgia 20-19.
Here are three hot takes from a disappointing loss to Cincinnati.