BYU at Notre Dame Postgame Notes & Quotes

The following notes and quotes are from BYU's 28-20 loss to Notre Dame on Saturday, Oct. 8 in Las Vegas. 

ALUMNI FLAGS: Tevita Ofahengaue (TE, 1997-2000), Reno Mahe (WR, 1998-99, 01-02), Samson Nacua (WR, 2021)
AMERICAN FLAG: Puka Nacua
STATE FLAG: Dalton Riggs
SERIES RESULTS: Notre Dame leads 7-2
Attendance: 62,472

TEAM NOTES

Playing as a ranked team:

The Cougars fall to 22-7 as a ranked team under Sitake.

Heads or Tails

BYU did not win the toss for the fifth time this year.  

First half vs. Second Half numbers

First half: Score was 6-18, 21 total plays, 63 total yards, 11 passing yards
Second half: Score was 14-10, 25 total plays, 213 total yards, 109 passing yards

PLAYER NOTES

Kody Epps 

2 TDs for first time in career, 1st 100-yard game, career-long 53-yard catch, four catches for 100 yards

Max Tooley

Third INT of the season (team lead), ties career high with 13 tackle

Chris Brooks

Scored team-leading 5th rushing TD, 14 carries for 90 yards

Jaren Hall

First half: 3-8, 11 yards, TD, INT

Second half: 6-9, 109 yards, TD

Notable career highs/career firsts

Hobbs Nyberg: Tied career long with 42-yard punt return

Kody Epps: First time with multiple touchdowns in a game, first 100-yard game, longest career-catch at 53 yards

Max Tooley: Tied career high with 13 total tackles (also had 13 against Baylor this season, USC last year)

POSTGAME QUOTES

BYU head coach Kalani Sitake

Well, obviously not the result that we were hoping for or that we planned on, but proud of the guys and the fight that the team had coming back from the deficit that we had at halftime. Things didn't go well, obviously, in all our phases. I think penalty wise, the discipline was a lot better from our team. Not a lot of mental mistakes in terms of penalties, but still not mistake-free football and we just couldn't get things going. The defense was on the field too much. We’ve got to get some things going and scoring more points and defensively we’ve got to get stops. Notre Dame had too much efficiency in their passing game and the run game still hurt us. We’ve got to get better and get ready for the next one. Credit to Notre Dame. They played a great game.

On Notre Dame
Really good team. They executed really well. The tight end is a great player. In terms of possessions, I mean, it was a huge problem for us. It's tough holding them to 28 points with that much time of possession and only scoring 20 is not going to do it for us.

On the atmosphere of the Shamrock Series game at Allegiant Stadium
Such a cool experience tonight. The energy in the stadium was awesome from both sides. There was just a lot of noise and the environment was special. So it was a lot of fun. We happened to be on the wrong side of it, but I wish Marcus Freeman and the rest of the Notre Dame team the best of luck the rest of the way.

On fan support at the game
I am just thankful to all the fans that came. I appreciate all the BYU fans. They brought a lot of energy. It didn't go the way we wanted it to, but I hope they know how much we appreciate and love them.

BYU quarterback Jaren Hall

About coming back with chances to take the lead
Big confidence boost, you know, for how bad we played the first half to still have a chance to win the game. And that point was, it’s not a good thing to play down like that. But we had a chance to win (even) playing that poorly.

On only having 17 pass attempts and not having much possession time in the game
The defense played a great game. That has nothing to do with them. It has everything to do with us on offense. When you start the first play of the game with the interception that's on the quarterback. That's on me. Then we go score, have some good momentum, and then take a sack in the red zone. All that stuff is on me as a quarterback with the ball in my hands. So it's not on the defense. And then you get one snap pretty much the whole second quarter. It's another odd quarter for us in the first half. You can't score points that way and it's really hard to win games.

Linebacker Max Tooley

On slow start but coming back in second half
I don't really have all the answers for why, but I just know it's got to change. You know, when you come out the first half and make a statement early, show them early. We just haven't been able to do that.

I like the way we fought. Like you said, in the second half we came back, we made it a fight. But when it comes down to it, we just didn't do enough and we’ve got to learn and play better next week.

Receiver Kody Epps

On rallying in the second half
We got the ball moving and we were ready to go and continuously move the chains and keep going. It was disappointing when we got stopped, but at the end of the day we’ve just got to get back to the drawing board and see how in those moments and those drives we can improve as an offense.