Is this the week Notre Dame football finally makes another field goal? It's been 42 days.
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SOUTH BEND —By the time Senior Day kicks off against Syracuse on Saturday afternoon, Notre Dame football’s field goal drought will have reached 42 days, 16-plus quarters, and nearly 253 minutes on the game clock.
Noah Burnette’s 48-yard make with 12:48 remaining in the 36-7 win over North Carolina State on Oct. 11 remains the last time the Irish secured three points with one swing of the leg.
Extra points also went sideways for a while, starting with the USC game the following week and reaching a crescendo of dread on Nov. 1 at Boston College. All three kickers missed that day: Burnette, the North Carolina grad transfer who has battled a right hip issue for months; freshman Erik Schmidt, the preferred walk-on from Milwaukee; and Marcello Diomede, the walk-on from Glenbard West outside Chicago.
Through it all, Tyler Buchner has remained the holder, even though this is his first year in the role. Despite his costly muff in the 41-40 home loss to Texas A&M, Buchner hasn’t been the problem in this nightmare of a kicking year.
“I think he’s done a great job,” special teams coordinator Marty Biagi said this week. “It’s something that he’s always willing to do whatever he can to help the team. Tyler’s even been a good spokesperson for these guys that have gone through some different adversity like he had.”
Redshirt freshman long snapper Joseph Vinci has handled his role without a hitch all year, doing the snapping for punts as well.
Last year’s specialist operation of kicker Mitch Jeter, holder Chris Salerno, and snapper Rino Monteforte navigated some rough patches on the way to game-winning heroics in the Orange Bowl.
Jeter, the South Carolina grad transfer, went 7-for-8 through the first three rounds of the College Football Playoff, including the 41-yarder that eliminated Penn State with seven seconds left in the semifinals.
Jeter also dealt with hip issues that caused him to miss several chip shots against Army, USC, and Ohio State in the championship round.
Holders do a lot more than just hold for kicks
While walk-on quarterback Anthony Rezac is the backup holder, there is no indication that Biagi is considering a change there. Dylan Devezin, who split holding duties in 2023 with punter Bryce McPherson, underwent left shoulder surgery in August.
“Ultimately, we consider our holder the quarterback of that play,” Biagi said. “And he’s the one that is in charge of determining some of the different blocking schemes and mindsets that we would need to do, our alignments, and kind of setting the play into action.”
Just before the snap, Buchner turns his head toward the kicker and is typically the last voice anyone hears before the attempt is made. Kicks come with a range of pressure and difficulty, but the ninth-ranked Irish know they need to get their operation smoothed out in time for the postseason.
The first round of this year’s 12-team CFP starts on Dec. 19, giving Burnette another full month to heal after he opened his season with five straight connections on field goals and 16 more successful point-after attempts.
A rainy, windy night against USC changed the trajectory of his year, but Biagi answered optimistically when asked if a healthy Burnette could still kick his way back into the picture.
“Absolutely, yeah,” said Biagi, a former kicker/punter at Marshall University from 2004-08. “Noah’s working to get better every single day. Once we feel like he’s able to get back out there and perform, then we’re going to try and get him back out there when the time is right.”
Burnette has made 79.4% of his field-goal attempts (54 of 68) over the past four seasons. Schmidt, who has the stronger leg, is still looking for his first college field goal through three attempts.
Mike Berardino covers Notre Dame football for the South Bend Tribune and NDInsider.com. Follow him on social media @MikeBerardino.
This article originally appeared on South Bend Tribune: Marty Biagi, Notre Dame football will keep trying to solve kicking woes
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