TAXSLAYER GATOR BOWL: NOTRE DAME VS SOUTH CAROLINA

December 30, 2022

Tyler Buchner

TIAA Bank Field

Notre Dame Fighting Irish

Press Conference

Notre Dame 45, South Carolina 38

Q. Tyler, obviously you've been out for an extended period of time. How do you knock the rust off in game action and after the interception how do you bounce back and continue to lead your team to victory?

TYLER BUCHNER: Yeah, the interceptions were tough. That goes along with rust and goes along with making mistakes.

I think being able to bounce back from that is something that -- credit to our offensive line, our wide receivers, our tight ends, our coaches putting me in good spots. It really comes down to every single person on the staff, from the head coach all the way down to the managers, they're so supportive, they help me in every single facet of life, and it showed in today's game.

Every single person on the sideline supporting me, there for me, and that kind of support goes a long way in a 20-year old's head. Throws two picks for a touchdown, it wasn't that fun, but when you have such a great group of guys around you, such a great support staff around you, it makes things a lot easier.

Q. Can you take us through that last touchdown to Mitch and why that worked?

TYLER BUCHNER: Yeah, it was one of the plays we've had dialed up all week in bowl prep. We run a lot of duo, like double -- yeah, we run a lot of duo, so it's like a run concept, so we decided to put a little play action off it. We were going to sneak the tight end out the backside and thought it would be open. It was a perfect -- it was a great call by Coach Rees. I know someone talked about it earlier how J.T. was open. The thought on that was it's kind of a shot or nothing, so Mitch was covered, throw out of bounds, and if not, give him a chance and try to score a touchdown.

Q. In your first couple starts didn't have the running game working in the manner that you had now. What's that like, and just kind of giving you a feeling of knowing that that's going to be a reliable thing as a quarterback?

TYLER BUCHNER: Yeah, the boys up front were rolling today. They had an unbelievable day. The backs had an unbelievable day, tight ends. The wide outs had a huge, huge role in the run game today. I don't think people realize that. Matt Salerno, Deion, J.T., those guys blocked their tails off all day long. It's the things that go unnoticed.

The big guys played their tails off, and it's great standing there in the huddle, Logan talked about it, they're strapping their gloves, they're ready to go. Having that look in their eyes gives you more confidence as a quarterback that we're going to be able to run this ball.

Q. Tyler, obviously I'm sure you've been anxious to play for months now, had to wait to heal and all that stuff, but what was it like to play and then to be able to perform specifically in the second half the way you did?

TYLER BUCHNER: Yeah, I play football because of the games. It's only so fun working out, doing all this stuff. Getting hurt, not so fun. Just having this opportunity to go back out there for one last time this season with people that I love, my teammates, it's just an unbelievable opportunity, and I'm happy we came out with a win.

Q. Can you describe the emotions of leading a game-winning drive?

TYLER BUCHNER: Yeah, I wouldn't say there's a ton of emotion. It was just like we have this play, let's run this play, we have the next play, let's run this play. It sort of encapsulates it when you score a touchdown, then you sort of feel it.

Q. As you can sort of come up for air after today and think about what tonight meant, to be the winning starting quarterback here, it's been years for you since you've been able to do that. How much confidence -- how much does this carry you into the off-season in really a good spot?

TYLER BUCHNER: Yeah, look, obviously as everyone can see, there's a lot of room for me to improve. The game we played was great. We won the game, and I couldn't be happier, but for me personally, I didn't play to the standard I wanted to play. I think I accounted for two extra touchdowns that I didn't mean to account for.

You know, that's not the standard I hold myself to. You know, this off-season I'm going to continue to work as usual, put my head down, and I'm going to do it with my brothers. We're continuing to improve, and we're going to be a great team.