Defense Shines as Notre Dame Aces Last Big Test of the Season
This blog will be a short one because I was out of the country and was unable to watch the game. With that said, I would like to thank Notre Dame for not making this game a close one that I had to worry about missing. I watched a ton of highlights and looked over the box score and it’s safe to say Notre Dame played one hell of a game Saturday night vs Virginia.
This was the last big test for Notre Dame of the 2021 football regular season. Virginia came in with one of the best offenses in college. Virginia came in averaging over 500 yards per game on offense, led by star QB Brennan Armstrong. Notre Dame caught a break leading up to the game with the news that Armstrong would not be playing Saturday night, due to a rib injury from his last game vs BYU. Notre Dame took full advantage of Armstrong being out of the lineup, and the Irish defense ultimately held Virginia to less than 300 yards of offense and less than 100 yards rushing. The Notre Dame defense held Virginia to 3 points, which means the Irish have kept the last two opponents out of the end endzone. The Irish were still without Kyle Hamilton, and it sounds like we may have seen the last of the All-American in his Notre Dame uniform. This team has had a lot of injuries, but it’s always been next man up, showing just how deep this roster is. Saturday night Notre Dame was down three starters on defense, Hamilton plus Drew White and Myron Tagovailoa-Amosa. White and Myron were both out with a non-Covid illness. As we can see by the final score and box score, Notre Dame defense didn’t skip a beat.
Player of The Game: Rylie Mills-DL- 4 tackles, 2 Sacks & 2 Tackles for Loss
Offensively, Notre Dame picked up where they left off last week vs Navy. Jack Coan tossed 3 TDs to 3 different players, Michael Mayer, Braden Lenzy and Kevin Austin. The Irish also had another 250 yards rushing, led by Kyren Williams and Logan Diggs. The highlight of the night came from freshman Diggs who hurdled a defender. This offense is night and day different from the start of the season to where they are now. The first couple of weeks the O-Line could not keep Coan upright. In contrast, Saturday night Coan was not sacked once. This offense is playing its best football of the season when it matters most, and it’s great to see.
The final score was 28 to 3, but from what I saw on Twitter during the game, Notre Dame could have put up a ton more points. The Irish had two turnovers – add that and the theory that they may have taken the foot off the gas towards the end of the game, and it could have (and should have) been a lot worse. In Notre Dame’s next two games they will be favored by more than 10 points. The large tests in the regular season are over, but they need to focus on each week and finishing the season on a high note to put themselves in the best spot to have an out side shot at the College Football Playoffs. Notre Dame doesn’t need to worry about what everyone is doing in front of them, just focus on Georgia Tech and Stanford and the rest will take care of itself. This 2021 season has been a wild ride, so let’s enjoy the end of the regular season and see where the Irish end up in the postseason.