CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va - The No. 9 Notre Dame Fighting Irish (9-1) took on the Virginia Cavaliers (6-4) and the No. 1 offense in the Football Bowl Subdivision. The Cavaliers were without quarterback Brennan Armstrong, who has been the anchor and lifeblood of the team, due to a lingering rib injury; he would be replaced by true freshman Jay Woolfolk.
Notre Dame would make this the 23rd straight victory against ACC opponents as the Irish took care of business in a 28-3 blowout victory. The Irish scored 21 points in the first half and shut out the Cavaliers until the 4th quarter.
Without Armstrong, the Cavaliers could not click back into the number one offense in the FBS. With Armstrong, they were averaging 545 yards per game. Against the Irish, they gathered a modest 278 yards of offense, but they only scored 3 points.
It was yet another dominant victory for the Irish and their fifth straight win since their loss to Cincinnati.
After Notre Dame went scoreless on their first drive, the Irish would dominate the rest of the game, putting up 423 total yards of offense; 249 of those yards came on the ground in a dominant effort.
Running back Kyren Williams had yet another great performance with 70 yds on the ground and 67 yds coming after contact and 1 TD. Williams was patient and showed great vision, showing yet again how important he is to this offense.
Quarterback Jack Coan played another solid game. The Wisconsin transfer was 15 of 20 on 132 yds and 3TDs. Despite throwing one interception, Coan played yet another great game and has really taken the reins of the offense.
Tight end Michael Mayer had another great performance, showing why he is one of the top tight ends in the country. He finished with 8 receptions for 84 yds and 1TD. Mayer was a mismatch for Virginia as he would make play after play, including a play where he caught the ball behind a Virginia defender.
The defense would record 8 sacks and 2 takeaways, allowing Virginia's top offense to score only 3 points.
This marks 40 consecutive wins for the Irish against unranked teams (longest active streak in the country), 9 straight road wins and 11 straight ACC wins on the road.
QB Brennan Armstrong Injury Dilemma
With QB Brennan Armstrong, the Cavaliers were putting up 38.9 PPG coming into this matchup.
This season, Armstrong has 3557 passing yards, 27 passing touchdowns and 7 rushing touchdowns. An important piece to the Virginia offense being out against a top ten team in the nation would prove difficult for the Cavaliers.
Virginia recorded 0 rushing yards in the first quarter and no first downs.
True freshman Jay Woolfolk became the first true freshman to start for the Cavaliers since 1977. The freshman was under pressure all game long as Notre Dame racked up 8 sacks on the day.
Self-inflicted mistakes, turnovers and the flow of the offense that was lost hurt the Cavaliers all game long.
Things to Watch
Notre Dame has been utilizing a ton of their freshmen in their past couple of games. With players like Tyler Buchner, Logan Diggs, and Lorenzo Styles seeing the field, the Irish are implementing their future into the offense now.
During the third drive for the Irish, Logan Diggs would get the run left, break a tackle, stiff-arm defenders, and hurdle a Cavalier for a huge first down.
Something to watch for the Irish is the passing defense. Tonight, wide receiver Virginia's Keytaon Thompson had 9 catches for 110 yards. This marks the third time in the last four games that Notre Dame has allowed 9 or more catches and 100+ yards to an opposing wide receiver.
If the Irish keep winning, this may not be a problem. However, it is something to watch as they are allowing receivers to have amazing performances in losing efforts.
Coming Up
Virginia will take on Pittsburgh on Saturday, Nov. 20, in a game where they hope to get Armstrong back.
Notre Dame will look to continue their five-game winning streak and take on Georgia Tech on Saturday, Nov. 20.
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