The 24-hour rule is one coaches and players almost always discuss after big wins.
For Notre Dame, it is necessary this week.
After taking down Stanford 38-17 on Saturday, the Irish will travel to Blacksburg this weekend to take on No. 24 Virginia Tech.
Lane Stadium is known for being rowdy in big-time matchups, but the Hokies have not defeated a ranked team at home since 2009. Notre Dame will look to continue that trend.
“Our job is to handle the environment and go in and play really good football,” Brian Kelly said on Tuesday. “If we do that and handle the environment, handle ourselves and our preparation, we’ll be in pretty good shape. If we can’t handle the environment, we can’t prepare the right way this week because we’re distracted because everybody’s telling us how great we are, then we’ll be in big trouble.
“But this team’s shown an ability to prepare the right way, a maturity to stay away from the distractions. We’ve been preparing for this kind of environment for quite some time. So I’m confident we’ll be able to handle the moment when it comes.”
Virginia Tech bounced back to defeat then-No. 22 Duke 31-14 this past Saturday in Durham, N.C. It was the first start of the year for redshirt junior quarterback Ryan Willis after replacing redshirt sophomore Josh Jackson, who went down with an injury during a 49-35 loss to Old Dominion Sept. 22.
“They’ve had an injury at the quarterback position, but you wouldn't know it,” Kelly noted. “Willis has come in and done a really, really good job. He’s a big athletic kid, transfer from Kansas, that has got escapability and real arm talent.
“And it's complemented again from their perspective by having really good wide receivers, a good host of wide receivers. I think they’re 17th in passing efficiency. He’s a really solid quarterback, and he’s a veteran presence.”
Senior Steven Peoples and redshirt sophomore Deshawn McClease lead the ground attack with 100 carries for 516 yards and six touchdowns between them. Ball State transfer Damon Hazelton, a redshirt sophomore, paces the wide receivers with 348 yards and four touchdowns on just 15 catches. Junior Eric Kumah has hauled in 12 passes for 211 yards and a touchdown, while sophomore Hezekiah Grimsley also has 12 receptions for 167 yards.
“McClease is extremely explosive, a big-play kind of back,” Kelly stated. “Peoples, they bring in [Redshirt freshman Terius] Wheatley, they bring in a host of backs. Their fullbacks we know very well, are part of their offense. Their tight ends.
“But I think you would look towards also the receiving corps with Hazelton, Grimsley and Kumah. It’s a really good group with great size.”
When most think of Virginia Tech, defense is the first thing that comes to mind, especially under longtime coordinator Bud Foster.
It has been an up-and-down year, however, on that side of the ball so far. The Hokies rank in the top five nationally with just 84.0 rushing yards allowed per game, but the secondary has surrendered 303.8 passing yards per contest. Foster’s group ranks 37th nationally in scoring defense (20.8 points allowed per game).
“Coach Foster can do about everything from a defensive standpoint,” Kelly said. “If you watch their film this year, they’ve shown you everything, from double eagle, Bear defense to their structured invert defense, four down, to drop eight, to cover-zero pressure. This past week we saw a lot of coverage. Drop eight, the week before, we saw a lot of pressure.
“You have to really prepare for a lot. And there’s a lot of moving parts to their defense. One of the best parts is [fifth-year senior] Ricky Walker, their defensive tackle, extremely disruptive and multi-year starter, really good football player. [Redshirt junior] defensive lineman Houshun Gaines on the outside, leads the teams in sacks, is an athletic player. And they run to the football. They’re athletic and they play really hard.”
Despite the home reputation, Virginia Tech’s last home win against a ranked foe came in 2009 against the Miami Hurricanes. Since then the Hokies are 0-6 and 1-8 overall versus top-10 opponents.
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