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Game Balls: 5 Notre Dame football players who shined against Virginia Tech

First things first: Notre Dame senior kicker Jonathan Doerer deserves a game ball.

Doerer's game-winning kick was so important to the No. 14 Fighting Irish (5-1) in Saturday's 32-29 victory over Virginia Tech (3-2) that it gets its own space at the top of this article. It gets its own quote from head coach Brian Kelly, too.

“He’s done that time in and time out,” Kelly said. “The moment is not too big for him. He loves those opportunities, he relishes them, and he's been really good at them.”

Here are five other Notre Dame players who were made for the moment in a hostile environment against the Hokies.

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QB Jack Coan

You won’t see a quarterback who gets benched get a game ball very often, but QBs who get benched don’t lead comeback victories very often either. The 9-of-12 for 108 yards and one touchdown statistics were modest. But Notre Dame wouldn’t have won without the two scoring drives Coan led in the final four minutes of the game.

QB Tyler Buchner

Notre Dame wouldn’t have won without the spark its true freshman quarterback provided in the first half, either. Buchner came off the bench and went 6-of-14 for 113 yards with one touchdown and two interceptions, one of which was returned for a touchdown. He also scored a touchdown on the ground, though, and ignited a Notre Dame offense that was stagnant under Coan in the first quarter.

RB Kyren Williams

The senior running back ran for 81 yards and a touchdown on 19 carries and added a team-high five catches for 26 yards and a touchdown through the air. One-hundred yards from scrimmage and two touchdowns is never a bad game, especially with how hard it has been for Williams to get going this season behind Notre Dame’s shaky offensive line.

CB TaRiq Bracy

The senior cornerback stepped in front of an out route and secured the first interception of his career. The interception set Notre Dame up on the Virginia Tech 29-yard line late in the third quarter, and the Irish punched the ball into the end zone four plays later to regain their lead. Bracy also recorded five tackles in the game.

DE Isaiah Foskey

He didn’t lead Notre Dame in tackles, but that’s a slot reserved for junior linebacker JD Bertrand anyway. Bertrand had a team-high 10 tackles, but Foskey tied for second with six. Four of them were solo stops. He upped his team-leading sack total to 5.5 with one quarterback take down, and he had 1.5 tackles for loss and a quarterback hurry as well.

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