The “Inside the Garage” podcast hosts couldn't recite the tune of Metallica’s “Enter Sandman” during their most recent episode, which aired Oct. 4. They laughed and bickered back and forth as they tried to get the guitar riffs down off the top of their heads.
“I don’t know how it goes,” junior safety Kyle Hamilton told cohosts Cam Hart, Conor Ratigan and KJ Wallace. “But we’re about to find out.”
One day away from Notre Dame (4-1) hearing it play while Virginia Tech (3-1) takes the field at Lane Stadium in Blacksburg, Va., they should all have it memorized by now.
The Irish coaching staff blared the song over loud speakers at practices all week, just as it did the Florida State tomahawk chop war chant in the week leading up to the season opener. Fighting Irish football players should now be well aware of the exit of light and entering of night.
Hamilton thinks Blacksburg could be No. 14 Notre Dame's never-never land — in a good way. Maybe it's a place where the Irish can leave their problems in the past a set the tone for the rest of the season. One week after the Irish were beaten at home for the first time in 26 tries, Hamilton believes the team's second true road trip of the year is just what the doctor ordered.
"I really think this could not be more perfect timing for this, honestly," Hamilton said on the podcast. "Going into a hostile environment after a loss, this is really good [get right] time for us, for sure."
"I feel like it's good for a lot of people in the Gug, especially us, who haven't experienced that type of feeling," Hart added. "And then the older guys, that gives them an opportunity to lead so we won't ever feel like this."
Ratigan, a preferred walk-on wide receiver, is the only podcast host who was on the 2018 Notre Dame team that went into Lane Stadium as an undefeated top-10 team and left with a 45-23 victory over the No. 24 Hokies. He remembers the atmosphere very well.
"It's definitely a fun environment to shut up," Ratigan said.
This week could be a major turning point in Notre Dame's season one way or the other. If the Irish win, they're 5-1 going into their bye week with home games against teetering USC and North Carolina teams on the other side of it. If they lose, they're 4-2 and tossing and turning a bit themselves.
Hamilton and Hart figure to be at the forefront of Notre Dame's effort to come away with a win. The Notre Dame offense cannot be counted on to explode for 40-plus points like it did three years ago. Not with the way the offensive line has been unable to pass protect and create rushing lanes for the Irish's talented tailbacks.
It doesn't matter if it comes in a high-scoring overtime shootout like the Florida State game or a low-scoring defensive grind like the Purdue game, though — a win is a win. And Notre Dame could use one in the worst way right now.
"If we go in there and win, it would solve a lot of problems," Hamilton said. "Winning solves a lot of problems."
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