Notre Dame beats Brennan Armstrong-less Virginia, improves to 9-1 with win
CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. — It was over before it started.
Virginia junior quarterback Brennan Armstrong walked onto David. A Harrison III Field at Scott Stadium in a sweatsuit. He grabbed a ball and a throwing mate. When he started to toss it, he did so like many fathers and their young sons did outside the confines of the stadium hours earlier: casually. Without any zip. Simple pitch and catch.
Armstrong didn’t look like the quarterback with more passing yards than all but one signal caller in college football. He didn’t look like someone who was about to start against No. 9 Notre Dame. That’s because he wasn’t.
Armstrong went to the locker room shortly after his 10-minute warmup session. Rather, trial session. He was simply testing if he could play with injured ribs.
He couldn’t. True freshman Jay Woolfolk started in his place, and it went about how anyone could have guessed: Notre Dame 28, Virginia 3.
Notre Dame (9-1) graduate student quarterback Jack Coan only threw for 132 yards, but he had three touchdown passes. The third pushed Notre Dame’s advantage to 28-0 late in the third quarter and effectively put the game away.
The Irish didn’t need anything past its first touchdown, actually. That came on a six-yard pass from Coan to sophomore tight end Michael Mayer with 4:53 left in the first quarter. Coan’s other passing score went to senior wide receiver Braden Lenzy on another short four-yard strike.
Junior running back Kyren Williams ran for 70 yards, 22 of which came on a touchdown carry. Freshman running back Logan Diggs added 64 yards on the ground. In all, Notre Dame outgained Virginia 423-278 in total yards. The Cavaliers (6-4) came in as the country’s No. 1 total offense with 545.2 yards per game. That’s how much of a difference Armstrong’s absence made.
Notre Dame defenders teed off on Woolfolk and company. Sophomore safety Ramon Henderson recorded his first career interception. Senior safety DJ Brown came away with his third of the year in the final minutes.
The Irish sacked Woolfolk seven times. Sophomore defensive lineman Rylie Mills had two, while senior linebacker Bo Bauer and senior defensive tackle Jayson Ademilola had one and a half apiece.
Bauer started in place of graduate student Drew White, who was battling an illness. Graduate student defensive end Myron Tagovailoa-Amosa sat out with an illness too. Mills shifted from tackle to end to end to give the team depth there. Junior safety Kyle Hamilton missed his third game in a row with an injured knee.
Virginia wasn’t the only team missing a key player. Notre Dame was without multiple. And yet, the Fighting Irish kept fighting and notched their ninth win of the season, on the road, on a chilly night in Charlottesville.
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