Notre Dame-Virginia Notebook: Top Five Topics

From a personnel perspective, among the positives for the game between No. 10 Notre Dame (2-1) and No. 18 Virginia (4-0) on Saturday is that junior wide receiver Michael Young, sophomore running back Jahmir Smith and sophomore wide receiver Braden Lenzy were listed on the depth chart after missing last week’s game at Georgia with different injuries.

Young has been out of action since Aug. 17 with a broken collarbone, but has been noted as “probable” by head coach Brian Kelly to be in the rotation this week.

Here were five other prime topics from Monday’s press conference:

Two years ago following a 20-19 loss at home to Georgia that came down to the final possession, Notre Dame responded with a vengeance to win its next seven games and vault up to No. 3 in the College Football Playoff rankings. At the time of the defeat to Georgia, Notre Dame had fallen out of the top 25.

This year after another close defeat to the No. 3-ranked Bulldogs (23-17) on the road that again came down to the final series, the Fighting Irish are still No. 10 in the Associated Press poll, with plenty of opportunities still ahead of them.

Even before the coaches met with the team around 3 p.m. today to begin preparations for No. 18 and 4-0 Virginia, the seven team captains had already arranged a team meeting amongst themselves.

“My sense and expectation is that they understand the importance of where we go from here after the Georgia game,” Kelly said during his Monday noon conference. “For them to fulfill the goals and the mission that we have set forth for us, we have to play better football from here on out. … I have a good feeling that they're going to respond in the right way.

“We expect physical and demanding practices this week, load them on. It is the grind time. Let’s get after it.”

With hopefully even a longer winning streak than in 2017 after Georgia.

Kelly has referred to the game as a “defining” one because it will reveal a mindset of how the team can deal with a setback in order to get back on the winning path.

And speaking of winning trajectories ...

Under fourth-year head coach Bronco Mendenhall, who was 99-43 in 11 seasons at BYU (2005-15), the once-reeling Cavaliers have improved from 2-10 to 6-7 to 8-5, and this year are off to a 4-0 start. In the preseason they were favored to win the Coastal Division of the ACC and play likely Atlantic Division champion Clemson for the league title.

The unbeaten campaign began with a 30-14 win at Pitt — last year’s Coastal Division champ that also nearly upset Notre Dame before losing 19-14, and upset Central Florida last weekend. Virginia followed that with a 52-17 romp over William & Mary.

Particularly impressive to Kelly was how Virginia has responded in its last two games. On Sept. 14 the Cavaliers tallied 21 fourth-quarter points to rally from a deficit and defeat Florida State 31-24.

This past weekend it fell behind 17-0 to Old Dominion (which upset Virginia Tech last year, 49-35), and still trailed 17-14 entering the fourth quarter before prevailing 28-17.

“A confident team, a well-coached team, one that you’re going to have to beat them,” Kelly said. “They’re not going to give you the game.

“Virginia has [the Notre Dame players'] attention, there's no doubt about that. ... There’s no question when you play a team of this caliber they recognize how important it is to go back to work.”

Virginia quarterback Bryce Perkins joined Heisman Trophy winner Kyler Murray as the lone two Football Bowl Subdivision quarterbacks last season to pass for a minimum of 2,600 yards while also rushing for at least 900.

However, defense is the Cavaliers’ calling card, and that of Mendenhall as well. Virginia is No. 1 nationally in sacks (5.0 per game), No. 12 against the run (75.0 yards per game at 2.17 per attempt) and No. 14 overall (263.8 yards per game). It is tied with Notre Dame at No. 28 in scoring defense at 18.0.

The run defense especially is notable because Notre Dame basically abandoned the rushing attack against Georgia (14 carries for 46 yards), and the Cavaliers will likely use a similar template to possibly make the Irish one-dimensional.

Kelly indicated sophomore running back Smith (turf toe) is “probable” to help senior Tony Jones Jr. in the backfield this weekend, but that is still to be determined by how he responds in practice this week.

“Until we get up to the strength that we need to at the running back position, we’re going to find ways to put points on the board and win football games,” Kelly said. “It looks good that we’re going to get Jahmir back this week. … We have got to rely on Avery [Davis] and C’Bo Flemister more than we did.

“I thought that the offensive line did a really good job against a very difficult defense to handle in terms of pass protection. But we have to find a way to run the football too, and we’re going to have that challenge against Virginia.”

Virginia’s defense has rightfully earned praise, but Notre Dame’s performance on that side of the ball at Georgia helped reaffirm that second-year defensive coordinator Clark Lea is a rising star in the ranks.

Consistent in his approach, accountability in performance and exceptional teaching methods have resulted in huge buy-in from his troops.

“They know what they’re getting every day,” Kelly said of the defensive players and Lea. “He doesn’t throw a curveball at them. He has an expectation for what those players need to do and what they master and what they need to master. Each day they close in on becoming better and better at it. I think that’s what he’s done a really good job at regardless if it’s a player with a lot of experience or a little experience.

“His consistency and his teaching approach has been really one where I think all levels have been able to adapt to it. He builds really good relationships with the players. And he demands in practice the kind of defensive demeanor that’s necessary to play with a physicality, but with the right emotional control.

“… No, I don’t know that there is a lot of yelling or screaming, but there’s straight talk. Straight talk will get the job done as well.”

Seldom have we seen Kelly in his 10 years as upset with himself as he was with Notre Dame not handling the silent snap count well at Georgia, which resulted in a half-dozen false start calls on offense that hindered momentum and rhythm.

“I’m sick about it,” Kelly said. “I have been a head coach for 29 years. I know better, to be quite honest with you. We didn’t spend enough time, obviously. I thought I did.

“I made a terrible miscalculation in that I felt like our quarterback was prepared, but he wasn’t. … That falls on my shoulders. I have to do a better job. We’ll make sure that never happens again.”

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