10 Ranking of Notre Dame after last week’s 23-17 loss at No. 3 Georgia. Consider that following the 20-19 defeat to Georgia in 2017, the Irish weren’t even in the top 25 — yet No. 3 seven games later.
Yes, repeating a chance to get to the College Football Playoff will be remote while not controlling your own destiny, but it can’t totally be written off if Notre Dame takes care of its business.
9 Catches by junior tight end Cole Kmet (108 yards, one touchdown) last week at Georgia in his 2019 debut after coming back from August shoulder surgery. It tied the school record for most receptions in a game by a tight end (Ken MacAfee vs. Purdue in 1977), and it also was only the ninth time a Notre Dame tight end recorded 100 yards receiving in a game.
This week the offense is expected to receive another boost with the projected returns of junior wideout Michael Young (shoulder surgery as well) and sophomore running back Jahmir Smith (turf toe). Sophomore wideout Braden Lenzy likewise is expected back after getting sidelined last week.
8 Tackles (seven solo) by junior rover Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah, with 2.5 for loss, in a breakout performance at Georgia. He led a strong overall effort by the linebacking crew, including Asmar Bilal at Buck and Drew White at Mike, that had been perhaps the top concern entering the 2019 campaign.
7 The Cavaliers (4-0 overall and 2-0 in the ACC) were favored in an ACC preseason poll to become the seventh different champion in the seven-team Coastal Division over the last seven years: Duke (2013), Georgia Tech (2014), North Carolina (2015), Virginia Tech (2016), Miami (2017) and Pitt (2018).
The Cavaliers already have defeated last year’s winner Pitt (30-14), which last week upset Central Florida.
6 Virginia will look to dominate the second half in a sixth straight game, dating back to last year's 28-0 Belk Bowl win versus South Carolina. In the last five games it has outscored the opposition 90-24 in the second half, and this year limited foes to 104.5 yards total offense the final 30 minutes.
5 Last week at Georgia, Notre Dame had its fifth-lowest rushing total (46 yards) in the 129 games played under head coach Brian Kelly, while also tying the fewest carries (14) in a game during his 10 seasons.
Against an aggressive, stout Virginia defense that ranks No. 12 nationally against the run (75.0 yards per game and 2.2 yards per carry) and No. 1 in sacks (20), the Fighting Irish offensive line and running backs must assert themselves much better to avoid the upset.
4 This will be Virginia head coach Bronco Mendenhall’s fourth visit to Notre Dame Stadium, where he is 0-3. The head coach at BYU from 2005-15, his Cougars lost 49-23 in 2005 when Irish quarterback Brady Quinn tossed a school record six touchdown passes, with Maurice Stovall nabbing four of them, another Irish single-game record.
In 2012, BYU held a 14-7 halftime lead and still was ahead 14-10 in the fourth quarter against 7-0 and No. 5 Notre Dame before starting quarterback Tommy Rees (replacing the injured Everett Golson from the week prior) led a drive culminated by a two-yard run by George Atkinson III early in the fourth quarter for the 17-14 win.
In 2013 on Senior Day with snow falling, another hard fought game between the two teams saw the Irish prevail 23-13, with Kyle Brindza getting the game ball for his kicking (including a 51-yard field goal in the fourth quarter to extend the lead to 23-13) and punting.
3 This will be the third meeting between the two schools. Reigning national champ Notre Dame won the initial one in the 1989 Kickoff Classic, grabbing a 33-0 halftime lead before cruising to a 36-13 victory over a Cavaliers team that was 10-2 the rest of the year.
Then in its first game ever played in the state of Virginia, back in 2015, Notre Dame backup QB DeShone Kizer (in for the injured Malik Zaire) launched a dramatic 39-yard touchdown pass to Will Fuller with 12 seconds left and ND trailing 27-26 to eke out a 34-27 victory.
2 Teams in the 130-school Football Bowl Subdivision that have held opponents to 30 or fewer points in 17 consecutive games: Notre Dame and Washington (which has done it 18 straight). The Huskies could be challenged today while hosting USC.
During the 2018 regular season, Notre Dame and Fresno State were the only two teams not to permit more than 27 points in a game.
1 Virginia is looking for its first win ever against a Top-10 team on the road — where it is 0-24 in such encounters. Furthermore:
• The Cavaliers are looking for their first win as a ranked team over a ranked team since 1998 when then-No. 16 UVA won at then-No. 20 Virginia Tech (36-32).
• The last time a ranked UVA team defeated a higher ranked opponent was in 1996 when the then-No. 24 Cavaliers beat then-No. 6 North Carolina, 20-17, at Scott Stadium.
• The last time a ranked UVA team defeated a higher ranked opponent on the road was in 1994 when the then-No. 16 Cavaliers won at then-No. 14 Virginia Tech, 42-23.
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