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Notre Dame-Virginia Tech: Numbers, Turning Point & Brian Kelly's Take

It was a dramatic tale of two halves for quarterback DeShone Kizer versus Virginia Tech.
It was a dramatic tale of two halves for quarterback DeShone Kizer versus Virginia Tech. (Bill Panzica)

By The Numbers

1 The Virginia Tech game was the first one out of 11 this season for 4-7 Notre Dame where the winning team had less yards rushing. The Irish finished with 200 yards on the ground, highlighted by sophomore running back Josh Adams’ 67-yard touchdown, compared to the Hokies’ 152.


4 Losses at home this year by Notre Dame: Michigan State (38-36), Duke (38-35), Stanford (17-10) and Virginia Tech (34-31). Since the opening of Notre Dame Stadium in 1930, the only three times the Fighting Irish lost four times at home in one season were 1960 (1-4), 2007 (1-6) and 2016 (2-4).


4-7 Record for Notre Dame, the first time it has ever had that mark. It finished 5-6 several times, and 5-7 too, but it has never been 4-7 at any time. It also has never been 4-8.


5 Times Notre Dame has lost since 2009 to a first-time visitor in Notre Dame Stadium, and first meeting overall: Connecticut (2009), Tulsa (2010), South Florida (2011), Louisville (2014) and now Virginia Tech. The last four were under Brian Kelly, with no other Irish head coach losing more than twice to a first-time visitor.

The Irish are 59-14-1 overall against teams making their debut in Notre Dame Stadium, including 5-4 under Kelly.


7 Games this season where Notre Dame has scored a touchdown on its first drive, including against Virginia Tech while building a 17-0 lead. The Irish have scored first in all but one game of the 11 games this season, but to little avail.


17 Points Notre Dame led by twice (17-0 and 24-7) before losing, 34-31. It is believed to be the largest deficit an opponent came back from to win at Notre Dame since Tennessee’s 35-34 victory on Nov. 9, 1991. The Volunteers trailed by 24 (31-7) at one point.


30 Career losses for Kelly in seven seasons at Notre Dame, while posting 59 wins. The loss figure ties the most in a career with the Fighting Irish as the head coach. Lou Holtz also had 30, but that was in 11 seasons from 1986-96. Holtz compensated with a school-record 23-game winning streak in 1988-89, including a national title, and a 17-game winning streak in 1992-93.


509 Yards rushing this year by Notre Dame junior DeShone Kizer after amassing 69 versus Virginia Tech. He had 520 on the ground last year and now joins Tony Rice (1987-89) as the only two quarterbacks in school history to eclipse 500 yards rushing in two separate seasons.

Kizer also is now the only signalcaller in Fighting Irish annals to pass for more than 5,000 yards and rush for more than 1,000 during his career.


1960 The most recent season until this year where Notre Dame failed to string together a two-game winning streak. Second-year head coach Joe Kuharich’s team that year won its opener versus Cal and the finale at USC, but lost all eight games in between for a final 2-8 mark.

The 3-9 team in 2007 finished with two straight victories, while the 2-7 squad in 1963 won consecutive games at home against UCLA and USC to improve to 2-2 at one point.


Turning Point

Coaches in basketball often talk about how the last four minutes of the first half and the first four minutes of the second half are extremely crucial. They were in this football game, too.

With the Irish leading 24-7, Virginia Tech took possession at its 25-yard line with six minutes left in the half. Ten plays and nearly five minutes later its halftime deficit was sliced to 24-14. The Hokies then took the second half kickoff and marched 75 yards again in just five plays and 2:21. A game where Notre Dame seemed to have control turned into a toss-up at 24-21 after those two series. Although the Irish would take one more 10-point lead, the sequence at the end of the first half and the start of the second kept the Hokies within striking distance while also asserting themselves.


Stat Of The Game

The Notre Dame passing game was a well-oiled, efficient and productive machine in the first half with Kizer completing 13-of-18 passes for 199 yards, two touchdowns and no interceptions.

In the second half, Kizer was 3-of-15 for 36 yards. Just like in the first half, it wasn’t all Kizer, who was well protected in the first half and spread the completions to eight different receivers. He was under more duress in the second half and there were also several well-thrown passes that were dropped — resulting in four three-and-out possessions in the final 30 minutes (plus a four-and-out).

Notre Dame had a 12:29 to 2:31 time of possession domination in the first quarter, but Virginia Tech had a 30:14 to 14:46 advantage thereafter. This was also Notre Dame’s third loss this season without committing a turnover.


Brian Kelly’s Take

“I'm at loss for words really as to what to tell [the players]. It's just been a difficult year. … They work so hard. They play so hard. They have been ahead in so many of these games and been so close in the fourth quarter. Unfortunately, it's just one of those years where — I haven't had one like this in my 25, 26 years of being a head coach...

“I just love our kids. I love the way they battle. You know, we're going to wake up from this nightmare and we're going to be 11-0, I think. Maybe not. I just don't — they work hard. They did everything I wanted them to do. There are some things we're going to have to do in the off-season to address it.

“There are a lot of inexperienced players that are going to benefit from this. I'm not benefitting at all being in front of you losing this football game. It's not helping me any. It's going to help those guys that have gone through it.”

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