The No. 9 Notre Dame Fighting Irish improved to 9-1 on the season with a 28-3 win at Virginia (6-4, 4-2 ACC).
While the Irish offense didn't compile individual statistics that would raise eyebrows, it did produce some plays that created buzz around the sports world, particularly from running backs Kyren Williams and Logan Diggs.
Here is a collection of thoughts, hot takes, and highlights from the media, coaches and players.
Greg Ladky and Tim Hyde, BlueandGold.com: Notre Dame post-game show following the win over Virginia
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Excerpts from our writers
Patrick Engel, BlueandGold.com: Notre Dame glides through some speed bumps and can see 11-1 on the horizon
What followed was not a Michael Jordan-level flu game, but it was still plenty impressive.
Saturday’s final score and on-field output gave zero hints about a week’s worth of snags. The No. 9 Irish beat Virginia 28-3 for their fifth straight win and 40th in a row over an unranked team. They’re 9-1 and staring an 11-win season down the barrel, with games against 3-7 foes Georgia Tech and Stanford all that remain.
Tyler Horka, BlueandGold.com: Report Card: Grading Brian Kelly, Notre Dame football in win over Virginia
Notre Dame Passing Defense: A-
The task got significantly easier when it became official Notre Dame would face true freshman Jay Woolfolk and not junior Brennan Armstrong. The former had only previously attempted seven passes. The latter ranked second in the country in passing yards per game through Week 10 with 395.2.
Woolfolk wasn’t great. He looked like a true freshman largely because the Notre Dame offensive line flustered him often. But he still completed six passes of 15 yards or more, twice as many as Notre Dame. The Irish held him to 18-of-33 passing (54.5 percent) through the air. He didn’t throw any touchdowns and was picked off twice.
Senior receiver Keytaon Thompson caught nine passes for 110 yards. Had Notre Dame done a better job on him, maybe the Irish would have warranted an A+. Instead we’ll leave it at an A-. Marginal room for improvement.
Aidan Thomas, The Observer: Irish whip Cavaliers in Charlottesville shellacking
The rest of the game was a formality. UVA notched a field goal to ruin the shutout, but that was about it. The game ended 28-3, as Notre Dame continues a late push to be a one-loss playoff team. Asked about whether he believed his team deserves a berth, Kelly was strong in his response.
“We’re better than we were in September and October,” he said. “We’re ascending as a football team — the eye test says this team is playing better, offensively and defensively.”
The Irish should certainly jump to at least eighth after Oklahoma’s loss, but they’ll need a little more chaos than that to crack the playoff field. They have two games remaining against unranked competition. Their home finale is next week at 2:30 p.m. against Georgia Tech.
Greg Madia, The (Charlottesville) Daily Progress: Playing without QB Brennan Armstrong, UVA struggles in home loss to Notre Dame
Notre Dame extended its regular-season winning streak over Atlantic Coast Conference foes to 23 straight and the Irish beat an unranked opponent for the 40th consecutive time — the longest such streak in the country.
Kyren Williams, Notre Dame’s (9-1) star starting running back, got in on the action, too, when he dashed around, juked and avoided one UVa (6-4) defender after the next during a 22-yard touchdown run to push the Irish’s advantage to 21-0 before halftime.
Mike Barber, Richmond Times-Dispatch: Barber: UVA needed to do more to support rookie QB
But the reality is, even with Armstrong behind center, Virginia would have struggled to block Notre Dame’s defensive front, although the Irish might have been less inclined to blitz the more seasoned and prolific Armstrong. Saturday night, they sacked Woolfolk five times. He held the ball too long on some plays and didn’t have the experience to take recognize and take advantage of blitzes the way Armstrong has this season.
Mike Berardino, Chicago Sun Times(article prior to the game):Notre Dame left tackle Joe Alt starting with a good foundation
There is no secret handshake, no special designation among them.
Yet, for the five current Notre Dame football players whose fathers reached the NFL, there is a common bond and a clear understanding that being the progeny of former pros helped them parlay obvious physical gifts into big-time college opportunities.
Douglas Farmer, NBC Sports: Virginia’s offense nothing but offensive without its QB in Notre Dame rout
Without Armstrong, Virginia’s offense had no sense of the explosiveness or rhythm that has defined it thus far this season. Even when the Cavaliers found some second-half success, their drives only stalled in plus territory, never genuinely sniffing the end zone.
They went 1-of-2 in the red zone, obviously only scoring a field goal. Their 278 total yards came mostly once Notre Dame enjoyed a three-touchdown lead. Woolfolk went 18-of-33 for 196 yards.
None of the debacle was Woolfolk’s fault, per se. The Irish defense came to play, dialed up to face Armstrong and not dialing back when Armstrong’s ribs kept him from playing.