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What They're Saying: Notre Dame Fighting Irish 35, Virginia 20

A look at what the media is saying after Notre Dame's 35-20 victory against Virginia.

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Lou Somogyi, Blue & Gold Illustrated: Rapid Review: Notre Dame 35, Virginia 20

• This will be known as “The End Game.” The strongest and deepest unit on the 2019 Notre Dame — defensive end — was not playing to its immense expectations the first three games, but dominated the third quarter and second half (see “Game Ball).

Trailing 17-14 to begin the second half, Notre Dame ran only eight plays for 20 yards in the third quarter. Yet it finished with a 28-17 lead after those 15 minutes thanks to a forced fumble on a rush by senior end Jamir Jones that was returned 48 yards by tackle Myron Tagovailoa-Amosa to the Virginia seven-yard line.

Shortly thereafter, a sack by senior end Julian Okwara forced a fumble that senior end Ade Ogundeji returned for a 23-yard touchdown.

• Notre Dame's offense had only 195 yards through the first three quarters before finishing with 343. Among the highlights was an 11-yard touchdown run in the first quarter by C'Bo Flemister to give the Irish a 14-7 advantage. Ian Book finished 17 of 25 for 165 yards.

• Virginia quarterback Bryce Perkins was the premier figure in the first half, completing 18 of 22 passes for 235 yards and two touchdown to provide the Cavaliers with their 17-14 advantage at the intermission.

During the decisive third quarter, though he lost two fumbles that set up or directly resulted in 14 points. He was 12 of 21 for 99 yards, two interceptions and no touchdowns in the second half to go with the two lost fumbles.

Mike Berardino, Indianapolis Star: Pass rush carries Notre Dame to 35-20 comeback win over Virginia

Brian Kelly’s wariness was justified.

No sooner had the all-important trip to third-ranked Georgia ended in a six-point loss than Notre Dame’s coach/psychologist tried to turn his team’s attention to 18th-ranked Virginia.

This, Kelly said, would be the “defining game” of the Fighting Irish’s season.

Through the first 30 minutes, Kelly’s message seemingly fell on deaf ears. Or maybe the Cavaliers really were dangerous enough to go toe to toe with a self-styled national championship contender.

Tom Fornelli, CBS Sports: Notre Dame vs. Virginia score, takeaways: No. 10 Fighting Irish stifle Cavaliers with defense for win

Notre Dame's defense is its strength. Plenty of people have talked about how impressive Notre Dame looked in its loss against No. 3 Georgia last week, and it's true. The Irish played well, even in defeat. What stood out to me the most from that game, however, was Notre Dame's defense. The front seven was able to be disruptive against one of the best offensive lines in the country, while the secondary held its own against some fantastic Georgia athletes.

All of that was still true against Virginia. Now, the Cavaliers don't have an offensive line nearly as good as Georgia's. In fact, it's considerably worse, and Notre Dame took advantage of that on Saturday. Notre Dame finished the day with 13 tackles for loss and eight sacks. Two of those sacks resulted in fumbles, and those two fumbles were part of five turnovers the Irish forced in the game. Julian Okwara and Khalid Kareem were a tag team from hell, as they combined for 5.5 sacks. The secondary also picked off a couple of passes, including one by stud freshman Kyle Hamilton in the fourth quarter to ice the game. This is the unit that will keep Notre Dame in every game it plays and gives the team a high floor. The ceiling will be determined by the offense, and that's the subject of our next takeaway.

Eric Hansen, South Bend Tribune: Rush hour finally arrives as Notre Dame defense helps subdue Virginia

The statistical weirdness Saturday at Notre Dame Stadium was curbed a bit by the fact Irish defensive tackle Myron Tagovailoa-Amosa was an aspiring and actual quarterback until halfway through his middle school football career.

More directly related to the 285-pound junior’s 48-yard fumble return in the most critical juncture of 10th-ranked ND’s 35-20 subduing of plucky No. 18 Virginia was that what was supposed to be the unquestioned strength of this Irish team finally arrived in game 4.

In style and in substance.

The Notre Dame pass rush.

It also helps explain how Irish reserve defensive end Ade Ogundeji accounted for more scoring than quarterback Ian Book, how ND may have a dilemma with its plan to redshirt Jamir Jones, and how Notre Dame (3-1) — down 17-14 at half — survived a third quarter in which it got punked by an onside kick, amassed 20 total yards of offense and one first down, and survived giving the Virginia offense the ball in Notre Dame territory on a Chris Finke muffed punt.

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