Notre Dame's 35-14 win versus Virginia extends winning streak to eight games
SOUTH BEND, Ind. -- Senior Day for 29 players at Notre Dame Stadium ended on a high note, as the Irish gain five turnovers in the first half, propelling the eighth ranked team in the country to a blowout win against Virgnia.
In the final home game of the regular season, Notre Dame took the field with their captain and Linebacker Jack Kiser, who became the all-time leader in games played (63) for the Irish.
"There's a lot of people that go into me stepping on the field 63 times, like, the trainers, family, teammates, you know, strength coaches, coaches in general. Like, there's a lot of people that play into that. And so that's the best thing about this record. It's not a me thing, it's a we thing," Kiser said in the post game press conference.
Once Kiser and the Irish took the field, it was no looking back. Besides two late touchdowns by the Cavaliers, Notre Dame had this game in the bag from the jump. Starting with former Notre Dame receiver Chris Tyree muffing the opening kickoff, Notre Dame recovering, followed by Sophomore Running Back Jeremiyah Love's four-yard touchdown run. Continuing his streak of scoring a touchdown in every game this season.
"It was a great win, a great team victory is what we aspire to do all week for our seniors on a senior night. This obviously ain't the end of our season, but this was the night that we said, this is going to be senior night, in our last guaranteed opportunity for our students to play in the stadium," Head Coach Marcus Freeman added.
In what could be the final home game this season, the defense put on a clinic in the first half, earning five turnovers, starting with Safety Adon Shuler's interception. It came after Notre Dame executed a fake punt, that resulted in a Jordan Faison touchdown, until it was called back for illegal formation.
"My job was actually the running back and the running back, he kind of like, waited a second so I knew I could, like, free up. I seen an over behind me, and he threw it," Shuler said.
The controversial call sent Freeman into a load of emotions, explaining the formation, and asking for clarification from officials. The Irish turned the frustration into productivity, with just over three minutes remaining in the first half.
Shuler's interception, turned into a Cooper Flanagan touchdown catch. The very next series for the Cavaliers, Leonard Moore earned an interception, followed by a touchdown catch from Mitchell Evans. Last but not least, on the next series by Virginia, Xavier Watts earned an interception, leading to a missed field goal by kicker Mitch Jeter.
"It was just like a spark, you know, our defense gets a takeaway. I think it was Adon or Leonard. We go and we score, and then we get another takeaway, and we go and we score. That was huge. That was huge to end the half. But my message to the team was, we can't wait for a spark. The sense of urgency has to be from play one to the end of the game, and that's what we got to make sure we continue to do," Freeman mentioned.
The offense was clicking too in this game. Lead by Quarterback Riley Leonard, but not using his legs to gain productivity. Leonard ran the ball eight times for 32 yards but threw for 214 yards on 22-33 passing, and three touchdowns.
But the Irish still managed to put up 448 yards of offense, gaining 234 in the run game. Led by Jeremiyah Love with 137 yards and two touchdowns.
"I just come into every game, you know, try to make a play, or, you know, try to, you know, do what's best for my team and if that's scoring touchdowns, it's scoring touchdowns. If that's blocking for Riley or whoever is running the ball, that's what I'll do. So, I'm not really focused on, you know, like keeping the streak alive or nothing like that. It's really just, you know, doing I got to do for this team, Love said in response to a question about his streak of scoring a touchdown in each game this season.