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Nov. 16—SOUTH BEND — Notre Dame forced five Virginia turnovers and kept the Cavaliers scoreless in the first half on the way to a 35-14 victory on senior night.
The No. 8 Irish (9-1) scored 21 points off the Cavaliers (5-5) five turnovers, resulting in a 35-0 lead before the visitors narrowed to a more respectable deficit.
“I think, you know when you look at the big picture, it gives our entire program, all three phases a chance to have success,” Notre Dame head coach Marcus Freeman said. “When your defense is playing as well as you’re playing, it allows you to still be in the game and be in position to win maybe when you aren’t having the success you want to start the game.”
Virginia ran just four plays in Notre Dame territory the entire first half. One resulted in a fumble.
Notre Dame forced three fumbles and recovered two. Xavier Watts finished with one of them, also intercepting a pass and breaking up another on third down early in the first quarter.
“It’s a lot of fun when you can have a lot of, you know, havoc on the ball and certainly tonight we were able to do that,” Notre Dame linebacker Jack Kiser said. “Guys were flying around, guys were seeing their keys and recognizing stuff and making plays on it.”
The Irish defense held Virginia to finish 17-of-36 passing. Starting quarterback Anthony Colandrea was benched in the second half after completing 8-of-21 passes for 69 yards and three interceptions.
Notre Dame quarterback Riley Leonard finished 22-for-33, throwing for three touchdowns. He also threw his second interception of the season since Week 2.
Jeremiyah Love ran for two touchdowns and 137 yards in 16 attempts.
“I told them in the locker room, we’ll fix the film, there’s always plays to fix, we’ll evaluate it, we’ll figure out the whys, but enjoy this victory,” Freeman said after the Irish’s…
Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/nd-football-irish-defense-denies-031600390.html
Author : Goshen News, Ind.
Publish date : 2024-11-17 03:16:00
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