Notre Dame vs. Virginia: Game Grades, Analysis for the Fighting Irish
Notre Dame escaped the upset bid by Virginia thanks to a touchdown reception by Will Fuller with just 12 seconds remaining in the fourth quarter. But it was the quarterback who threw the ball—DeShone Kizer—who was the surprise of the day in the 34-27 win.
Starting quarterback Malik Zaire was lost in the third quarter to what appeared to be a serious ankle injury. While the Notre Dame faithful held its collective breath, Virginia continued to put pressure on the Irish, eventually retaking the lead with just less than two minutes remaining in the game.
It was the inexperienced sophomore Kizer who led the Irish down the field for the game-winning touchdown, and he's just one piece in Saturday's puzzle of Notre Dame's game grades.
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Here is the box score, via NCAA.com.
| Pass Offense | C- | B- |
| Run Offense | A- | B+ |
| Pass Defense | C- | C |
| Run Defense | A | B+ |
| Special Teams | B | B |
| Coaching | Incomplete | B+ |
Notre Dame Pass Offense
Zaire put together a middling performance—at best—in the first half, completing just five of his 13 passes for 45 yards. We hate to hand out such a low first-half grade to a guy who may have seen his last action of the season, but a C-minus might be as generous as we can be, all things considered.
Things picked up—both for Zaire, until his injury, and for his replacement Kizer—in the second half, and combined, the two Irish slingers finished with 207 yards and three passing touchdowns on a 15-of-30 performance.
Fuller continued to showcase his amazing speed and catching ability, hauling in five receptions for a whopping 124 yards and two touchdowns, including the game-winning 39-yard grab in the waning seconds.
Notre Dame Run Offense
If you though last week's loss of starting rusher Tarean Folston spelled doom for the Notre Dame running attack, you obviously weren't considering what C.J. Prosise brings to the table at halfback.
Prosise gashed the UVA defense to the tune of 155 yards and a touchdown on 17 carries. The team as a whole finished with 253 yards on the ground.
While we were definitely impressed with Prosise, we do still have some concerns with Notre Dame's ability to pick up short yardage on the ground on third down. Notre Dame was 0-of-10 on third-down conversions, many of them four yards or fewer. Moving forward, those conversions will be a required part of any path to victory.
Notre Dame Pass Defense
It's hard to look at Virginia quarterback Matt Johns' passing performance (26-of-38 for 289 yards and two touchdowns) and get excited if you're a Notre Dame fan. Despite absolutely shutting down Texas, the Irish looked completely lost, at times, in the secondary. Johns was efficient at picking apart the defense, at one point completing 10 straight throws during the second and third quarters.
The Irish did a nice job of limiting yards after catch, but allowing a whole range of intermediate passes over the middle is definitely going to upset the defensive coaching staff when they review film of this outing.
A bring spot in the passing game was, not surprisingly, the pass rush. Notre Dame's front seven is capable of matching up against any offensive front in the nation, and not every quarterback will be as capable under constant pressure as Johns was on Saturday.
Still, an impressive effort from the front seven isn't enough to inspire us to hand out any awards.
Notre Dame Run Defense
Somewhat surprisingly, Virginia had a much easier time running on the Notre Dame defense than Texas did a week ago.
After limiting the Longhorns to just 60 ground yards, Notre Dame gave up 127 on 30 UVA attempts (a not-so-good 4.2 yards-per-carry average).
As mentioned, Notre Dame's front seven is stout. The run defense doesn't appear to be a weak link in the team's armor. And with playmakers such as Sheldon Day continuing to prowl the opposition's backfield, Notre Dame's run defense remains in good hands.
Notre Dame Special Teams
From a Notre Dame standpoint, Saturday was a good day for the special teams. The unreliable kicking game came through with a 2-of-3 performance from Justin Yoon on field goals, and C.J. Sanders delivered in the punt-return department (including a nice 30-yard return in the second half).
The Irish also averaged better than 55 yards per punt on Tyler Newsome's four punts.
Notre Dame Coaching
It's hard to lean on a guy who has just been thrown into the starting role at any position but particularly when that position is running back. That being said, Prosise appears to have all of the tools necessary to come up with big plays when called upon.
So why didn't Brian Kelly call upon him more often in critical 3rd-and-short situations?
Kelly clearly didn't have a problem leaning on Kizer for a game-winning drive (not that Kelly had much of a choice).
All things considered, Kelly did a fine job of keeping his team in the game after the loss of its leader, Zaire—even if it took better than a quarter to shake it off. Good coaches find a way to win, regardless of the situation, and Kelly reached deep into his tool chest to find the right combination of players and play calls to eke out a victory.
Further down the line, that could present problems. But for Saturday, it resulted in a win.
Unless otherwise noted, quotes or references to quotes were obtained firsthand by the writer.
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